Cricket Maps Available from Ball State University Libraries

The Geography of Sports:  Cricket World Cup Map Available from Ball State University Libraries

The 2015 Cricket World Cup began on February 14 and runs through March 29 in New Zealand and Australia.  Fourteen teams are participating in the matches held in Auckland, Christchurch, Dunedin, Hamilton, Napier, and Wellington, New Zealand; and Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Hobart, Perth, and Sydney, Australia.  The championship match will be held in Melbourne, Australia.

According to The Atlas of Sports: Who Plays What, Where, and Why by Alan Tomlinson, cricket is one of the world’s most popular sports.  “The Indian subcontinent, where cricket stimulates more passion than perhaps anywhere else, now generates 70% of world cricketing revenues.”  The map above from the atlas (click to enlarge) shows the status of membership for countries belonging to the International Cricket Council and the location of the Council headquarters (recently moved from London, England to Dubai, United Arab Emirates).

The chart shows the countries that have won the women’s or men’s World Cup.  A graphic notes that 32 million people watched the 20/20 (abbreviated format) World Cup final in 2009.  Australia has won the most World Cup competitions for both men and women.

The Ball State University Libraries’ Atlas Collection on the second floor of Bracken Library includes over 3,000 atlases of numerous geographical topics and locations.  The maps and other charts and graphics from atlases offer unique visual aids for students writing papers, presentations, or other types of research and learning.

For more information about using maps as visual aids, please contact the GIS Research and Map Collection in Bracken Library at 765-285-1097.