Thirty years of cricket in pictures
1993 Thirty years ago, a peroxide-blond leggie announced himself at Old Trafford by getting a leg-side delivery to fizz across the width of Mike Gatting and clip the top of off. It was Shane Warne's first ball in Tests on English soil, and his legend had found the perfect origin story - the ball of the century.•Getty Images
1995 In front of a 55,000-strong crowd at the MCG, umpire Darrell Hair played judge, jury and executioner, no-balling Muthiah Muralidaran seven times in three overs under suspicion of throwing. It would take Murali many years to prove his action wasn't breaking the rules, and it wouldn't be the last time Hair was embroiled in controversy either.•Jack Atley/Fairfax Media/Getty Images
1998 was the year of Sachin Tendulkar, the one that firmly established his legend. He rang up 1894 runs in the calendar year in ODIs alone, with nine hundreds. Nowhere was his dominance more evident than in the Coca Cola Cup in Sharjah, where he made 80 and 143 against Australia, albeit in losing causes, before winning the title with 134. He also took 24 wickets in the year, including a five-for against Australia in Kochi.•AFP
2001 A new dawn for Indian cricket emerging from the fallout of the fixing scandal. With Mohammad Azharuddin gone and Sachin Tendulkar stepping away from captaincy, India were playing an Australian side coming in with a 15-win streak. It took a gritty 376-run partnership between VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid to break that streak and set India up to become a Test cricket powerhouse. •Hamish Blair/Getty Images
2004 In the Champions Trophy final, West Indies went from 72 for 4 to 147 for 8 with seemingly no hope of chasing England's 217, until Courtney Browne and Ian Bradshaw patiently added 71 runs to give West Indies their first world title since the 1979 World Cup.•Getty Images
2007 The 50-over World Cup finds its nadir. Expectations were high for the ninth World Cup, with 51 matches to be played over 47 days, but everything that could go wrong did. Favourites India and Pakistan were knocked out in the group stages, Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer died in his hotel room under what appeared to be suspicious circumstances, Andrew Flintoff had an off-field adventure with a pedalo, and the final between Australia and Sri Lanka was completed in almost complete darkness. Australia won, but there was little joy in it.•Clive Mason/Getty Images
2010 In another blow to Pakistan, British tabloid News of the World conducted a sting operation that caught Pakistan players offering to bowl no-balls for money. Mohammad Amir, Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif copped bans by the ICC for spot-fixing and were prosecuted by the Crown Court under the 1906 Prevention of Corruption Act the next year. •Getty Images
2013 A neat 200 Tests and 24 years later, a colossus of the game retired. No other cricketer had inspired such devotion as Sachin Tendulkar, and his farewell was a months-long parade of tributes. His final innings, against West Indies, was not a century as fans hoped, but a fluent 74, every shot cheered by an adoring crowd. India fittingly sealed the series 2-0 as a parting gift to Tendulkar.•BCCI
2016 Four years after West Indies claimed their first T20 World Cup title they did it again and in iconic fashion. Carlos Brathwaite, veteran of seven T20Is, was facing Ben Stokes in the final over with 19 to get off the final over. He'd do it with a six, and another, and another and a final one, causing Ian Bishop to bellow a line that has since passed into legend: "Carlos Brathwaite! Remember the name!"•Saurabh Das/Associated Press
2019 The World Cup final at Lord's doubled the thrills of the Edgbaston semi 20 years ago with not one but two ties: the 50 overs between England and New Zealand, and the Super Over to decide it both ended in stalemate. In what felt like an anti-climax to one of the greatest ODIs ever played, the title went to England on account of having scored more boundaries. In the photo, Ben Stokes acknowledges his luck after a throw deflected off his bat and went to the boundary towards the end of the chase.•Getty Images
2022 A year that belonged inarguably to England, who rose from the depths of Test defeat to become behemoths of the format in the space of a few months. With new captain Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum in the vanguard, England won nine Tests of ten, the pinnacle a record-breaking win in Rawalpindi that set the stage for a famous series win in Pakistan.•Matthew Lewis/Getty Images
1994 Just six weeks after he'd broken Garry Sobers' record for the highest individual score in a Test with his 375, Brian Lara racked up another first, that of the highest individual first-class total, making 501 not out against Durham at Edgbaston, a record that still stands. He finished the English season with 2066 runs at 89.82, and nine hundreds.•Graham Chadwick/PA Photos
1996 Sri Lanka came into the 1996 World Cup still carrying the baggage of the all that transpired in Australia, backed by a cricket board that had $5000 in their account. No one rated them, not least against Australia, but Aravinda de Silva's three wickets and unbeaten 107 and the team's steely determination took them to their first world title.•Getty Images
1999 A wilding Lance Klusener. A stranded Allan Donald. A semi-final tie that broke a million South African hearts. Australia would go on to win that World Cup and the next two. South Africa continue to wait for their first title. •PA Photos
2002 Nathan Astle tonked the fastest Test double-hundred, reaching the figure in 153 balls in Christchurch. Andrew Flintoff and Matthew Hoggard went for six fours in nine balls but Astle reserved most of his punishment for Andrew Caddick, who was dispatched for five sixes and three fours in eight deliveries. Sadly though, it wasn't enough to win New Zealand the Test.•Getty Images
2005 The greatest Ashes series ever? England's 2005 win against an all-time great Australian side was set up by a thriller at Edgbaston, with Brett Lee and Michael Kasprowicz bringing Australia within two runs of a win before Geraint Jones caught Kasprowicz off Steve Harmison to seal an improbable win for England.•Getty Images
2008 If there was any doubt that under the glitz, glamour and garnishings the IPL was about serious cricket, it was dispelled in the very first game when KKR's Brendon McCullum bludgeoned an unbeaten 158 in 73 balls against a hapless RCB, who were all out for 82. By the time the Shane Warne-led Rajasthan Royals lifted the inaugural trophy, the IPL had made clear franchise cricket was the future.•Getty Images
2011 No team had won a World Cup on home soil before this. When Sri Lanka put up 274 for India to chase in the final, this World Cup looked to follow the pattern - no team had ever chased 250 and won the final. Gautam Gambhir made 97 and captain MS Dhoni (91) finished it off with a six to seal India's first 50-over World Cup win since 1983. •Getty Images
2014 One of cricket's greatest tragedies changed the game forever. Australia batter Phil Hughes, all of 25, was struck on the head by a bouncer during a Sheffield Shield match. He collapsed on the field, and never regained consciousness, passing away two days later. All of cricket was plunged into mourning, and it forced authorities to re-look at concussion protocols and helmet safety to make the game safer. In the photo, Michael Clarke bids a final farewell to his friend.•Getty Images
2017 Harmanpreet Kaur came into the World Cup semi-final against defending champions Australia with 137 runs from six innings, wrist pain and cramps. All of it was forgotten as she launched into a manic attack, blitzing 20 fours and seven sixes to reach an unbeaten 171 in 115 balls. India won the match by 36 runs, but stumbled in the final against England.•Getty Images
2020 If there was ever a sign that women's cricket had come into its own, it was this. The crowd at the MCG for the Women's T20 World Cup final broke the record for the most number of people attending a women's sporting event in Australia, where the home side clinched their fifth title. It was also the largest cricket event just before the Covid crisis hit and paused the sport for months.•Getty Images
1997 England's first full tour of Zimbabwe ended in a drawn Test series and a 3-0 whitewash in the ODI series - Zimbabwe first international series win. Part-time chicken farmer Eddo Brandes took a hat-trick in the final game, the only one by a Zimbabwe player in the format until Prosper Utseya picked up another in 2014 against South Africa.•Getty Images
2000 A reckoning comes for cricket. Hansie Cronje had just returned from a triumphant Test series win in India when he was charged with fixing ODIs on the tour in collusion with a bookie. It would kick off a decade of scandal and several more convictions over the years.•Yoav Lemmer/AFP
2003 As county cricket attendance numbers dwindled, the ECB mulled introducing a new format - 20 overs each with a 15-minute break between innings. The counties were sceptical but it was passed with an 11-7 vote. No one really thought it would work, but by the end of the season 257,759 spectators had watched the inaugural Twenty20 Cup. When Surrey captain Adam Hollioake lifted the trophy, he had little idea what had been set in motion. •Getty Images
2006 Pakistan became the first team in 129 years of Test cricket to forfeit a match, for refusing to take the field after being accused of ball tampering. It began with umpire Darrell Hair signalling five penalty runs and a change of ball, deeming the seam had been raised. In protest, Pakistan refused to leave the dressing room after tea for 20 minutes, prompting Hair to dramatically removed the bails and award the Test to England. It would spark a diplomatic standoff and an issue that would drag on till 2009.•Shaun Botterill/Getty Images
2009 Though cricket had become collateral damage in terror attacks before - in 2002, New Zealand cancelled their tour of Pakistan after a blast outside their Karachi hotel and in 2006 a tri-series was called off after blasts in Sri Lanka - but this was the first time cricketers had been directly targeted. Gunmen attacked Sri Lanka's team bus in Lahore, injuring five players and killing several security officials. It plunged Pakistan into cricket isolation and it would be several years before full-fledged cricket returned to the country.•AFP
2012 A year of high-profile retirements. Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Tatenda Taibu, Brett Lee, Ricky Ponting, Andrew Strauss, Simon Taufel, Michael Hussey all called time on their careers but the most unfortunate of them was perhaps Mark Boucher, who took a dislodged bail to the eye in a tour game against Somerset and suffered a lacerated eyeball. He announced his retirement a day later. •Getty Images
2015 The inaugural season of the Women's Big Bash League - the first women's T20 league - was a success, with record crowds and healthy viewership for the televised games. Sydney Thunder clinched the title, beating Sydney Sixers by three wickets in the final, and women's franchise cricket had finally found its footing. •Getty Images
2018 Australia are rocked by scandal at Newlands in South Africa, where cameras caught batter Cameron Bancroft attempting to alter the condition of the ball with a bit of sandpaper he had in his pants. Captain Steve Smith and vice-captain David Warner were indicted in the investigation and all three were banned for varying periods, but the fallout and subsequent cultural review caused a shake-up of the establishment from the top down.•Gallo Images/Getty Images
2021 In 2018, Virat Kohli's India became the first Asian side to beat Australia at home in a Test series. Any doubts about it being a lucky break - Australia were still reeling from the Newlands scandal - were put to rest after India did it again in 2020-21, this time with an injury-depleted squad and rookie players. The enduring image of the series was that of an immovable Cheteshwar Pujara copping painful bouncers but steadfastly frustrating Australia's bowlers to shepherd India to the win.•Getty Images and Cricket Australia