Countries

Countries

• PAKISTAN
• The Pakistan cricket team is the national cricket team of Pakistan. Pakistan, represented by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), is a full member of the International Cricket Council, and thus participates in Test, ODI and Twenty20 International cricket matches.
  Pakistan have played 363 Test matches, with winning 112, losing 100 and drawing 152. The team has the 3rd-best win/loss ratio in Test cricket of 1.12, and the 4th-best overall win percentage of 30.16%. Pakistan was given Test status on 28 July 1952, following a recommendation by India, and made its Test debut against India at Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi, in October 1952, with India winning by an innings and 70 runs. Previously, Pakistani cricketers had competed as a part of the Indian national team before the partition of India.
  Pakistan have played 760 ODIs, winning 411, losing 327, tying 6 and with 16 ending in no-result. Pakistan were the1992 World Cup champions, and also came runners-up in the 1999 tournament. Pakistan, in conjunction with other countries on the Subcontinent, have hosted the 1987 & 1996, with the 1996 final being hosted at Gaddafi Stadium inLahore. The team has also played 50 Twenty20 Internationals, the most of any team, winning 31, losing 18 and tying1. Pakistan won the 2009 ICC World Twenty20 and came runners-up in the inaugural tournament in 2007.
   

• AUSTRALIA
• The Australian cricket team is the national cricket team of Australia. It is the joint oldest team in Test cricket, having played in the first Test match in 1877. The team also plays One Day International cricket and Twenty20 International, participating in both the first ODI, against England in the 1970–71 season and the first Twenty20 International, against New Zealand in the 2004–05 season, winning both games. The team mainly draws its players from teams playing in the Australian domestic competitions – the Sheffield Shield, the Australian Domestic One-Day Series and the Big Bash League.
  The Australian team has played 730 Test matches, winning 341, losing 192, drawing 195 and tying two.Australia is ranked the number-one team overall in Test cricket in terms of overall wins, win-loss ratio and wins percentage. Australia is currently ranked fourth in the ICC Test Championship behind England, South Africa and India, and led the Test rankings for a record time of 74 months from 2003 to 2009.
  Australia has played 752 ODI matches, winning 464, losing 256, tying eight and with 24 ending in no-result.They have led the ICC ODI Championship since its inception for all but a period of 48 days in 2007. Australia have made record six World Cup final appearances (1975, 1987, 1996, 1999, 2003 and 2007) and have won the World Cup a record four times in total; 1987 Cricket World Cup, 1999 Cricket World Cup, 2003 Cricket World Cup and 2007 Cricket World Cup. Australia is the first team to appear in 4 consecutive World Cup finals (1996, 1999, 2003 and 2007), surpassing the old record of 3 consecutive World Cup appearances by West Indies (1975, 1979 and 1983).
  The team was undefeated in 34 consecutive World Cup matches until 19 March at the 2011 Cricket World Cup wherePakistan beat them by 4 wickets. Australia have also won the ICC Champions Trophy twice – in 2006 and in 2009 – making them the first and the only team to become back to back winners in the Champions Trophy tournaments. The team has also played 39 Twenty20 Internationals, making the final of the ICC World Twenty20 in 2010 before losing it to England.
   

• ENGLAND
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  The England and Wales cricket team (Welsh: Tîm criced Lloegr) is a cricket team which represents England and Wales. Until 1992 it also represented Scotland. Since 1 January 1997 it has been governed by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), having been previously governed by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) from 1903 until the end of 1996.

  England and Australia were the first teams to be granted Test status on 15 March 1877 and they gained full membership to the International Cricket Council (ICC) on 15 June 1909. England and Australia also took part in the firstOne Day International (ODI) on 5 January 1971 and England's first international Twenty20 match was played on 13 June 2005 against Australia.

  As of 23 August 2011, England has won 326 of the 915 Test matches they have played (with 328 draws). England's One Day International record includes finishing as runners-up in three Cricket World Cups (1979, 1987 and 1992), and again as runners up in the ICC Champions Trophy in 2004.

  The England team are the current ICC World Twenty20 champions having won the 2010 ICC World Twenty20 and are the current holders of the Ashes, which is the Test match series contest between England and Australia and which has been played since the 1882–83 Australian season. The team is currently in sixth place in the ICC ODI Championship and, as of August 2011, are the top ranked Test side in the world.
   

• INDIA
• The Indian cricket team is the national cricket team of India. Governed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India(BCCI), it is a full member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) with Test and One Day International (ODI) status.
  The Indian cricket team is currently ranked second by the ICC in Tests, third in ODIs and seventh in T20s. On 2 April 2011, the team won the 2011 Cricket World Cup, its second after 1983. It thus became only the third team after West Indies and Australia to have won the World Cup more than once. In both Tests and ODIs, win-loss ratio of recent years is much higher than that of older periods, when it was a weaker team. Currently Mahendra Singh Dhoni is the captain in all forms of the game while Duncan Fletcher is the coach. Under the leadership of Dhoni, the Indian team has set a national record for most back-to-back ODI wins (9 straight wins) and has emerged as one of the most formidable teams in international cricket.
  Although cricket was introduced to India by European merchant sailors in the 18th-century and the first cricket club in India was established in Calcutta in 1792, India's national cricket team did not play their first Test match until 25 June 1932 at Lord's. They became the sixth team to be granted Test cricket status. In their first fifty years of international cricket, India proved weaker than Australia and England, winning only 35 of the 196 test matches. The team, however, gained strength near the end of the 1970s with the emergence of players such as Sunil Gavaskar,Kapil Dev and the Indian spin quartet—Erapalli Prasanna and Srinivas Venkataraghavan (both off spinners), Bhagwat Chandrasekhar (a leg spinner), and Bishen Singh Bedi (a left-arm spinner). Traditionally much stronger at home than abroad, the Indian team has improved its overseas form since the start of the 21st century. It won the Cricket World Cup in 1983 under Kapil Dev, was runners-up in 2003 under Sourav Ganguly, and won the World Cup a second time in2011 under MS Dhoni. India have also been the Runners-up in 2000 ICC KnockOut Trophy, and the Joint Champions along with Sri Lanka in 2002 ICC Champions Trophy led by Sourav Ganguly in both the instances. India also won the inaugural World Twenty20 under Mahendra Singh Dhoni in 2007. The current team contains many of the world's leading players, including Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag who hold numerous cricketing world records
   

• SRI LANKA
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  The Sri Lankan cricket team is the national cricket team of Sri Lanka. The team first played international cricket in 1926–27, and were later awarded Test status in 1981, which made Sri Lanka the eighth Test cricket playing nation. The team is administered by Sri Lanka Cricket.

  Sri Lanka's national cricket team achieved considerable success beginning in the 1990s, rising from underdog status to winning the Cricket World Cup in 1996. Since then, the team has continued to be a force in international cricket. The Sri Lankan cricket team reached the finals of the 2007 and 2011 Cricket World Cups consecutively. But they ended up being runners up in both those occasions. The batting of Sanath Jayasuriya (retired) and Aravinda de Silva(retired), backed up by the bowling of Muttiah Muralitharan (retired) and Chaminda Vaas (retired), among many other talented cricketers, has underpinned the successes of Sri Lankan cricket during the last 15 years.

  Sri Lanka have won the Cricket World Cup in 1996, the ICC Champions Trophy in 2002 (co-champions with India), have been consecutive runners up in the 2007 and 2011 Cricket World Cups, and have been runners up in the ICC World Twenty20 in 2009. The Sri Lankan cricket team currently holds several world records, including world records for highest team totals in all three forms of the game, Test, ODI and Twenty20.
   

• SOUTH AFRICA
• The South African national cricket team represent South Africa in international cricket. They are administrated byCricket South Africa.

  

  South Africa is a full member of the International Cricket Council, also known as ICC, with Test and One Day International, or ODI, status. Through the mid-nineties to the present, the Proteas have been labeled as the archetypalchokers in international cricket, especially due to their not winning a Cricket World Cup - even after being one of the favourites - as well as their general inability to win the big matches on the big occasions.As of 11 November 2011, the South African team has played 359 Test matches, winning 126 (35.09%), losing 124 (34.54%) and drawing 109 (30.36%) of its games.

  As of 11 November 2011, the South African team has played 462 ODI Matches, winning 288 (62.33%), losing 157 (33.98%), drawing 5 (1.08%) and getting a "No Result" in 12 (2.60%) of its games.
   

• NEW ZEALAND
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  The New Zealand cricket team, nicknamed the Black Caps, are the national cricket team representing New Zealand. They played their first Test in 1930 against England in Christchurch, New Zealand, becoming the fifth country to play Test cricket. It took the team until 1955–56 to win a Test, against the West Indies at Eden Park in Auckland.They played their first ODI in the 1972–73 season against Pakistan in Christchurch.

  The current Test, One-day and Twenty20 captain is Ross Taylor. Taylor replaced Daniel Vettori after Vettori stepped down following the 2011 World Cup. Vettori had replaced New Zealand's most successful captain, Stephen Fleming, who led New Zealand to 28 Test victories, more than twice as many as any other captain. The national team is organised by New Zealand Cricket.

  The New Zealand cricket team became known as the Black Caps in January 1998, after its sponsor at the time, Clear Communications, held a competition to choose a name for the team.^[2] Official New Zealand Cricket sources typeset the nickname as BLACKCAPS

  As of December 2011, New Zealand have played 364 Test matches, winning 70, losing 148 and drawing 149.
   

• ZIMBABWE
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  The Zimbabwean cricket team is a national cricket team representing Zimbabwe. It is administrated by Zimbabwe Cricket (formerly known as the Zimbabwe Cricket Union or ZCU). Zimbabwe is a full member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) with Test and One Day International status.
  In common with all the other full members of the I.C.C., Zimbabwe had a cricket team before it achieved Test status (disregarding the fact that England and Australia did not achieve Test status, as they in effect invented it with the first-ever Test on 15 March 1877 in Melbourne, Australia).
   
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• WEST INDIES
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  The West Indian cricket team, also known as the West Indies or, colloquially, the Windies, is a multi-nationalcricket team representing a sporting confederation of 15 mainly English-speaking Caribbean countries, British dependencies and non-British dependencies.
  From the mid 1970s to the early 1990s, the West Indies team was one of the strongest in the world in both Test andOne Day International cricket. A number of cricketers considered among the best in the world have hailed from the West Indies; Sir Garfield Sobers, Lance Gibbs, Gordon Greenidge, George Headley, Clive Lloyd, Malcolm Marshall,Andy Roberts, Alvin Kallicharran, Rohan Kanhai, Frank Worrell, Everton Weekes, Curtly Ambrose, Joel Garner and SirViv Richards have all been inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame while world-record holder Brian Lara was a West Indies Test player.
  The West Indies have won the ICC Cricket World Cup twice in 1975 and 1979, the ICC Champions Trophy once in 2004 and have been runners up in the Under 19 Cricket World Cup in 2004 and have been semi finalist in the ICC World Twenty20 in 2009. The first cricket team to win World Cup twice, their record was surpassed by 4 World Cup wins by Australia, and equalled by India in 2011. West Indies are also the first team to win back to back World Cups, since surpassed by 3 consecutive World Cup wins by Australia (1999, 2003, & 2007). West Indies is the first team to appear in 3 consecutive World Cup finals (1975, 1979 and 1983), since surpassed by 4 consecutive World Cup finals appearances by Australia (1996, 1999, 2003 & 2007)