Over the years, the Ashes battles have introduced to us men who were destined to make a great impact on the game. From Frederick Spofforth to Glenn McGrath, legions of legends have displayed their artistry on the canvas that is an Ashes series. There can hardly be a bigger occasion for either an […]
Read More Specials – Unsung Ashes heroes, Part 1In 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, 1953In Part 1 of this Specials post we looked at how one-sided the Parsis’ first tour of England was, and understandably so. The world’s first great cricketing icon W.G Grace, who played against them while representing the MCC at Lord’s, later said in his autobiography – ‘During this season, a team of Parsi cricketers paid us […]
Read More SPECIALS – Parsis, pioneers of cricket in India, Part 2A few days ago, the former Indian wicketkeeper Farokh Engineer celebrated his 75th birthday. Engineer incidentally was the last Parsi cricketer to play for India, his 14-year old international career having ended in 1975. Since then, almost four decades have gone without a single Parsi playing international cricket for India, and looking at the […]
Read More SPECIALS – Parsis, pioneers of cricket in India, Part 1The rivalry between Australia and India has been the most keenly-contested in Test cricket over the last two decades or so, and has produced some of the most memorable matches ever seen. As yet another Test series between the two teams gets underway today, let us go down memory lane to pick the […]
Read More SPECIALS – Best of Australia v India Test matchesArch-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, 1998-99Yet another Boxing Day is upon us, and yet another traditional Boxing Day Test match is underway at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground. An MCG Test which included 26th December as one of the days was first played in the 1950-51 Ashes, but it was only in 1980 that it became an annual […]
Read More Specials – Best of Boxing Day Tests
The Cricket Cauldron 