The purpose of the Cricinfo website is to provide a one-stop source of information on all matters relating to cricket. The amount of information, and the wealth of stats, available on the site is mind boggling. There is information seemingly on pretty much every international or domestic match currently being played or scheduled, plus archive information on matches going back to the 1840s! For example, I can see the scorecard from a match played in June 1844 between Kent and Sussex.
As well as providing information on men's cricket, it also contains information on women's cricket. Other major features on the site include the latest cricket news, live scores from around the world, a photo gallery, and links to various cricket blogs. There are also fantasy cricket games so that enthusiasts can pit their wits against fellow fans from around the world. Another important selling point is the fact that they can attract some of the sport's biggest household names to contribute on articles, and they have embraced modern web trends not only through the presence of the blogs but also by utilising multimedia features such as the Cricinfo.tv video streams and audio clips.
The scale of the content is the first thing that will hit a newcomer to the site. Indeed, perhaps one of Cricinfo's main challenges is the possibility that first time visitors might actually find the array of content bewildering. Certainly, web usability studies tend to show that people find it easier to use sites that have less content than those that are incredibly busy. To be fair, though, Cricinfo set out their categories very clearly in a tabular fashion, and also have a search box to help users find the content they want.
Visually, one of the first things that jumps out at visitors is the distinctive ESPN logo that appears before the Cricinfo heading. ESPN purchased the site from the Wisden Group in 2007. Wisden, for those who aren't aware, is probably the most famous name in terms of cricket publications, with the long-standing Wisden Cricketers' Almanack often referred to as the Bible of cricket. It's clear, then, where the attention to detail and the abundance of stats comes from. What ESPN have brought to the mix is a marketing savvy and this is evidenced by the prominence of banner ads on the site. With website design, there's always a trade-off being quality of content and the need to attract revenue through advertising but Cricinfo.com has probably got the balance just about right at the moment. Most web users will be prepared to put up with the advertising to benefit from the wealth of information that the site provides.
Cricinfo's "About Us" page makes for quite interesting reading. It starts off by stating that "Cricinfo is the world's leading cricket website and among the top five single-sport websites in the world." That's quite impressive when you think of the popularity of other sports such as soccer, basketball and American football. Reinforcing this meteoric popularity, it also states that "Cricinfo has a thriving user community and reaches over ten million users every month."
I must admit to only having discovered Cricinfo relatively recently but it was instantly impressive and is the kind of sports website that you could easily spend hours browsing through. And with the wealth of historic cricket information that is available, those hours of browsing would mean that you would only have scratched the surface. Indeed, I'm struggling to think of another sports website that is as comprehensive and interesting. Football (soccer) is my primary sport and I certainly wish that the people who put this site together would tackle football to provide an equally comprehensive and vibrant online bible.
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