Tests take fresh guard at 2,000 not out

A five-day contest where often neither side wins, Test cricket may seem out of touch with 21st Century life yet next week's series opener between England and India at Lord's will mark its 2,000th match.

And with a sell-out crowd expected at the 'home of cricket', where India great Sachin Tendulkar could become the first player to score a hundred international hundreds it seems there is life in the old dog yet.

Certainly no-one designing a sporting format today would come up with anything like Test cricket.

Yet its sheer length, and associated unrivalled capacity for changes of fortune - this month marks the 30th anniversary of England's remarkable win, following on, against Australia at Headingley - means it can create more truly memorable moments than one-day and Twenty20 formats.

Starting with a match between Australia and England at Melbourne in 1877, it took a while for Test cricket to be regarded as more important than the old rivals' own first-class matches and, South Africa apart, its global appeal in those early years was strictly limited.

Tests were also, for much of their history, comparatively rare events with 803 matches played in the first hundred years compared to 1,197 in the last 34 years.

There has rarely been an age since its inception when Test cricket was not facing a crisis many thought threatened its existence, with last year's spot-fixing scandal involving Pakistan players in England the latest example.

If that had diplomatic, as well as sporting, ramifications so too did the Bodyline series of 1929/30, when England quicks Harold Larwood and Bill Voce bowled to a packed legside field in a bid to curb the phenomenal run-scoring of Australia great Don Bradman.

Even so one-day cricket migrated to the international arena and soon proved itself a commercial success.

Recently the advent of the brash Twenty20, again migrating from the county to the world stage, opened up new audiences.

And, with the creation of the Twenty20 Indian Premier League, vast new riches were available to players without the need to have first established their status in the Test arena. Day/night Tests, often heralded as a way of bringing back spectators, remain on the drawing board and whether the ICC's proposed Test Championship, billed as a way of giving greater context to individual series, captures the public imagination, remains to be seen. AFP

Landmarks in Test history ahead of the 2,000th Test, between England and India, at Lord's starting on Thursday:

1877: Australia and England play what is later recognised as the first Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Charles Bannerman scores the first Test hundred in a match Australia win by 45 runs.

1920/21: Australia, led by Warwick Armstrong, inflict a 5-0 Ashes thrashing on England the first whitewash in a five-match series.

1930: Bradman rewrites the record books by scoring 974 runs still a record in a five-Test series as Australia win 2-1 in England.

1932/33: The most controversial series of all time sees England captain Douglas Jardine instruct fast bowlers Harold Larwood and Bill Voce to bowl short to the Australians on and outside leg stump, with a packed legside field.

'Bodyline' helps England win the Ashes but leads to a diplomatic row.

1938: England's Len Hutton scores a record-breaking 364 out of a total of 903 as Australia are hammered by an innings and 579 runs, still a record margin.

Bradman, needing four in his last Test innings for an average of 100, is bowled for nought and has to settle for 99.94.

1956: England off-spinner Jim Laker becomes the first bowler to take all 10 wickets in a Test innings, against Australia at Old Trafford.

1964: England fast bowler Fred Trueman become the first bowler to take 300 Test wickets, against Australia at The Oval.

1990: New Zealand's Richard Hadlee becomes the first bowler to take 400 Test wickets.

1994: Brian Lara breaks Sobers's record with 375 against England in Antigua.

1997: Sri Lanka pile up 952 for six against India in Colombo the highest Test total of all-time.

2004: Lara makes the first quadruple century in Tests, against England in Antigua, to regain the world record he'd lost to Australia's Matthew Hayden.

2006: Pakistan become the first side in history to forfeit a Test when, after being penalised five runs for alleged ball-tampering by Australian umpire Darrell Hair, they refuse to take the field against England after tea on the fourth day at The Oval.

2010: Sri Lanka off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan becomes the first bowler to take 800 Test wickets when he takes a wicket off his final ball in Tests, against India.

2010: A tabloid sting operation indicates Pakistan captain Salman Butt, Mohammad Aamer and Mohammad Asif are all prepared to deliberately bowl no-balls in a Test against England at Lord's as part of a spot-fixing scam. The trio are all eventually banned by the ICC.

2010: India's Sachin Tendulkar scores a record 50th Test century, against South Africa in Centurion.