Test Match Cricket – a brief history

Test cricket is the longest form of cricket and is considered to be the ultimate test of playing ability between competing nations.

Test matches are respected and tend to be the highest-regarded form of the game (although the relatively new One Day International and Twenty 20 formats are also highly popular).

Test cricket takes the name ‘Test’ from the idea that matches are a ‘test of strength and competency’ between the competing teams. The term seems to have been initially used to describe an English team touring Australia in 1861-2 (though these matches are not deemed test matches today).

March 15th 1877 was the date of the first official Test match, contested by England v Australia at Melbourne Cricket Ground. England lost by 45 runs. We did however win the second ever match – again hosted at Melbourne Cricket Ground – by 4 wickets, drawing the series 1-1.

Test cricket is typically played as a series of matches between two countries, with all matches in the series taking place in the host country. The number of matches in a series will vary between one and six. A perpetual trophy is often traded between a pair of teams when series between them are won or lost – the most famous of these being the Ashes series between England and Australia.

The Oval was the first ground in Britain and the second in the world to host test cricket.