Test cricket turns 146 today: Sachin is the century emperor, Muralitharan is the wicket-king; Learn interesting facts and records of this format
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The longest and challenging format of cricket, Test cricket turns 146 today. On 15 March 1877, the teams of England and Australia clashed at the Melbourne Cricket Stadium for the first time at the international level. International cricket also started since then. India played a Test match for the first time in 1932 and took 20 years to register their first win.
From 1877 to 15 March 2023, 12 countries around the world started playing Test cricket. Who has played a total of 2499 matches so far. In 1971, the format of ODI and T20 cricket also came in 2004. Which has made the test even more interesting. In the next story on the 146th anniversary of Test cricket, we will know the top batsman, bowler and all-rounder of this format. Along with this, we will also know some such records and facts about which very few people know…
England most successful team
So far 2499 matches have been played in Tests, out of which 1711 results came out. 2 matches were tied and 786 matches ended in a draw. England played the most 1060 matches, while Australia won the most 405. England has also lost the maximum 318 matches.
India started Test cricket after 55 years
Team India stepped into International Cricket for the first time on 24 June 1932. The team played a match against England, in which we lost. In 1952, Team India got its first win in this format. The team defeated England by an innings and 8 runs.
India has played 569 matches in this format so far. In 172 wins and 175 losses the team got. There was also one match tie and 221 Test draws. India has defeated Australia the most 32 times. On the other hand, England has defeated us the maximum number of 50 Tests. India’s top score in Tests is 759 runs, which the team made against England. At the same time, Team India’s smallest score is 36 runs, which is made against Australia.
See here the top teams of the test…
2500th match will be held on March 17
Two days later, on Friday, March 17, the last match of the 2 Test series between New Zealand and Sri Lanka will be played in Wellington. Which will be the 2500th match of Test cricket. New Zealand won the first Test by 2 wickets on the last ball.
New Zealand won the 2 Test series 1-1 against England at home just a few days back. New Zealand won the last match of this series by just one run after following on. Which is also the record for the smallest win in terms of runs in Test cricket.
See here the records of the biggest and smallest victory in the Test.
When Team India bowled 271 overs
On August 6, 1997, in the Colombo Test, Sri Lanka scored 952 runs at the loss of 6 wickets by batting the entire 271 overs against India. Which is the biggest score ever made in Test cricket. Sri Lanka’s Sanath Jayasuriya scored 340 and Roshan Mahanama single-handedly scored 225 runs in this match. 3 Indian bowlers bowled more than 70 overs in this test.
Sri Lanka made this score in the second innings, while India declared their first innings at a score of 537/8.
See in the next graphic the biggest scores ever made in all four innings of the Test…
Now take a look at some interesting team records…
- South Africa were all out for just 30 runs in 12.3 overs against England in 1924. This is the record for being dismissed in the fewest balls.
- The maximum number of matches on one ground were held at the Lord’s ground in England, where 143 Test matches have been played so far.
- New Zealand hit the most 22 sixes in an innings in the Sharjah Test against Pakistan in 2014. This match was won by New Zealand only.
- In 2019 Visakhapatnam Test match between India and South Africa had the maximum number of 37 sixes. India won this test.
- During the 1977 West Indies-Pakistan match, the highest number of 173 runs in a Test went from extras. Which is the world record for most extras in a Test.
4 teams have won matches after follow-on
Test cricket is played in four innings, with the team batting first batting first in the third innings and the team batting later batting again in the fourth innings. The 5-day game also has a follow-on rule. According to this, if the team batting in the second innings lags behind the score of the team batting first by 200 or more runs. So the team batting first can follow-on them in the third innings and call them for batting again. That is, a team can bat 2 times in a row.
In the event of a follow-on, the batting team is trailing by a huge margin. It is very difficult to win in such a situation. But there have been 4 matches in Test cricket when the team won the match even after facing the follow-on. England beat Australia twice in 1894 and 1981 by margins of 10 and 18 runs.
India defeated Australia by 171 runs in 2001 and New Zealand beat England by one run 20 days ago on 24 February. New Zealand equaled the West Indies in the margin of victory by the lowest run margin with a win after the follow-on. Windies beat Australia by one run in 1993.
New Zealand beat England by a one-run margin after following-on the previous day. England’s James Anderson was caught by wicketkeeper Tom Blundell off New Zealand’s Neil Wagner as the last wicket.
Test cricket’s biggest rivalry
Test cricket started in 1877 with the match between the two teams. The biggest and longest rivalry of this format is also going on between those two teams. The name of this rivalry between Australia and England is ‘The Ashes’ series. Every year and a half, both the teams go to each other’s house and play a series of 5 Tests.
On 30 December 1882, a 3 test series was played for the first time in both. Since then there have been a total of 144 series. Overall, 340 matches were played in The Ashes between the two. Australia won by 140 and England by 108. There have also been 92 Test draws between the two. Now in July once again there will be a Test series between the two in England, which will be the 145th Ashes.
This photo is of the Test match of the 1882 Ashes series between Australia and England.
New Zealand is the first world champion of Test
Till 2020, only bilateral series were played in the longest format of cricket which started 146 years ago. A team would go to another country and play a series and by March-April the team which was number-1 in the ICC rankings was given a Test mace as an award. But the World Test Championship (WTC) final in 2021 broke this practice and gave the world its first world champion of this format.
The WTC final was played between India and New Zealand at The Oval ground in England from 18 to 23 June. New Zealand won the match by 8 wickets and earned the distinction of becoming the first world champions of Tests. Now from June 7 to 11, the final of the WTC will be held in England for the second time. This time Australia’s challenge will be in front of the previous finalist Team India. Which India has defeated in the last 4 consecutive Test series by a margin of 2-1. In such a situation, this match is also expected to be interesting.
The New Zealand cricket team with the World Test Championship trophy.
Now know about the top players of Test…
Sobers-Kallis top all-rounder
Gary Sobers is the top all-rounder in Tests. He has taken 235 wickets in 93 Tests for the West Indies, scoring 8032 runs. He was followed by Jacques Kallis of South Africa, who took 13289 runs in 166 Tests and took 292 wickets, taking the test all-rounder to new heights.
There are also some other top all-rounders in Tests, including Ian Botham of England with 5200 runs in 102 Tests and 383 wickets, Richard Hadlee of New Zealand with 3125 runs in 86 Tests and 431 wickets, India’s Kapil Dev in 131 Tests 5248 runs with 431 wickets and Imran Khan of Pakistan has taken 362 wickets with 3807 runs in 88 Tests.
Test’s top batter…
Test’s top bowler…
Take a look at these personal records as well…
- Jasprit Bumrah of India scored 35 runs in an over against Stuart Broad of England in 2022. This is the most runs scored in one over.
- Australia’s Shane Warne has scored 3154 runs in 145 Tests. His best score was 99. This is the world record for most runs in a career without scoring a century.
- India’s Rahul Dravid has taken 210 catches in 164 Tests. No one has caught more catches than him in Test cricket.
Future of Test cricket in jeopardy
After the advent of T20 and franchise cricket, questions have started to arise about the existence of Test cricket. To say that now 12 countries play it, but only teams from selected countries are now able to give top level performance in this format. India, Australia, England, New Zealand, South Africa, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan are the selected teams.
Even in selected countries, many countries play only 5-6 Tests in a year. The focus of the players of many countries has now become only on franchise cricket, due to which the arrival of new players in this format has also decreased. But some series like WTC, The Ashes, Border-Gavaskar Trophy, India-England Test are still working to make this format interesting. In such a situation, it will be important to see how the future of the most challenging format of cricket will be.
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Kohli’s world record: Only cricketer to win POTM 10+ times in all three formats
Virat Kohli played a tremendous inning of 186 runs in 364 balls in the last Test against Australia. He received the Player of the Match award for this innings. With this, Kohli took a world record in his name. Kohli has become the first player in the world to win the Player of the Match award 10 or more times in all three formats (Test, ODI and T20). to read full news click here…
India in the final of WTC for the second time in a row
After Sri Lanka’s defeat at the hands of New Zealand in the Christchurch Test, India has reached the final of the WTC, ie the World Test Championship. In the title match, the Indian team will face Australia from June 7 to June 11. to read full news click here…
