Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Cricket

Plans to get rid of more than a thousand articles about cricketers

Also, how you can help:

I'm sure most of you remember the WP:LUGSTUBS2 discussions. Some editors are trying to move forward with mass removal. One of them has produced lists of cricketers split by nationality on the village pump. Please take a look at these and try to add at least one non-database-type source to each of the listed articles. WhatamIdoing (talk) 02:36, 12 May 2025 (UTC)

Of the articles with the template Special draft pending, five are categorised as international cricketers so should be easy to source - Chandi Wickramasinghe Ankur Vasishta, Collette McGuiness, Champa Sugathadasa and Bilal Shah. Hack (talk) 03:09, 12 May 2025 (UTC)

I've worked through the list of 50 British cricketers. Several have already had sourcing added, and there are some that strike me as definite possibilities if anyone has the time or inclination (mainly Essex, Gloucestershire, and Surrey):

• David Gray (cricketer) – redirect to List of Cambridge University Cricket Club players#G for now. There's brief text at CricInfo and an obituary in 2004 Wisden, albeit brief. I imagine a suitably detailed search would probably find more on him (war service, Winchester, Cambridge). I imagine this could be extended
• Arthur Johnston (cricketer) – a candidate for expansion. Played rugby at a high level and there's a prose paragraph in CricInfo already. I suspect sources could be found. Initially I might redirect to List of Essex County Cricket Club players#J as he played the majority of his cricket for Essex
• Alison White (cricketer) – redirect to List of Gloucestershire County Cricket Club players#W initially. Notes say he won the DSO in 1916 and went to Cheltenham and Cambridge. Seems to have later been known as Gordon-White. Born at Sydney NSW. Seems likely that there's more detail here
• Charles Edwards (English cricketer) – certainly has the potential for development. Brief Wisden obit, but he was a colonel in the RASC, MC in 1917 and DSO in 1919. Went to Cheltenham. Born in South Africa. We could initially redirect to List of Gloucestershire County Cricket Club players#E, but this is certainly ripe for expansion
• Arthur Newnham – also played in India and for the Gentlemen. There's quite a detailed obit at Wisden. Army, lt-col, serving mainly abroad. Captained Malvern, so chances are more sources exist. We could redirect to List of Gloucestershire County Cricket Club players#N initially, but I'm fairly certain more sources exist
• Charles Morgan (Surrey cricketer) – quite a detailed Wisden obit and the chances are there will be others. We could redirect in the short term, but I imagine there is enough to develop the article. The redirect would be to List of Surrey County Cricket Club players#M
• Alfred Bashford – the prose at CricInfo suggests that more will be found here – church, Merchant Taylors, hockey, Cambridge etc... CricketArchive adds some detail and there's a brief Wisden obit. We could redirect to List of Middlesex County Cricket Club players#B in the short term, but there are almost certainly sources here
• Barrie Bennett – redirect to List of Cambridge University Cricket Club players#B. Seems to have been in the army so there may be more here
• Cecil Booth (cricketer) – redirect to List of Cambridge University Cricket Club players#B. Played for Surrey Second XI and presumably there will be war service, but nothing obviously stands out
• Charles Brereton (cricketer) – redirect to List of Cambridge University Cricket Club players#B. Was at Marlborough and the name is one of those that crops up in Norfolk sources, so there may well be something there
• Charles Calvert (Cambridge University cricketer) – redirect to List of Cambridge University Cricket Club players#C. Captained Shrewsbury, so there would well be some more to be found
• Alexander Cox (cricketer) – redirect to List of Cambridge University Cricket Club players#C probably. His brief Wisden obit says he was a "well known racehorse owner" so, given when he was alive, there may well be enough sources. Was at Harrow

This is copied from Wikipedia talk:Lugstubs 2 list. I've already gone through a lot of New Zealanders, and I think every Australian is a least a redirect Blue Square Thing (talk) 09:36, 13 May 2025 (UTC)

• For all the ones that have plausible redirects to team list articles, it makes so much more sense to redirect them rather than draftify them, as an WP:ATD. Joseph2302 (talk) 10:11, 13 May 2025 (UTC)

• Yes. This was mentioned several times in the original discussion I think. The alternative seems to be that it's moved to draft, I move it back - duplicating the article as the draft is not deleted -, and then redirect the article. Which seems a tonne of work. Redirect is what would almost certainly happen at an AfD I think Blue Square Thing (talk) 15:01, 13 May 2025 (UTC)

Not sure how helpful it is to have the lists at the Village Pump. Should there be a WP:Cric subpage for this? Also isn't very useful to have them in very long lists of 170 players. Did someone already clear letters E onwards? Anyway, here is the Australian list broken down into players by state, which could be useful if we are to just redirect them to the state by state lists of cricketers. The-Pope (talk) 17:12, 13 May 2025 (UTC)

Thanks for breaking the Australians down – that's really helpful. The British list is at Wikipedia talk:Lugstubs 2 list#British list. I'm currently working through the New Zealanders at User:Blue Square Thing/sandbox3#NZ – have 5 Wellingtonians, 16 Canterburians and an odd one to check for sources for. If anyone wants to take a look the list is there and I'll move it across to Wikipedia talk:Lugstubs 2 list when I'm done in a few weeks. Zimbabwe is a short list...

I think a limit of 1200 was set and the query used worked by first name, so that's why it only gets part way through D. I imagine the plan was to polish those off quickly and then do a lot more in the second tranche. This followed on from WP:LUGSTUBS which considered nearly 1000 Olympians. I've no idea how many of those were brought back into mainspace Blue Square Thing (talk) 19:03, 13 May 2025 (UTC)

Not sure about redirecting ones that have potential, like the colonel above. Then they become invisible and never get expanded :( AA (talk) 12:17, 22 May 2025 (UTC)

If we just started by redirecting the ones that BST has identified as being (apparently) hopeless, that would help a lot. WhatamIdoing (talk) 16:22, 22 May 2025 (UTC)

If you can throw a couple of references on to his article it'll help remove the tag rather than redirect. He's one I might get to once the majority of the redirection is done. The list, of course, will be there so can be revisited at any point Blue Square Thing (talk) 13:42, 25 May 2025 (UTC)

As a heads up, we've now got a date of 23 June 2025 for draftification to begin - assuming anyone can figure out an automatic way of doing so. There's a set of instructions at Wikipedia talk:Lugstubs 2 list#2025 procedure for how manage any redirects and ones where the template needs to be removed. There are lists by country with generally my recommendation at the same place. I should think I'll get to everything other than the Indians and Sri Lankans by that deadline (here are just too many from India and Sri Lanka for me to deal with easily). Blue Square Thing (talk) 13:42, 25 May 2025 (UTC)

I see that Blue Square Thing has started redirecting the Australian players to the state by state lists. Can I ask, to avoid them "becoming invisible", can the state category (ie Category:Victoria cricketers be left on the redirect page? I know it works, and I think it's allowed by the WP:LISTRCAT guideline. The-Pope (talk) 11:53, 2 June 2025 (UTC)

Yes, I'd like to add them back in, but I'm really concerned that I'm not going to have enough time to get to all of the articles that need to be redirected. My priority at this stage is to do the redirect quickly and then to try to find the opportunity to come back to them once I get the chance. I really appreciate that this is leaving work for other people to clean up, but the alternative is that we lose all these articles to a draft space limbo. I've probably got one or two days before the deadline that I can give even part of to this Blue Square Thing (talk) 12:30, 2 June 2025 (UTC)

A status report. NZ, Australian, South Africans (with cats - sorry, it was just as easy), Zimbabweans, and the odds and sods all done. British ones that need to be kept have had tags removed, but I'm leaving the others until last. I imagine that it'd be possible for two or three of those to be worked up to DYK level if someone could send a couple of hours on them. I might try and do that for one, but it would be an interesting experiment.

I've PRODed seven I think – ones that I don't think we'd be looking to keep these days and can't easily find suitable sources for. Keep an eye on the PROD list and feel free to remove if you think they're worthwhile, but I'm not sure it's worth sending these to draft really

This leaves: Pakistan, Bangladesh, Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, Trinidad. I have redirect targets set up where needed – all the West Indians and a few of the others. Then it's India, which someone has done a few of, and Sri Lanka. I really don't think I'll get to those lists in any sensible way. Blue Square Thing (talk) 10:45, 3 June 2025 (UTC)

I think it's good to leave cats on the redirects. WhatamIdoing (talk) 17:51, 3 June 2025 (UTC)

Update: All but the British, Indians, and Sri Lankans are done. I know what's probably happening to the British articles, so my calculation is that of the 805 articles that have been dealt with (excluding Indians and Sri Lankans), 695 have been redirected to a list of some kind or improved and removed from the list to draft, I've PRODed 7, which leaves 104 to send to draft. It's about 13.8% being drafted or PRODed. I've not calculated how many have been removed from the list. Sri Lankan lists are scarce, so that will probably increase the percentage. I'm not sure about the Indian lists Blue Square Thing (talk) 08:37, 4 June 2025 (UTC)

Good article reassessment for Murali Kartik

Murali Kartik has been nominated for a good article reassessment. If you are interested in the discussion, please participate by adding your comments to the reassessment page. If concerns are not addressed during the review period, the good article status may be removed from the article. Z1720 (talk) 01:04, 17 May 2025 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Featured article candidates/Roy Marshall/archive1

Hello all. Would anyone be willing to kindly review the FAC nom for Roy Marshall? Process has ground to a halt! Many thanks. AA (talk) 20:31, 19 May 2025 (UTC)

Reference request/query

Hello all. I was wondering if anyone could help with the below?

• A reference for the First Division of the National Men's League being the highest level of club cricket in Barbados?
• The date and location of Roy Marshall's funeral. I assume it took place in or near Taunton in November 1992?

Cheers! AA (talk) 22:37, 21 May 2025 (UTC)

Mercy Rule / Declaration

I stumbled on a reference to declaration in the article Mercy rule. I have left a proposal for removal on the talk page but I reckon the experts here would have a greater insight if anyone wishes to contribute. Thanks. Leaky caldron (talk) 17:29, 3 June 2025 (UTC)