To celebrate 150 years of Test cricket, the Melbourne Cricket Ground will host a one-off Test match between Australia and England in March 2027.
Today (August 18), Cricket Australia revealed tentative Test match schedules in the country until 2031. These include hosting England for “a standalone celebratory match” in Melbourne to “commemorate Test cricket's 150th anniversary”.
The exact dates of this Test have not been announced, but it is worth a mention that the first ever Test match began on March 15, 1877.
The first ever Test match
Led by James Lillywhite, an English cricket team toured Australia and New Zealand in 1876/77. Two of their first-class matches were against representative Australian XIs.
In his 1894 book Australian Cricket and Cricketers, cricket historian Clarence Moody compiled a list of Anglo-Australia matches that should get “test” status. These were subsequently recognised by the authorities. That list started with the two games mentioned above.
That made the Melbourne game that began on March 15, 1877, the first ever Test match. At 49 years 119 days, James Southerton was the oldest man in the Test match. He remains the oldest Test debutant – a record that is unlikely to be broken.
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Charles Bannerman faced the first ball (from Alfred Shaw), scored the first run, and hit the first fifty and hundred in Test cricket history before retiring hurt with 165. Australia made only 245, which meant Bannerman made 67.34 per cent of the runs – still a world record for an all-out innings in Test cricket.
Billy Midwinter then claimed 5-78 (the first ever Test match five-wicket haul) as England were bowled out for 196. Australia eventually won by 45 runs.
To commemorate a hundred years of that Test, the two teams played a one-off Test match from March 12, 1877. In a bizarre coincidence, Australia went on to win by exactly the same margin – 45 runs.
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