Cricket is a globally renowned sport played in every habitable continent of the world. A cricket season consists of sides representing their nations or franchises, that play in recognised events of the International Cricket Council (ICC) over the course of the season.
ICC recognised events are usually contested between multiple teams and often have a higher stature in terms of recognition. Some of these tournaments include the World Test Championship, Cricket World Cup, Champions Trophy and the T20 World Cup. Tournaments held at Continental levels (e.g. Asia Cup) come next in the hierarchy. Finally, the final tier consists of perpetual trophies, where a team tours the home side of the other team to play Tests, One Day Internationals and T20s. A tour can have matches in any one, two or all three formats depending on the schedule and the series length.
A tour will begin by the visiting side okay warm-up matches (most often as first class matches) against the domestic side of the home team. This is followed by a Test series. A tour can have a one-off test or a series of test matches, the number of which can range between two and five. In the past, six-match test series were common but have not taken place in the 21st century.
An ODI series then follows. Teams play a series of three to seven ODI matches. A T20 series is then held which can be played in a best of three or best of five match format.
The most notable perpetual trophy is the Ashes. Played since the 1882-83 season, the Ashes is played between Australia and England. England’s tour to India is called the Anthony de Mello trophy whereas India’s Tour to England is the Pataudi Trophy. Australia and West Indies have contested for the Frank Worrell trophy since 1960. The Trans-Tansman trophy is played between Australia and New Zealand since 1985. Starting in 1996, Australia and India have faced each other for the Border-Gavaskar trophy. Some other notable perpetual trophies include Warne-Muralitharan Trophy (between Australia and Sri Lanka), the Freedom Trophy (between India and South Africa), Sobers-Tissera Trophy (between West Indies and Sri Lanka), and the Richards-Botham Trophy (between England and West Indies; formerly known as Wisden Trophy).
As of November 2023, Australia contests 7 perpetual trophies whereas England and West Indies contest 6 perpetual trophies each. India and South Africa are a part of four tours, whereas Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe feature in two of these events each. New Zealand and Pakistan have one perpetual trophy to their names each.
