Trivia Medium 31 questions · about 45 minutes · free PDF

Cricket Trivia Questions

Thirty-one questions on cricket: the laws and the slang, Test, ODI and T20, the Ashes, the World Cup and the IPL, and the grounds every fan knows by name.

Three rounds go from easy to hard, with legends from India, England, Australia, Pakistan and the West Indies. Every answer comes with a fun fact.

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Host sheet

Every question with the answer under it, plus a line of context to say out loud once the answer is in. Keep it face down.

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The same quiz without the key — for anyone who would rather read along than listen.

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Team answer sheet

Numbered lines and a tick box. Print one per team, and one more for the swap at the end of each round.

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What This Quiz Covers

Laws and terminology
Test, ODI and T20 formats
The Ashes and the World Cup
The IPL
Famous grounds
Legendary players

All 31 questions and answers

Each answer is hidden until you open it, so you can read the questions out or test yourself first. The line under each answer is the fun fact to share once it is in.

Round 1 · Easy: The Basics

1
How many players does each team have on the field in a standard cricket match?
- A9
- B11
- C10
- D12
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B — 11
A side has eleven players; a substitute fielder, the '12th man', may field but may not bowl or bat in a normal match.
2
How many runs are scored when the batter hits the ball over the boundary without it touching the ground?
- AFive
- BEight
- CSix
- DFour
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C — Six
Clearing the rope on the full is worth six because the batter has sent the ball beyond the field of play without any help from a bounce, which would make it a four.
3
Which London ground, headquarters of the MCC, is known as the 'Home of Cricket'?
- ALord's
- BOld Trafford
- CTrent Bridge
- DThe Oval
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A — Lord's
Lord's is the home of Marylebone Cricket Club, the body that has owned and maintained the Laws of Cricket since 1788, which earned the ground its nickname.
4
How many legal deliveries make up one over in modern international cricket?
- AFive
- BFour
- CEight
- DSix
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D — Six
Six balls is the universal standard today, although Australia used eight-ball overs in domestic and Test cricket until the end of the 1970s.
5
How many overs does each side bowl in a Twenty20 international?
- A40
- B50
- C20
- D10
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C — 20
The format takes its name directly from its length — twenty overs per innings — which is designed to finish a match in roughly three hours.
6
Which trophy is contested in the historic Test series between England and Australia?
- AThe Wisden Trophy
- BThe Basil D'Oliveira Trophy
- CThe Frank Worrell Trophy
- DThe Ashes
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D — The Ashes
The Ashes is the prize in England–Australia Tests, while the other trophies listed are genuine but belong to series involving the West Indies and South Africa.
7
The famous Eden Gardens cricket ground is located in which city?
- AKolkata
- BDelhi
- CMumbai
- DChennai
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A — Kolkata
Eden Gardens in Kolkata, opened in 1864, is one of the oldest and largest cricket stadiums in the world and is famous for its vast, noisy crowds.
8
In cricket slang, a batter dismissed without scoring a single run is said to be out for a what?
- ASwan
- BDuck
- CGoose
- DPigeon
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B — Duck
The term comes from the duck's egg, whose shape resembles the zero that appears next to the batter's name on the scorecard.
9
How many stumps are used to make up a single wicket?
- ATwo
- BFive
- CFour
- DThree
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D — Three
Three stumps are driven into the ground with two bails resting on top, and a bail must be dislodged for the wicket to be fairly put down.
10
What does the abbreviation 'IPL' stand for?
- AIndia Pro League
- BInternational Players League
- CIndian Premier League
- DIndian Players League
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C — Indian Premier League
The Indian Premier League is the BCCI's franchise-based Twenty20 competition, launched in 2008 and played largely in a city-franchise format.
11
Which team won the first men's Cricket World Cup in 1975?
- AAustralia
- BWest Indies
- CIndia
- DEngland
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B — West Indies
The West Indies beat Australia in the 1975 final at Lord's, with captain Clive Lloyd scoring a match-winning century.
12
In cricket, what is a 'hat-trick'?
- AThree wickets in three consecutive deliveries by the same bowler
- BThree catches by one fielder in an innings
- CThree sixes in one over
- DThree consecutive maiden overs
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A — Three wickets in three consecutive deliveries by the same bowler
The term dates from the 19th century, when a bowler who dismissed three batters with successive balls was traditionally presented with a hat by his club.

Round 2 · Medium: History, Formats & Tournaments

13
The first-ever Test match, played in Melbourne in 1877, was between which two teams?
- AAustralia and New Zealand
- BEngland and South Africa
- CAustralia and England
- DEngland and the West Indies
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C — Australia and England
Australia beat England by 45 runs at the MCG in March 1877, and Australia's Charles Bannerman scored the first Test century in that match.
14
The Ashes got its name from a mock obituary published in 1882 after Australia beat England at which ground?
- AThe Oval
- BHeadingley
- CTrent Bridge
- DLord's
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A — The Oval
After that defeat at The Oval, The Sporting Times printed an obituary for English cricket saying the body would be cremated and 'the ashes taken to Australia'.
15
How many overs per side are bowled in a standard One Day International?
- A60
- B40
- C45
- D50
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D — 50
ODIs were originally 60 overs a side in England, but 50 overs became the global standard from the 1980s onwards.
16
What was Sir Donald Bradman's career Test batting average, famously the highest of all time?
- A94.50
- B99.94
- C89.78
- D101.20
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B — 99.94
Bradman needed just four runs in his final Test innings to average 100, but was bowled for a duck, leaving him on 99.94.
17
Which country won the 1983 men's Cricket World Cup final at Lord's?
- AEngland
- BPakistan
- CWest Indies
- DIndia
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D — India
Kapil Dev's India defended a modest 183 to beat the twice-champion West Indies, a result widely credited with transforming cricket's popularity in India.
18
Who captained Pakistan to victory in the 1992 Cricket World Cup final?
- AInzamam-ul-Haq
- BWasim Akram
- CImran Khan
- DJaved Miandad
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C — Imran Khan
Imran Khan led the 'cornered tigers' to a win over England at the MCG and top-scored with 72 in the final, in what was his last international match.
19
Which team won the inaugural ICC men's World Twenty20 in 2007?
- AIndia
- BSouth Africa
- CPakistan
- DAustralia
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A — India
India beat Pakistan by five runs in the Johannesburg final, and the Indian Premier League launched the following year.
20
The cricket ground known as 'The Gabba' is in which Australian city?
- AAdelaide
- BBrisbane
- CSydney
- DPerth
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B — Brisbane
The nickname is a shortening of Woolloongabba, the Brisbane suburb in which the stadium stands.
21
Who captained the West Indies to their World Cup triumphs in both 1975 and 1979?
- AClive Lloyd
- BViv Richards
- CGordon Greenidge
- DGarry Sobers
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A — Clive Lloyd
Clive Lloyd led the side in both finals at Lord's, scoring 102 in 1975, while Viv Richards made the century in the 1979 final under Lloyd's captaincy.
22
What is the Duckworth–Lewis(–Stern) method used for?
- ARanking Test teams
- BDeciding the toss in neutral venues
- CSetting revised targets in rain-affected limited-overs matches
- DMeasuring the legality of a bowling action
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C — Setting revised targets in rain-affected limited-overs matches
The method uses the resources remaining to a batting side — overs left and wickets in hand — to recalculate a fair target when play is shortened.
23
Which trophy is awarded to the winner of a Test series between India and Australia?
- AThe Pataudi Trophy
- BThe Chappell–Hadlee Trophy
- CThe Warne–Muralitharan Trophy
- DThe Border–Gavaskar Trophy
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D — The Border–Gavaskar Trophy
Introduced in 1996, it honours Allan Border and Sunil Gavaskar, two of the leading run-scorers of their era for Australia and India respectively.
24
Which franchise won the first Indian Premier League season in 2008?
- AChennai Super Kings
- BRajasthan Royals
- CMumbai Indians
- DKolkata Knight Riders
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B — Rajasthan Royals
Rajasthan Royals, captained by Shane Warne, beat Chennai Super Kings off the final ball of the 2008 final despite being among the lowest-budget squads.
25
In which city is cricket's traditional 'Boxing Day Test' played each year?
- AMelbourne
- BSydney
- CHobart
- DAdelaide
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A — Melbourne
The Melbourne Cricket Ground has hosted a Test starting on 26 December almost every year since 1980, often in front of the biggest crowds of the Australian summer.

Round 3 · Hard: For the Experts

26
Under the Laws of Cricket, what is the maximum permitted width of a cricket bat?
- A3.5 inches (8.9 cm)
- B6 inches (15.2 cm)
- C4.25 inches (10.8 cm)
- D5 inches (12.7 cm)
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C — 4.25 inches (10.8 cm)
The 4.25-inch limit dates back to 1771, when a player reputedly used a bat as wide as the stumps, prompting the authorities to fix a maximum width.
27
In a Test match scheduled for five days, by how many runs must a side lead on first innings to be able to enforce the follow-on?
- A250
- B150
- C100
- D200
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D — 200
The Laws scale the margin to match length — 200 runs for games of five days or more, dropping to 150, 100 and 75 for shorter matches.
28
In which year was the first edition of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack published?
- A1877
- B1864
- C1890
- D1838
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B — 1864
John Wisden launched the almanack in 1864, the same year overarm bowling was legalised, and it has appeared annually ever since.
29
Who, in 1968, became the first batter to hit six sixes in a single over in first-class cricket?
- ATed Dexter
- BRohan Kanhai
- CColin Milburn
- DGarry Sobers
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D — Garry Sobers
Garry Sobers, batting for Nottinghamshire against Glamorgan at Swansea, struck all six balls of a Malcolm Nash over for six.
30
Which bowler became the first to reach 500 wickets in Test cricket, achieving the milestone in 2001?
- ACourtney Walsh
- BCurtly Ambrose
- CKapil Dev
- DShane Warne
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A — Courtney Walsh
West Indian fast bowler Courtney Walsh passed 500 Test wickets in 2001 and finished his career as the first man to reach that landmark.
31
Afghanistan played their inaugural Test match in 2018 against which opponent?
- AIreland
- BBangladesh
- CIndia
- DZimbabwe
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C — India
Afghanistan's first Test was played in Bengaluru in June 2018 against India, who won inside two days.

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