Test Cricket Thread.

There are three forms of cricket as all followers know. For me there is only one pure format of the sport and that is Test class cricket. As it is played over five days rather than one all facets and skills of the cricketer are tested. Reason for the name.

My very first Test match experience was as a ankle-biter with my mother and older brother. It was during the 1974/5 Ashes at the iconic SCG. This was when Lillee and Thomson were at their firey best and gave the English batsmen a torrid time. I will never forget the feeling I got with thousands chanting Lillee as he pounded into the bowling crease arms whirling in his classic style. Thommo followed suit but he was all venom and looked like he did not bother harming any batsman.This pair were all but unplayable that summer and Australia overwhelmingly won the series.

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I'm with you on test cricket Swannie, never got to see a test, saw plenty of one/3 dayers back in the early 80's.
I saw M Marshall against Somerset in a W Indies warm up match,boy was he fast.

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Oh Swannie!..Hermano!..Test cricket IS cricket. ODI has developed into a credible game from it's circus like beginnings. I don't have Foxtel so I don't get to watch it. Men's 20/20 I have no interest in at all. Like the soccer/ football I love the women's game and I enjoy that immensely. Test and 20/20. But I grew up in Perth and Sydney so I had the luxury of seeing tests at the WACA and the SCG. I come from a long line of cricket and AFL psychos (Tragics or maniacs just doesn't cut it) So mate if you want to talk Cricket (or AFL) I'm your huckleberry. BY the way you may want to look up a book my nephew had published about the great "three Ws of Barbados" - Weekes, Worrel and Walcott - The front cover is below...

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I am with you all the way Swannie regarding the merits of test cricket...many memories of listening in on the radio with my father in his workshop as my mother would not have it on in the house...to this day I prefer radios Test Mach Special than tv coverage...only one real test series that really captures the imagination fully.....THE ASHES.

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I agree as well. Not just test cricket, though that is the finest of course, but even the one-day matches.

To watch a test match fully over five consecutive days requires a lot of time and perseverance (and money of course!) and, of course, you need to travel to the ground and usually book accommodation for the period.
I prefer to watch the highlights on the telly and, of course, you get a much better view of all the action than I believe you can see in any of the seats in the ground.
Of course, you don't experience the atmosphere. I understand that.

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I have never been to India - to one of their mega grounds. I've seen Lords and The Oval - empty. But I've never seen a test anywhere else but Australia. But I tell you if you only get one chance in your life, try to see an Ashes Test at The Gee at full capacity. It is almost overwhelming. Only once for me. The Centenary Test, MCG 1977 . I was very lucky to get a ticket. Never forget it.

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Precisely JBR watching test cricket on the tellie denies you the atmosphere that watching it live offers. Mind you there are also downsides.. like location.. sitting in the sweltering Aussie sun, uncomfortable plastic seats and waiting interminably in food and drink queues. Another downside, at least at my last live match at our iconic SCG.. was the drunken noise of The Richies.

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Has the ECB erred in allowing cricket too soon.. with the UK still having not eradicated Covid-19. Over 100 Brits are still dying every day. Still the first Test series in almost a year happened overnite in Southampton with England hosting the men from the Caribbean.

I have to say the next gen of English batsmen excited me.. the likes of Sibley, Pope and Burns for instance. Stokes will debut as skipper in the absence of Joe Root. A big moment for the Kiwi-born all rounder.

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