Wikipedia:WikiProject Cricket/Style advice

Whilst naming and editing cricket-related articles, editors often encounter recurring questions of style. WikiProject Cricket participants have agreed to the following style guidelines to keep a consistent look and feel to cricket articles throughout Wikipedia. These styles also fall within the WP:MOS guidelines and WP:NC policies.

See also: Manual of Style


 * General
 * Always use capital L and capital C when referring to the Laws of Cricket. This is because the Laws are held in a documented code owned by and copyrighted to Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). The term is official and should not be used in the same way as a casual expression like "the rules of the game".
 * The first two words are hyphenated in first-class cricket and one-day cricket. It is never correct to write "first class". "List A" is never hyphenated.
 * No-ball should be hyphenated and, if in the middle of a sentence, lower case, even though the Laws use "No ball".
 * Teams & matches
 * Always use capital T when referring to Test cricket and in any situation where the definite article is part of a title: e.g., in a Test match at The Oval, England won The Ashes. Note that in a phrase such as "an Oval record" or "an Ashes match", the definite article is inappropriate.
 * If linking "Test" or "Test match", link to Test cricket, not to Test or Test match (which are just disambiguation pages).
 * One Day International (ODI) is unhyphenated and is fully capitalised as is its alternative form, Limited Overs International (LOI).
 * Under-19 cricket: In article titles and the first instance within an article, capitalise, hyphenate and don't abbreviate. e.g. "India national under-19 cricket team. Subsequent mentions within the article may optionally use the abbreviated form: "India U-19 team"
 * Tournaments are named with the year first, so 2007 Cricket World Cup not Cricket World Cup 2007; cricket tours are named "[visiting team] in [host nation] in [cricket season]": for example, English cricket team in Australia in 2013–14.
 * When referring to national teams, link the name to the team page of that country, not the general article about that country; e.g., England not England. Similarly for domestic teams.
 * When listing the national team of players, if they are from a country in the West Indies, West Indies (rather than e.g., Guyana) should be used. If a player is Welsh, England, rather than Wales, should be used. If a player has yet to play for a national team, the team they are eligible to play for (and in the case of multiple eligibility, where they primarily play their domestic cricket) should be used.
 * Where an organisation such as a club, team, ground or other entity is generally known by an acronym or initialism (e.g., Marylebone Cricket Club and Melbourne Cricket Ground are widely referred to as MCC and MCG respectively), the article title must be the full name of the entity and the acronym must be a redirect to it. But, if the acronym is used in the body of an article, its style must comply with modern usage in the relevant country and with current usage by the organisation itself, the latter taking precedence.  Hence, the acronyms for Marylebone Cricket Club and Melbourne Cricket Ground must be styled MCC and MCG per each organisation's own usage: i.e., MCC and MCG.  Historic styles such as "M.C.C." and "M. C. G." are thus deprecated as being outdated and should be avoided.  Other common cricketing acronyms of this type include BCCI, ECB, ICC, SCG, WSC, etc.
 * If an acronym like MCC is used throughout an article, it must be introduced in first mention via normal practice (real world and MOS) as Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) – i.e., full name of entity (linked if necessary) followed by the acronym in brackets. Never use something like MCC which hides the full name.
 * Cricketers
 * Where a person is best known by their initials and surname (e.g., William Gilbert Grace was always called W. G. Grace), use the form W. G. Grace for the title of the article per WP:MOS to comply with consistent use of article titles throughout the site, regardless of this being a predominantly American style. Some British sources use "WG Grace" or "W G Grace" but WP:MOS requires consistency so the norm for initials should be periods and spaces, hence "W. G. Grace".
 * In compliance with WP:COMMONNAME, the title of a biography must reflect the person's used name and must NOT display a nickname unless it can be categorically proven that the nickname is the person's used name. For example, John Berry Hobbs was universally called Jack Hobbs; Ernest James Smith was universally known as Tiger Smith. Conversely, none of Ian Botham's many nicknames are his used name and his article must be entitled Ian Botham. It is fair comment to mention a nickname within the body of the article but it must never replace the subject's used name. Where there is evidence that a player is known by more than one name, consensus among sources must determine the name to be used.
 * For players known as "senior" or "junior", guideline WP:JR/SR recommends a preferred format of "Sr" or "Jr" written after the name without a comma. Note that American usage terminates with a period but British does not, so leave out the period unless it is actually an American player. Therefore, for example, Joe Hardstaff Jr is preferred to Joe Hardstaff Jr. and Joe Hardstaff junior.
 * Following a request for comment (RfC) in January 2018 about achievements and awards boxes, there was no consensus that they should universally be included, or a clear consensus that such sections should be removed from all cricketer articles. However, swathes of numbers or lists of awards, empty of content or context, are not appropriate for Wikipedia, and that where sections for achievements/awards are included, they should be more than just a basic list.
 * Seasons
 * When referring to a cricket season spanning two years, use an en dash and the last two digits of the second year as in International cricket in 2005–06 or English cricket team in Australia in 2013–14. However, if the years do not begin in the same century, write out the full year: 1899–1900.
 * Domestic cricket seasons in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and West Indies span two years and are written 20xx–xy. International tours that take place within the limits of a domestic cricket season in any of these places are designated as "Aaaaa cricket team in Bbbbb in 20xx–xy" even if the tour itself did not span the two years and took place in only one of them.
 * When referring to cricket seasons which span more than two years, use an en dash and write the last year of the range in full (e.g., 2005–2008).
 * For articles on international seasons, such as International cricket in 2018–19, only include tours and competitions that meet the requirements of the player notability, above.
 * Scoring
 * Bowling format: use either the shorthand or longhand version. For example, 5/100 is shorthand to indicate that a bowler has captured five wickets while conceding 100 runs; in longhand, write five for 100. Use slashes when shortening scores, not endash (–).
 * Team score format: adopt the consensus style of writing in the host country of the match: i.e., 1/141 (shorthand) or one for 141 (longhand) re matches in Australia; and 141/1 or 141 for one re matches in most other countries. Use slashes when shortening scores, not endash (–).
 * The statistics given for players include all matches recognised by the ICC, such as the 2005 Super Series and the Tsunami ODI. The article can of course also mention statistics derived in different ways where relevant.
 * Layout
 * Commonwealth English spellings are preferred in most cricket-related articles.
 * Use the example templates in WikiProject Cricket/Templates where appropriate.
 * Templates for use on player articles should have a width of 80%.