Test Match Cricket is the highest form of Cricket played. It is an international sport which takes place as a series between two teams representing their respective countries. Each team bats for two innings of unlimited duration in each match, and the team with the higher score wins. As you know, Cricket is played in three formats, Test cricket, ODIs, and T-20s. But earlier, when Cricket was originated, there was only one format that was Test cricket. Therefore, all the matches would happen in test format only. A Test match is an important format for each country to play well. Thus today, you will get to know all about test cricket and its history.
First Test Match
The first official Test match was played in 1877 by Australia and England. Earlier in the days, only a few international happened, and among them, these two were cricket giants who used to play really good Cricket. Thus the first ever test match started on 15 March 1877, in which Australia dominated and won the test match by 45 runs. They established their name in the history of Cricket by playing and winning the first official test matches. The match was played in Eastern Ground of Melbourne, and the Australian team was led by Dave Gregory, whereas England played under James Lilywhite.
From 1877 England and Australia started touring each country to play a series of Test matches, and that is how international test cricket was started. Many matches took place before 1877 between the Australian side and England, but It was not recorded and was not given the status of a test match. But finally, in 1877 match between the Australian 11 and England 11 was historic, and thousands of people were present to witness this historic moment.
How Is The Test Match Played?
So what is test match in cricket and how it is played? Earlier in the late 18th century, the test cricket was six to eight days. The ICC was formed in 1909 and decided to play Tests over five-day periods. However, they can now last up to six days because of poor weather conditions or other external factors that put pressure on cricket authorities to reschedule games. In a Test match, the teams play two innings of unlimited duration; Cricket fans mostly don’t care about the duration of one innings or the other. Instead, most of them are interested in how many runs are scored by both teams. If both teams score the same number of runs when they have played their second innings, the match is declared a draw.
Some of the rules keep on changing, but some of the common rules don’t change, such as innings duration. The test match is played in innings, and there are two innings per team. To give proper time to rest and refresh, ICC decided to consist of an inning in three breaks, and these breaks are called sessions. Thus, a single day of Test cricket consists of three sessions: morning, afternoon, and evening. The five-day test match means that players would play four innings and fifteen sessions to get to the result of the match.
Rules Of Test Cricket Match
The test match is different from the other two formats of Cricket, and thus its rule varies a little bit from them. If one wants to learn more about test matches, he has to understand its rules first. Some of the basic rules of test match are
- The test match consists of five to seven hours of play in a single day of the test match and a total of around 30 to 35 hours in a match.
- There are, on average, 90 overs of Cricket in single-day test cricket. However, the field umpires can vary the overs.
- After every session of test cricket, there are shorter breaks of 20,40,20 minutes. The breaks are for the tea and lunch periods.
- The international test match is played with the red leather ball, and players wear white trousers and t-shirts as a dress for a test match.
- There are two umpires on the field of Cricket, and the final decision of Cricket remains in their hands. They can increase or decrease the session duration according to the bad weather and some other issue in a match.
The test match is also referred to as the classic format of Cricket as it demands more fitness and skills than any other format. The players need to have the fitness to spend more time on the crease to score maximum runs. In addition, the playing field and bats for hours in every kind of weather; thus, it requires more endurance than any other game.