THE GAME of cricket has indeed come a long way since the first match was played in the year 1844 between USA and Canada. Though, the inaugural official Test match is said to have been played between Australia and England in 1877. After 130 years or so, the 2000th Test match will be played between India and England at Lords on July 21.

The location for the 2000th test match, Lords is a very historic one as it is one of the oldest grounds in the world. It is also referred to as the home of cricket. How apt it will be as the country, England, who is said to have invented the game of cricket, will be playing against the best team in the world? It would also be the 100th Test match that these two sides would be playing.  

The number of the Test matches that were played initially were very few and far between as compared to the amount of matches that modern players play in the modern era. During the first 100 years since 1877, only 803 test matches were played.

The eight ball over is story of the past as there are only six balls bowled in an over now. The game has been evolved from such a stage where it did not include so much of money. But things have changed now, with the glitz and glamour introduced in cricket, it has become a lively affair with sponsors throbbing the teams to be their sponsor as it has spotted a large potential to makes large revenues.

There have been negative points too, after the game has taken a commercial turn, which has led to players involvement in match fixing scandals in order to earn quick money.

Even after the advent of T20, which has been earning huge revenues all around the globe, the future of ODI’s have been questioned, but Test matches always provide charm to the game, which makes it up for an interesting game of cricket.