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. 1928: Don Bradman makes his Test debut but is powerless to prevent a colossal 675-run defeat by England in Brisbane and is dropped. 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.
1948: Bradman leads Australia on a 4-0 unbeaten Ashes tour of England. Bradman, needing four in his last Test innings for an average of 100, is bowled for nought and has to settle for 99.94. 1955: New Zealand bowled out for 26, the lowest Test total, by England in Auckland.
1956: England off-spinner Jim Laker becomes the first bowler to take all 10 wickets in a Test innings, against Australia at Old Trafford. 1958: West Indies all-rounder Garry Sobers breaks Hutton's record with 365 against Pakistan in Jamaica. 1960: Australia and West Indies produce the first tie in Test history, in Brisbane. 1964: England fast bowler Fred Trueman become the first bowler to take 300 Test wickets, against Australia at The Oval.
1970: South Africa begin their apartheid-enforced Test exile. 1977: Australia beat England by 45 runs in the Centenary Test in Melbourne - exactly the same result as the very first Test. 1977: World Series Cricket sees the game's top players signed up by Australian businessman Kerry Packer. Test cricket threatened but WSC ends after two years when Packer gets the television contract to show Australia home matches.
1986: India and Australia play out the second tied Test, in Madras, when Maninder Singh is lbw in the last over to off-spinner Greg Matthews. 1990: New Zealand's Richard Hadlee becomes the first bowler to take 400 Test wickets. 1992: South Africa return to Test cricket, losing to the West Indies. 1994: Brian Lara breaks Sobers's record with 375 against England in Antigua.
1995: After 15 years and 29 series, West Indies' unbeaten series run ends with a 2-1 loss at home to Australia. 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.
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