by Tim Harry

Created on: July 05, 2009   Last Updated: August 25, 2009

Cricinfo.com is the Wisden Almanac for the internet age. Established in 1993, the cricinfo website has provided millions of cricket followers an indispensable source of information about present and past cricket matches and news.

Cricinfo is a well organised site that arranges news and statistics based on country, county, series and general news. From the homepage of the site it is possible to find out about the current series being played, be it international matches or county games. This is done from the Series tab. The next tab along, Countries, provides in-depth news from all of the current countries playing test and one day international cricket, including some of the minor countries, including the USA and Afghanistan.

The live information then starts with the Live Scores, with detailed scorecards being kept for all matches currently being played, again these matches can be both international ones and county games. The next two tabs of Fixtures and Results provide information, match reports and scorecards.

Recent additions to the site have also seen Blogs and Photos added to the site.

The best part of cricinfo though is the Statistics pages, and with full details of all international matches, twenty-20, one-day and full test, as well as most of the national games. Thus it is possible to locate scorecards from matches far back in history, to the earliest days of the game. The statistics are easy to navigate through and there are also biography pages on some three thousand international players, as well as fifty thousand players who never managed to represent their country.

One of the favourite elements of the site though is the comparable stats that are on offer. The site allows for the obvious records to be looked up, the likes of most run scorers and most wicket takers, something which can be done by all players or by countries. Equally though there are facts about the most ducks scored by cricketers, the most ninety-nines, the most run outs and many other obscure facts.

Recent additions to the site have included video and audio clips from past games, although there is also cricinfo TV which provides live coverage for some games although does depend on locations around the world. For those that are looking to pass some time with the playing of games, then cricinfo also has this covered with quizzes and browser games.

Cricinfo.com is now owned as part of ESPN, the American sports broadcasters, and any viewer of the site will not be able to forget it. As a result of the take over there has been a definite increase in the commercial nature of the site. Of course most sites need funding and advertising is the most obvious element of this; it has resulted in a change in the cricinfo.com site with more obvious advertisements, often overpowering the writing on the site. The site has also become more modern with more media elements, although this though has not been to everyone's liking, words and figures having been replaced with a plethora of photos and video clips.

Cricinfo.com has been long recognised as the premier site for cricket enthusiasts, for news and the latest scorecards and records. It has though faced an increasing number of challengers which has meant the development of it to make it more user friendly and more attractive, which may or may not have been to its benefit.

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