Anupama Nair
Cricket is my favorite sport and for many in the British Commonwealth countries, as it was invented by the British, and became popular in the countries ruled by them. Test cricket is the form of the sport of cricket with the longest match duration i.e., five days and is the true test of a batsman or bowler’s calibre for the entire five days. Each team play two innings and the team which performs well wins… though not always, as matches can be drawn as well. In the long history of test cricket, for the first time, a World Test Championship winner was crowned in June this year.
The winner of the World Test Championship is not New Zealand but the ICC and the famous English Summer and perhaps the unplayable pitch. The highest score of the match was a mere 249 made by New Zealand. English weather is harsh and perhaps ICC should have known with the World Cup 2019, with many matches being abandoned. Did ICC go the Tughlaq way in planning? The two teams played brilliantly for two years and it was a major disappointment. New Zealand was only slightly better and lucky to get home-like conditions, when the pitch should have been made neutral. Now, that the second edition of WTC was inaugurated, I hope we get a clear winner.
Now I am going take you down memory lane to the history of Test Cricket. India is a country where cricket is very popular and cricketers are treated as Gods. Cricket is most popular in India and Pakistan. The movie Lagaan was a super hit because of the Cricket theme and villagers defeating the mighty British. The first officially recognized Test match took place between 15 and 19 March 1877 and was played between England and Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), Australia, with Aussies winning the match comfortably. In those days even United States and Canada played cricket.
Cricket was introduced to India by the British East India Company in the 18th Century. The first Cricket Club was established in 1792. In 1848, the Parsi community in Bombay, formed the Oriental Cricket Club, the first cricket club to be established by the Indians. After slow beginnings, the Europeans eventually invited the Parsi’s to play a match in 1877. By 1912, people of all religions of Bombay played a quadrangular tournament with the Europeans every year. In the early 1900s, some Indians went on to play for the England cricket team. Some of these, such as Maharaja Ranjit Singh and Duleep Singh were greatly appreciated by the British and in 1911, an Indian team went on their first official tour of the British Isles but only played English county teams and not in the England cricket team.
(to be continued…)
