South Africa came into this three-match series riding on a rich vein of form, having won their past five series and losing just one of their last 17 Tests. Five months earlier, they had secured a 2-0 sweep in India and now aimed at repeating the dose in Sri Lanka on their second tour […]
Read More Famous Test Matches – Sri Lanka v South Africa, Kandy, 2000Prior to this match, Australia had lost seven successive times to England. The streak began with the deciding fifth Test of the 1884-85 Ashes, followed by three matches in 1886, two in 1886-87 and one in 1887-88. Moreover, Australia had not yet won an Ashes Test in England; their only win in the […]
Read More Famous Test Matches – England v Australia, Lord’s, 1888The 1977-78 series between Australia and India was played in the midst of one of cricket’s most testing periods. The Kerry Packer episode had hit international cricket and a host of star players from most of the leading countries had become part of the ‘circus’, thus finding themselves out of their respective national sides. […]
Read More Famous Test Matches – Australia v India, Adelaide, 1977-78This was the third Test of Bangladesh’s first full tour of Pakistan. The hosts had unsurprisingly sealed the series by winning the first two Tests, but it did not come as easy as expected. In the first Test at Karachi, Pakistan were set a tricky 217 to win while in the second Test […]
Read More Famous Test Matches – Pakistan v Bangladesh, Multan, 2003This Test played at the Queens Sports Club from 18th to 22nd December, 1996 was the first ever between England, the oldest cricketing nation and Zimbabwe, the then newest member of the Test fraternity. Zimbabwe had made their Test debut in 1992-93 and in the four years since, the African nation had been […]
Read More Famous Test Matches – Zimbabwe v England, Bulawayo, 1996-97In this post, we go back to the sixth and final Test of the 1997 Ashes series. Despite England showing early promise with a resounding win in the opening Test at Edgbaston, Australia came back in familiar fashion to win three of the next four Tests to retain the urn and win their fifth […]
Read More Famous Test Matches – England v Australia, The Oval, 1997With the Ashes around the corner, let us go down the years to 1953, the year of probably England’s most significant Ashes victory. England were going through an Ashes drought of nearly 20 years, having last won the urn in the Bodyline series of 1932-33. Moreover, in the three post-war Ashes series of […]
Read More Famous Test Matches – England v Australia, The Oval, 1953Arch-rivals India and Pakistan, while playing each other, have been historically so keen to avoid defeat that Tests between the two nations have ended in dull draws more often than not. Indeed, 38 out of the 59 Tests between them have ended in stalemates. The last eleven India-Pakistan Tests preceding the fifth and final Test of […]
Read More Famous Test Matches – India v Pakistan, Bangalore, 1986-87South Africa made a historic return to Test cricket after 22 years in the wilderness as they took on the West Indies in a one-off Test match played at the Kensington Oval at Bridgetown in Barbados from April 18 to 23, 1992. The West Indies had been unbeaten at Bridgetown for the last 57 years, while […]
Read More Famous Test Matches – West Indies v South Africa, Bridgetown, 1991-92This match was momentous for resulting in Zimbabwe’s first overseas Test victory, which ultimately led to their first ever series win (though they had won the one-off home Test against India earlier in the season). Zimbabwe had their best years of Test cricket during this period and this match, played between November 27 and […]
Read More Famous Test Matches – Pakistan v Zimbabwe, Peshawar, 1998-99
The Cricket Cauldron 