Published: Jul 20, 2011, 11:59 AM (IST)
Edited: Mar 28, 2014, 06:03 PM (IST)
By Dileep V
What began as a pastime in early medieval times among the farming and metal-working communities of the Weald (part of Kent and Sussex) is now a multi-billion dollar industry. First class matches to Tests to ODIs to T20s, the game has seen a sea change over the last century and a half.
With the advent of television and globalization one thought Test cricket will suffer an untimely death, what with all the other major sports in the world spanning less than 100 minutes. That Test cricket has survived is due to the unique flavour that this format offers.
We take a look at how Test cricket has evolved, the major innovations and records created and its sustenance in light of birth of ODIs and T20s. The first of the two-part series, cover the first 1000 Tests, while Part II will deal with the next 1000.
Early days till first Test (1877)
In the 17th and 18th centuries, there were two main forms of cricket – single and double-wicket. In single -wicket, there was only one batsman, where teams of threes or fives participated. The double-wicket form had two batsmen and eleven-a-side teams playing two innings each – a format that has evolved into present day cricket.
The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) produced its first Code of Laws on May 30, 1788. However, the MCC’s version of the laws faced quite a bit of opposition.
In 1877, an England team led by James Lillywhite toured Australia and played a match against a combined Australian XI raised by the New South Wales and Victoria authorities, that are now regarded as being cricket’s first official Test. The match was a timeless game with four balls per over. Australia won the match by 45 runs with Charles Bannerman becoming the first batsman to score a run in Test cricket and subsequently the first to score a century.
Innovations:
. Standardisation of the weight of the ball, width of the bat, length of stumps and bails.
. Introduction of ‘leg before wicket’ and follow-on rule.
Major records:
. Formation of Professional County clubs starting with Sussex in 1839.
. First-ever international cricket game played between USA and Canada in 1844 at St. George’s
Cricket Club in New York
. English professionals set off on a first-ever overseas tour to North America in 1859
Between 1st Test (1877) and the 500th Test (1961)
It took 84 years for Test cricket to reach the milestone of 500 Tests, with 10 of those years lost to the War. Australia and England had already played against each other 30 times, when South Africa became the third Test playing nation in August 1889.
This period saw the birth and rise of Sir Don Bradman, unarguably the best batsmen in Test cricket. He finished his career with the then record of 6996 runs at a superhuman average of 99.94. He also had 29 hundreds to his name.
The controversial Bodyline series where Douglas Jardine’s tactic of using Harold Larwood to bowl short deliveries to the Australians, especially Bradman, on the leg stump provoked outrage in 1933.
In 1960, barely two weeks after the first-ever tied Test in Brisbane, Australia and West Indies met in Melbourne in what was to be the 500th Test match.
Innovations:
. MCC came up with a new code of laws in 1884 where the 11 players per side rule was fixed and a batsman was out lbw only if the ball pitched in line with the stumps.
. In 1889, the number of balls in an over was increased from four to five in England, and bowlers were barred from bowling consecutive overs. Australia changed to six-ball overs two years later.
. Six-ball over was made mandatory by The MCC in England in 1900.
. In 1912, Australia, England and South Africa played in a triangular Test series in England with each team playing against the other three times.
. Australia introduced eight-ball overs in Tests in 1922.
. A major adjustment to the lbw law was added in 1937. A batsman was given out if the ball pitched outside off stump and if they would go on to hit the stumps.
. The England and Australia Test match of 1938 at Lord’s was the first to be televised on television by the BBC.
Major records:
. Australian Frederick Spofforth claimed the first Test hat-trick – against England in Melbourne, January 1879.
. The Ashes, cricket’s premier rivalry between the two oldest sides, was born in 1882.
. Billy Murdoch of Australia became the first double-centurion in Test Cricket when he scored 211 against England at the Oval in August 1884.
. On July 17, 1893 at Lord’s Arthur Shrewsbury of England became the first batsman to reach 1000 runs in Tests.
. England’s left-arm spinner Johnny Briggs became the first bowler to take 100 wickets in Tests against Australia, at the Sydney in 1895.
. England’s Tip Foster scored 287 on debut against Australia, still a record, in Sydney in 1903.
. Australia’s Clem Hill became the first batsman to get to 2000 runs in Tests in Adelaide in 1903. He reached the 3000 run mark seven years later.
. West Indies become the fourth Test playing nation when they faced England on June 23, 1928 at Lord’s.
. On January 10, 1930 New Zealand become the fifth Test playing nation when the visiting England team played against them in Christchurch and in June 1932 India made their Test debut, at Lord’s.
. Len Hutton smashes a record-breaking 364 against Australia in the fifth Test at oval in 1938
. Pakistan make their Test debut becoming Test cricket’s seventh entrant. They played against India in Delhi on October 16, 1952
. Jim Laker became the first bowler in Tests to take all 10 wickets in an innings against Australia at Old Trafford in July 1956.
. West Indies’ Gary Sobers smashed a world record unbeaten 365 at Sabina Park against Pakistan in March 1958.
. Australia and West Indies are involved in the first tied Test match at Brisbane in 1960.
501st Test (1961) and 1000th Test (1984)
The 1000th Test in cricket’s history was played between Pakistan and New Zealand in Hyderabad, Sind. If the first 500 took 84 years to come, the next 500 was achieved in 23 years.
The period saw the ouster of South Africa from playing cricket on the back of their government’s practice of apartheid and its board’s only-white players policy.
When the first three days of the 1971 third Test between Australia and England were washed out officials decided to abandon the match and, instead, play a one-off one day game consisting of 40 eight-ball overs per side leading to the birth of ODIs.
England and Australia also marked the 100th year of Test cricket by clashing at the same venue – Melbourne – in 1977. Coincidentally it produced the similar result as the first Test – Australia winning by 45 runs.
Innovations:
. In 1969, the front-foot rule was brought in to counter bowlers who took longer strides in the crease. According to the rule – “the bowler’s back foot must land within and not touching the return crease and the front foot must land with some part of the foot, whether grounded or raised, behind the popping crease.”
. The birth of ODI cricket in 1971 in Melbourne
. The end of the eight-ball overs as Australia changed to a six-ball over format in 1979
Major records:
. Fred Trueman became the first bowler to take 300 Test wickets, against Australia at The Oval in 1964.
. 1980 marked a 15 years of dominance of West Indies in Test Cricket where they went undefeated in 29 series.
. Sri Lanka became the eight Test playing nation when they faced England in Colombo in February 1982.
. India’s Sunil Gavaskar became the first man to score 30 hundreds in Test cricket in 1983.
(To be continued)
(Dileep.V is a Scouser fan, Sports freak, Movie buff, Laggard Quizzer and dreams of setting foot on Anfield one day)
