This site and its apps will now once more exist under a much loved, familiar old appellation, which never really went away
Last month we gathered in Mumbai to celebrate the first quarter-century of cricket in this millennium, and to honour the men and women who have embellished it. It was an evening of warm nostalgia and banter, deep reflections and new ideas. The ovation for Sachin Tendulkar, who was crowned the batter of the century by a jury of his peers, was a rousing finale. When he lauded this site’s part in “keeping the community together, and making the family larger” his words resonated deeply with the very essence of what we have always strived to be.
In the days leading up to the event, we received messages from other luminaries in cricket on how we fit into their lives. Ian Bishop spoke of falling in love with a website that became his instinctive first port of call. For Faf du Plessis, it was a buffet catering to his evolving needs as a player, captain and fan. Dale Steyn called us “the Google of cricket”, while Anil Kumble offered his thanks for StatsGuru and our exhaustive scorecard archive. Tom Moody valued us as an indispensable tool for coaching and media preparation, and Aakash Chopra said we were his ultimate one-stop shop. Rahul Dravid held that the quality of writing on our pages had fundamentally defined how cricket journalism has evolved over these last 25 years.
To all of us, for whom running the site and apps has been less a job than a way of life, these words were more than just profoundly humbling: they were a reminder of our privilege, and of the gravity of responsibility.
However, the purpose of recounting these tributes is not to indulge in self-congratulation but to frame a fundamental truth about our identity.
We didn’t pay it much attention then, but reading through them again later, one thing became palpably evident. Organically, spontaneously, and without exception, each of those former players referred to us simply as Cricinfo. It was natural for them to do so.
We suspect it is exactly the same for the millions of you who have made us a part of your daily cricket experience.
Now that Cricinfo is, officially, once again Cricinfo, you might reasonably ask: what is the fuss all about?
Cricinfo was conceived not in a boardroom, or via pie charts and Excel sheets. It began in the hearts of people who loved the game, driven not by a business plan but by an amateur spirit and a romantic vision: to publish cricket scores online in a time before the internet, as we recognise it today, even existed.
Over the years our masthead has adapted to the changing landscape: from Cricinfo to Wisdencricinfo, and then to ESPNcricinfo, for nearly two decades. Now, following an operational transition, we return to where we started.
We are Cricinfo once more.
Much has changed since the dial-up days, primarily because both the medium and the game have evolved breathlessly in the time since. T20, for example, has not merely extended the spread of cricket, it has revealed itself as a game of intense strategy and tactical rigour, demanding entirely new vocabularies of coverage. Technology has empowered us to meet these demands, allowing us to delve deeper into data and pioneer new forms of storytelling.
Recently you may have noticed a design refresh on the site that made it cleaner and more spacious – an effort to let our content breathe. Beneath the surface, the engineering has been relentless, ensuring faster score delivery and lighter page loads. We recently introduced vertical videos on our app, and the coming months will bring further enhancements, all designed to deepen your immersion in the game.
But amid these shifts in design, delivery and nomenclature, we can assure you that our essence stays unaltered. In heart and soul, in flesh and blood, and in journalistic orientation and intent, the site will remain a hundred per cent Cricinfo. The only parts that will change for you are the url and the logo.
You can now search for just “cricinfo” in the Play store and the App store. Of course, typing espncricinfo.com in your web browser, or clicking on a link that points to the old domain, will still bring you to the site.
Cricinfo was born out of a desire to keep you connected to the game we all love. That founding spirit is not just a legacy; it remains our sacred and inviolable pledge.
Courtesy: Cricinfo