Cricket seasons are the times of the year when
cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...
is played.
Because top-class cricket is almost always played outdoors, on uncovered
pitches, and rain prevents play, the seasons in each country are geared to coincide with the driest months of the year. The hours of daylight and the temperature are also factors in some countries. For example, in
England the winter days are too short and often too dark, and the temperature is too low, for playing cricket to be practical. Normally, cricket is played outdoors but in the UK, cricket is played indoors when the season is finished.
When designating cricket seasons, the convention is to use a single year for a
northern hemisphere
The Northern Hemisphere is the half of Earth that is north of the Equator. For other planets in the Solar System, north is defined as being in the same celestial hemisphere relative to the invariable plane of the solar system as Earth's Nort ...
summer season, and a dashed pair of years to indicate a
southern hemisphere summer. Hence, 1948 for the English summer season and 1948–49 for the Australian summer that followed some months later. In the tropics, cricket can be played all year round.
In the
United Kingdom, the cricket season starts mid-April and ends in September, whereas in
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
, the cricket season begins in October and ends in February or March.
References
Cricket terminology
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