In today’s weekend blog, I am writing about cricket, and that too about TEST CRICKET. On 15th March 2023, the test cricket completed 146 years. On 15th March 1877, teams of England and Australia played the first ever test match at Melbourne Cricket Stadium, in Australia.. India started playing test cricket in 1932, and it took them 20 years to register their first win.
From 1877 till 15th March 2023, there are 12 nations playing test cricket, and to date, they have played 2499 test matches. In 1971 one day format, and in 2004 T20 format started, which made the game of cricket more exciting. But they could not replace the text cricket, because the class and caliber of a real cricketer are judged by how he plays test cricket.
On 17th March 2023, New Zealand and Sri Lanka will play the 2500th test match at Wellington in New Zealand.
Given below are some records of test cricket, which are not known to many cricket lovers:
1 From the 2499 test matches, England has played maximum tests -1060, Australia has won maximum tests-405, England has lost maximum tests- 318, England participated in 354 draw tests, and to date 2 test matches ended in a tie.
2 Recently New Zealand won a test match against England by only one run, and that too after following on in the first innings, and this is the lowest winning margin, on a run basis.
3 The biggest victory margins- innings and 579 runs, when England beat Australia in 1938, and by 675 runs when England beat Australia in 1928.
4 Lowest victory margin- by runs- West Indies beat Australia by one run in 1993, and New Zealand beat England by 1 run in 2023. By wickets- England beat Australia by one wicket in 1902.
5 Highest run scored by a team in an inning- on 6th August 1997, Sri Lanka scored 952 runs in 271 overs against India. Sanath Jaisuriya scored 340 runs and Roshan Mahanama scored 225 runs in this inning. Sri Lanka made this score in the 2nd innings of the test match.
6 Highest score scored by teams, innings-wise- in the first innings England scored 903/7 against Australia in 1938. In the second innings as described above Sri Lanka scored against India 952/6. In the third innings- New Zealand scored 680/8 against India in 2014. In the fourth innings- England scored 654/5 against South Africa in 1939.
7 Lowest score in an inning- New Zealand scored only 26 runs against England in 1955.
Some other interesting test records:
A South Africa scored 30 runs in only 12.3 overs. This is the record for the least number of balls bowled in a completed inning.
B Maximum test matches played in one ground- Lord’s ground in England has hosted 143 test matches to date.
C New Zealand hit 22 sixes against Pakistan at Sharjah, which is the record for the number of sixes in an inning of a test match.
D India hit 37 sixes against South Africa at Vishakhapatnam in 2019, which is a record for the number of sixes hit by a team in attest match.
E In a match between West Indies and Pakistan in 1977, 173 extra runs were conceded by both teams. This is the record for the number of extras in a test match.
F Winning the test match after following on – England achieved this distinction twice when they beat Australia by 10 runs in 1894, and by 18 runs in 1981. India beat Australia in 2001 by 171 runs, and lastly as mentioned above when New Zealand beat England by 1 run.
G Biggest Rivalory – It is between England and Australia, till date they have played 144 series involving 340 matches. Australia has won 140 tests, England has won 108 tests, and 92 tests were drawn.
H Top all-rounders in test cricket- Gary Sobers of West Indies- He has played 93 tests, scored 8032 runs, and taken 235 wickets. Another is Jacque Kallis of South Africa- he has played 166 tests, scored 13,289 runs, and taken 292 wickets.
I Top batsmen in test cricket- Sachin Tendulkar has the following records in his name- the highest number of runs 15921, the highest number of Centuries-51, the highest number of 50+ scores-119. Don Bradman- highest number of double centuries 12, triple centuries 2. Brain Lara is the only test batsman who has scored 400 runs in a test inning.
J Top test bowlers- M Muralidaran (Sri Lanka) has taken 800 wickets in 133 tests. Shane Warne(Australia) has taken 708 wickets in 145 tests. JM Anderson (England) has taken 685 wickets in 179 tests. Anil Kumble (India) has taken 619 wickets in 132 tests.
Some other individual test records
a Jasprit Bumrah (India) hit 35 runs in an over against Stuart Broad (England). This is the maximum number of runs scored in an over in a test match.
b Shane Warne (Australia) has scored 3154 runs in test cricket with the highest of 99 runs. He is the only cricketer who has scored more than 3000 runs without scoring a century.
C Rahul Dravid (India) is the only fielder (other than wicketkeepers) who has taken 200+ catches in the test matches, his tally is 210 catches in 164 tests.
For the last few years, there have been World Test Cricket series which is played between test-playing nations. In the first series New Zealand beat India. This year final of the second season will be played between Australia and India.
So this was some interesting information and records about test cricket.
Waiting for your views on this blog.
Anil Malik
Mumbai, India
17th March 2023
Prakash mahadalkar
Great information on cricket for all cricket lovers !!