The First Test Match - John Arlott

The first test match – 73 years ago – at Melbourne, and England all out 108! Four-ball overs; as many as you could run for a “lost ball” bets on the match and on the players scores; and champagne for dinner on Sundays!

Here is the first detailed account of that famous First Test, which began a struggle and an excitement which has continued to this day. “The Lawn was occupied by the youth and beauty of Melbourne, many of whom seemed to take more than a passing interest in the game.”

From that moment on, in 1877, Mr Stanley Brogden begins his account, more exciting than any work of fiction, giving us a ball by ball account of the match, telling us not only the score and the analysis but the state of the weather and many significant details.

If this actual account, drawn from eye-witness records, had to be made in Australia, Mr John Arlott’s part in this volume, researched from his own and other cricket libraries, is to provide a background to touring cricket of that time and the nature of the men who played it. It is a picture of Spartan and hazardous days, and he has added some remarkable financial details and a sad tale of the misadventures of some players.

“To read a detailed account of the first Test Match ever played is an exciting experience for any cricketer”, as John ARlott says; but the First Test and its figures, will be read and analysed again and again, and it will become a little classic of the game.