Amidst all the fuss about the rapid growth of Twenty20 - good or bad - a major milestone in Test cricket is about to arrive: the 2000th match. As with the first, it is set to involve England, against India.
Back in the 1870s, overseas tours were not new, but rules were variable, especially in the number of players per side and in the murky world of secret professionalism. Indeed, where WG Grace was concerned, if he was paid to play and people paid to watch him, then even if his stumps were flattened by a legitimate ball, he would often refuse to go! The first official Test Match took place in Melbourne in March 1877 and was won by Dave Gregory's Australians by 45 runs. Apart from Charles Bannerman's 165 (retired hurt!), bowlers were very much on top. In 2011, I suspect that won't be the case. The run rate will certainly be greater but Test cricket is still capable of producing some exciting finishes and great entertainment.
It is a sign of the expansion of international cricket that the first thousand Tests spanned 107 years while the second thousand have taken fewer than twenty-seven years. Of course, in those old imperial days there were few nations actually taking part. It wasn't until 1889 that the cosy England-Australia duopoly was broken and South Africa joined the party. It was another thirteen years before the first Test took place without the involvement of England and the Aussies played a three-match series in South Africa. India, Pakistan, New Zealand and the West Indies would take much longer. Apart from the damage caused by two World Wars, the number of games played was also affected by the sheer logistics of touring. No long-distance flights in those days. A touring party had to take to the oceans. Now, India and Sri Lanka could knock off a few Tests and umpteen ODIs in the time it would take a liner to sail from Sydney to Southampton!
It took 83 years before the 500th Test was played, coincidentally also at the MCG and with he home side again triumphant, this time captained by Richie Benaud and beating the West Indies by seven wickets. However, the 1000th involved Pakistan and New Zealand at Hyderabad in November 1984. Two centuries from Javed Miandad and fourteen wickets snared by the spin duo of Iqbal Qasim and Abdul Qadir ensured a seven-wicket win by he home team.
The last 500 Tests have taken a mere eleven years to complete. There are now ten countries classified as Test playing teams by the ICC and hardly a week in the calendar passes without a five-day fixture somewhere on the globe. Number 1500 took place at Edgbaston and resulted in a West Indian rout of England, thanks largely to Courtney Walsh's bowling and runs from Jimmy Adams and a young Shivnarine Chanderpaul. An even younger Chris Gayle was dismissed for an eight-ball duck but the highest score by an Englishman in two innings was Nick Knight's 34!
So who has won the most Test matches to date. Well, at the time of writing - after 1998 games, Australia have that honour, victorious in 341 out of 730 played. England have participated in more games (911) yet have won only 322, barely one in three. The West Indies and India come next but are still well short of 500. India have one of the poorest percentages of victories (24%), a situation they are rapidly addressing! However, they have lost only 31% too, with the highest proportion of drawn matches of any Test-playing nation.
I am looking forward to the 2000th Test at Lord's, in which India and England meet as probably the two best teams in the world. The country who began the official notion of Test cricket 134 years ago against the 'colonial upstarts' who are now the team to beat and who are the most powerful in terms of administration and finance. I also look forward to the next 1000 Tests and hope the landmark is reached despite the surge in ODIs and T20s in around twenty years' time. Who will play the game? Afghanistan and Ireland?! Hmm, probably not, but whoever they are I trust it will be a competitive game played out before an enthusiastic live crowd.
