History Of Test Cricket

Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. The first official cricket Test match in history began in March, 1877 between an established English team and a newly-formed Australian squad at the Melbourne Cricket ground. It finished in a 45-run win for Australia.

Thirteen Test Matches were played between Australian and English sides. Most were not styled as representative “England v. Australia” contests, however this description was only applied later by cricket statisticians. The same is true of their designation as “Test matches”, which did not enter into the vernacular until 1885.                        

The laws of cricket are established by the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and describe the rules worldwide to ensure uniformity and fairness. Some rules are like; in men’s cricket the ball must weigh between 5.5 and 5.75 ounces (155.9 and 163 g) and measure between 8 13/16 and 9 in (22.4 and 22.9 cm) in circumference.                                    

Early cricketers played in their everyday clothes and had no protective equipment such as gloves or pads. The term “bat” remained comparatively rare until about 1720. The terms in more general use were “staff”, “stave” or “stick”. In early cricket, there were two umpires as now, but the modern square-leg umpire stood close to the striker’s wicket. Both umpires carried a bat which the running batsman was required to touch in order to complete his run.

There have been great wins in the test matches, one of which was the when England defeated Australia by 675 runs in the 1928-29 season. There were also many individual high scorers like Brian Lara scored 400 runs against England in 2003-04 season.

The first trophy awarded in the game of cricket was The Ashes. The Ashes urn is a small urn made of terracotta and standing 11 cm high, believed to contain the ashes of a burnt cricket bail. Some other trophies awarded in the test cricket series are Anthony De Mello Trophy, Wisden Trophy, Frank Worrell Trophy, etc.

There are various beautiful stadiums built across the world, some of which are The Lord’s Stadium, London, Queenstown Event Centre, New Zealand. Cricket is the most famous game among Indians. The cricket players are followed which is a reason why they are frequently offered to be the face of various products that come up in the market.