Editing Culture of Australia (section)

===Cricket===
{{Main|Cricket in Australia}}
[[File:MCG-1864.JPG|thumb|left|Cricket match at the [[Melbourne Cricket Ground]], 1860s]]
[[Cricket]] is Australia's most popular summer sport and has been played since colonial times. It is followed in all states and territories, unlike the football codes which vary in popularity between regions.<ref>[http://annualreport.cricketaustralia.com.au/ceos-report Cricket Australia Annual Report 2014-15] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170224231059/http://annualreport.cricketaustralia.com.au/ceos-report/ |date=24 February 2017 }} Cricket Australia. Retrieved on 15 December 2015</ref>

[[File:Bradman c.1928.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Donald Bradman]] is often cited as statistically the greatest sportsman of any major sport.]]
The first recorded cricket match in Australia took place in Sydney in 1803. [[Intercolonial cricket in Australia|Intercolonial contests]] started in 1851<ref name=PictorialHistory>{{cite book |last=Pollard |first= Jack|title=The Pictorial History of Australian Cricket|year=1986 |publisher= J.M Dent Pty Ltd & Australian Broadcasting Corporation|location=Boronia |isbn=0-86770-043-2|edition= revised}}</ref> and [[Sheffield Shield]] inter-state cricket continues to this day. In 1866–67, prominent cricketer and [[Australian rules football]] pioneer [[Tom Wills]] coached an Aboriginal cricket team, which later [[Australian Aboriginal cricket team in England in 1868|toured England in 1868]] under the captaincy of [[Charles Lawrence (cricketer)|Charles Lawrence]]. The 1876–77 season is notable for a match between a combined [[XI (cricket)|XI]] from New South Wales and Victoria and a [[English cricket team in Australia and New Zealand in 1876–77|touring English team]] at the [[Melbourne Cricket Ground]], which was later recognised as the first [[Test cricket|Test match]].<ref name=CricketColosseum>{{cite book |last=Piesse |first= Ken|author-link=Ken Piesse |title=Cricket Colosseum:125 Years of Test Cricket at the MCG|year=2003 |publisher= Hardie Grant|location=South Yarra|isbn=978-1-74066-064-8}}</ref> A famous victory on the [[Australian cricket team in England and the United States in 1882|1882 tour of England]] resulted in the placement of a satirical [[obituary]] in an English newspaper saying that English cricket had "died", and the "body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia". The English media then dubbed the next English tour to Australia ([[English cricket team in Australia in 1882–83|1882–83]]) as the quest to "regain the ashes".<ref name=AshesAnthology>{{cite book |last=Arnold|first= Peter|author2=Wynne-Thomas, Peter |title=An Ashes Anthology:England v. Australia|year=1989 |publisher= Simon and Schuster|location=Brookvale|isbn=978-0-7318-0105-3}}</ref> This success of the national cricket team ignited sport nationalism in the Australian population, and ultimately helped pave the way for political federation.<ref>{{Harvnb|Vamplew & Stoddart|ref=CITEREFVamplew|p=5}}</ref> The tradition continues with [[the Ashes]] series, an icon of the sporting rivalry between the two countries.

Australian cricket developed more distinctive traditions after 1900, paralleling the federation of the country in 1901, which helped stimulate pride for "Australian things".<ref>{{Harvnb|Vamplew & Stoddart|ref=CITEREFVamplew|p=62}}</ref> Successful cricketers often become lasting celebrities in Australia. Sir [[Donald Bradman]], who made his Test debut in the [[English cricket team in Australia in 1928–29|1928–29 series]] against England, is regarded as the game's greatest batsman and a byword for sporting excellence.<ref name="Bradman">{{cite web
| url = http://content-aus.cricinfo.com/ci/content/player/4188.html
| title = Sir Donald Bradman
| publisher = [[Cricinfo]]
| access-date = 4 April 2007
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120212191148/http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/player/4188.html
| archive-date = 12 February 2012
| url-status = dead
}}</ref> Other Australian cricketers who remain household names include [[Richie Benaud]], [[Dennis Lillee]] and [[Shane Warne]] and others who pursued media careers after they retired from the game. Internationally, Australia has for most of the last century sat at or near the top of the cricketing world. In the 1970s, Australian media tycoon [[Kerry Packer]] founded [[World Series Cricket]] from which many international forms of the game have evolved.

Events on the cricket pitch have occasionally been elevated to diplomatic incidents in Australian history, such as the infamous [[Bodyline]] controversy of the 1930s, in which the English team bowled in a physically intimidating way leading to accusations of ''unsportsmanlike'' conduct.<ref name=Jardine>{{cite book
| last =Douglas
| first =Christopher
| title =Douglas Jardine: Spartan Cricketer
| publisher =Methuen
| year = 2002
| isbn = 978-0-413-77216-9
}}</ref>