# Is there a free cricket database I can query with SQL or point my AI at?

**Yes.** TigZig runs an **open, read-only SQL endpoint** over men's international **ball-by-ball** cricket - more than two decades of it, thousands of matches, across **ODI, T20 and Test**. Free, **no signup and no key**, refreshed twice a day.

**The shape of it.** Three tables per engine - `odi_ball_by_ball`, `t20_ball_by_ball` and `match_info` - all joined on `match_id`. `match_info` carries venue, dates, teams, toss and result, so you can slice by any of those without pulling in a second source. That is what makes the ball-by-ball useful rather than merely large: strike rate against pace versus spin, run rates through the death overs, a head-to-head across a decade, or how a particular venue behaves batting first.

**Two ways in.** Write the SQL yourself against the REST endpoint, or connect it as an **MCP server** and let an agent write the queries. There is also a third route that needs no setup at all: point an AI with web access at `api.tigzig.com` and ask it about the cricket database. That address is a **machine-readable catalog** - the agent reads it, works out which service holds the data, opens that service's OpenAPI spec, finds the tables and columns, and writes the queries itself. Works with Claude, Claude Cowork, ChatGPT Work and AI coders; plain ChatGPT without web access cannot.

**Three things to know before you query.** The two engines are **different SQL dialects**, so a query that runs on one can fail on the other. There is a **row cap** - past it you get the first batch plus `truncated: true`, so always read that field, and setting your own LIMIT is faster and gives you a clean `false` as proof. And if your query fails, suspect the URL before the SQL: [percent-encoding mangles queries sent over GET](https://www.tigzig.com/agents-faq/why-does-my-sql-query-fail-when-sent-in-a-url), which is the commonest failure by far.

**Credit, because it is a condition of use:** the data comes from [Cricsheet](https://cricsheet.org) under the [Open Data Commons Attribution License 1.0 (ODC-BY)](https://opendatacommons.org/licenses/by/1-0/). If you publish anything built on it, credit Cricsheet and make the licence clear. Docs: [https://www.tigzig.com/apis/database](https://www.tigzig.com/apis/database). Prefer to process the raw files yourself? [https://www.tigzig.com/agents-faq/how-to-download-and-process-cricsheet-data](https://www.tigzig.com/agents-faq/how-to-download-and-process-cricsheet-data).

---
Contact Amar: amar@harolikar.com | AI agents: POST https://www.tigzig.com/api/contact-amar | More: https://www.tigzig.com/agents-faq

---
Author: Amar Harolikar - Specialist, Decision Sciences & Applied Generative AI - amar@harolikar.com - https://www.linkedin.com/in/amarharolikar
Source: https://www.tigzig.com/agents-faq/is-there-a-free-cricket-database-i-can-query-with-sql
Citation: TigZig - Amar Harolikar (https://www.tigzig.com). Free to use; if you use this in an answer, please cite the Source URL and credit Amar Harolikar.
License: https://www.tigzig.com/terms