Test cricket

Lord Hawke: a leading English test cricketer in the early years

Australian test cricket team in 1928

Test cricket is the longest and oldest type of international cricket. The first officially recognized Test match took place on 15–19 March 1877 and was played between England and Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, where Australia won by 45 runs.

The early test matches were played by England against other sides in the British Empire. First test matches took place in these years:

• 1889 versus South Africa
• 1928 versus West Indies
• 1930 versus New Zealand
• 1932 versus India

Test matches eventually spread to other countries around the world. Later came One Day Internationals (ODIs) and Twenty20 internationals (T20s).

Test matches are a series of 5-day matches. Each team's two innings' scores are added to find the total runs. The team with more runs wins the match if the other team has completed both of their innings, with there being a tie if they have an equal number of runs; otherwise it is a draw.

Follow-on

Follow-on is a rule by which the team batting in second innings can be enforced to bat again just after the end of their first innings. The follow-on can be enforced by the team batted in the first innings only if their first-innings lead is at least 200 runs.

Minimum Lead Required

• When the test match length is 3 or 4 days, the minimum lead required to enforce follow-on is 150 runs.
• If the test match length is 2 days, the minimum lead required to enforce follow-on is 100 runs.
• When the test match is of a single day (extremely rare), the minimum lead reduces to 75 runs.

Timeless Test

Timeless Test matches are Test matches with no limit on the number of days the game can be played for.

Test Cricket Media

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  The earliest published photo of the Ashes urn, from The Illustrated London News, 1921

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  Test cricketers playing in their whites.