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Your favourite top 10 Test matches

Singh767

School Boy/Girl Captain
So this isn't a best Tests of all time thread, simply your favourite 10 Test matches of all time ranked in order (90s onwards).

Let's see everyone's choices :)
 

stephen

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Edgbaston 2005 Eng vs Aus (Eng victory)
Old Trafford 2005 Eng vs Aus (draw)
Headingly 2019 Eng vs Aus (Eng victory)
Brisbane 2018 Aus vs Eng (Aus victory)
Adelaide 1993 Aus vs WI (WI victory)
Adelaide 2012 Aus vs SA (draw)
Adelaide 2006 Aus vs Eng (Aus victory)
Brisbane 2006 Aus vs Eng (Aus victory)
Nagpur 2010 Ind vs SA (SA victory)
Kingston 1995 WI vs Aus (Aus victory)

Some of these are personal favourites (Brisbane 2006 because I was there when McGrath got his last Michelle, Nagpur 2010 because I watched that Steyn spell and I was in love with him by then) and most of the rest are the most thrilling tests I've seen, regardless of the ultimate victor. Honourable mention goes to Cardiff 2013.
 

vcs

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India vs. Australia Eden Gardens 2001
India vs. Australia Chennai 2001
WI vs. Australia Barbados '99
England vs. Australia Edgbaston 2005
England vs. Australia Headingley 2019
India vs. England Chennai 2008
India vs. Australia Mohali 2010
India vs. SA Cape Town 2011
India vs. SA Jo'burg 2013
South Africa vs. England Lord's 2012

Am sure I'm missing out loads as it's a bit of an India-centric list. The WI '99 one with Lara's knock will always be special because that was the first Test match that made me properly fall in love with Test cricket and understand why it is the most special form of the game.
 

honestbharani

Whatever it takes!!!
Messed up my 10th standard Chemistry exam but worth it. :) That Lara knock in Barbados. His knock in Jamaica messed up my Math exam. :laugh:

And the 2001 India Australia series totally messed up my 12th board exams but again, looking back, all worth it. I basically did not miss a single ball of both series. Two best test series I have watched, 2005 Ashes being 3rd. But these two get ranked higher for no draws. :)
 

stephen

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
India vs. Australia Eden Gardens 2001
India vs. Australia Chennai 2001
WI vs. Australia Barbados '99
England vs. Australia Edgbaston 2005
England vs. Australia Headingley 2019
India vs. England Chennai 2008
India vs. Australia Mohali 2010
India vs. SA Cape Town 2011
India vs. SA Jo'burg 2013
South Africa vs. England Lord's 2012

Am sure I'm missing out loads as it's a bit of an India-centric list. The WI '99 one with Lara's knock will always be special because that was the first Test match that made me properly fall in love with Test cricket and understand why it is the most special form of the game.
You just like seeing Australia lose don't you :p
 

_Ed_

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Edgbaston 2005 Eng vs Aus (Eng victory)
Adelaide 1993 Aus vs WI (WI victory)
Adelaide 2006 Aus vs Eng (Aus victory)
India vs. Australia Eden Gardens 2001
England vs. Australia Headingley 2019
Yep, absolutely these ones.

Some others for me, from a NZ perspective:

NZ v Aus, Hobart 2011 (NZ won by 7 runs)
NZ v Aus, Adelaide 2015 (Aus won by 3 wickets)
NZ v England, Auckland 2013 (Draw - England 9 wickets down)
NZ v West Indies, Hamilton 1999 (NZ won by 9 wickets, after WI were 282-1 at stumps on first day)
 

vcs

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You just like seeing Australia lose don't you :p
Actually, I prefer Australia over a lot of other teams and loved watching them in their prime. They've usually always played an attacking brand of cricket. Would pay to watch the likes of Gilchrist, Warne, Martyn, Ponting etc. They had incredible resilience so it's no surprise teams have had to pull out some superhuman performances over the years to defeat them.

It's how Federer seems to be part of so many thrilling five-setters, but often ends up on the wrong end of the result. He is incredibly resilient and hard to beat and makes the opponent play out of his skin.
 

vcs

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Messed up my 10th standard Chemistry exam but worth it. :) That Lara knock in Barbados. His knock in Jamaica messed up my Math exam. :laugh:

And the 2001 India Australia series totally messed up my 12th board exams but again, looking back, all worth it. I basically did not miss a single ball of both series. Two best test series I have watched, 2005 Ashes being 3rd. But these two get ranked higher for no draws. :)
I'm a year older than you so these were rather conveniently timed in my case. :) Can stay late up at night in Class XI without it affecting you too much.

As an aside, I remember how I used to do some tricky Math homework problems while watching late night cricket during the '90s (Sahara Cup in Canada, WIs matches etc.). Funny how memory works. I can't remember to switch off the lights when I leave a room and where I left my glasses last night. But to this day, I can recall the exact assignment I was doing on the day when some memorable match occurred.
 

cnerd123

likes this
how can you all recall a test match simply by the date, venue and teams involved?

I struggle so much with that. I can recall test matches by the narratives, or major moments, but the lists in this thread...I'd need to google each and every game mentioned to remember which one it was
 

h_hurricane

International Vice-Captain
Messed up my 10th standard Chemistry exam but worth it. :) That Lara knock in Barbados. His knock in Jamaica messed up my Math exam. :laugh:

And the 2001 India Australia series totally messed up my 12th board exams but again, looking back, all worth it. I basically did not miss a single ball of both series. Two best test series I have watched, 2005 Ashes being 3rd. But these two get ranked higher for no draws. :)
Hehe, so we are exactly the same age. My dad clearly told me no TV till end of 10th exam and hence did not move the TV when we shifted the house around that time. Very clever of him. Missed all those Lara classics due to that. Due to the same reason, only heard radio commentary of Sachin's 136 two months prior to that.

Came running back home after 12th chemistry exams to watch India vs Australia Kolkata 2001, couldn't watch much though.

One match which was conveniently timed for me : India vs WI Port of Spain 2002. Stayed awake until 3:00 AM to watch the final moments of this memorable match.
 

mr_mister

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
i'll just name 10 i really love in chronological order


England/Australia '98 4th test
Australia/West Indies '99 3rd test
Australia/Pakistan '99 2nd test
Australia vs England '01 4th test(seriously around this time the only exciting ashes matches were England victories as they were so unexpected)

Australia/England '05 - 2nd test, 3rd, 4th test (the juicy middle period of one of the GOAT series)

Australia/England '19 - 1st test, 2nd test, 3rd test (****ing loved this series)
 

honestbharani

Whatever it takes!!!
Hehe, so we are exactly the same age. My dad clearly told me no TV till end of 10th exam and hence did not move the TV when we shifted the house around that time. Very clever of him. Missed all those Lara classics due to that. Due to the same reason, only heard radio commentary of Sachin's 136 two months prior to that.

Came running back home after 12th chemistry exams to watch India vs Australia Kolkata 2001, couldn't watch much though.

One match which was conveniently timed for me : India vs WI Port of Spain 2002. Stayed awake until 3:00 AM to watch the final moments of this memorable match.
Yeah, I remember trying to stay up all night to watch games in the Windies in that era.. Usually wound up sleeping either during or just after the tea break and will wake up for the 6:30 news on Star News english to learn what happened. The dumbos did not have any sports section in the 6 o clock news or the ones before that.
 

vcs

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how can you all recall a test match simply by the date, venue and teams involved?

I struggle so much with that. I can recall test matches by the narratives, or major moments, but the lists in this thread...I'd need to google each and every game mentioned to remember which one it was
It's one of those useless skills that exist only to bring some momentary nostalgic joy to me. I think it's to do with the fact that we often anchor certain memories while growing up to our childhood idols, or something that gave us a lot of pleasure at the time. In my case, it's almost always something to do with cricket (or Wimbledon). Going by the outpouring of sentimental articles about the '90s that came out when Sachin/Dravid/Kumble retired, I'm sure it's a pretty common phenomenon.
 

honestbharani

Whatever it takes!!!
Yeah the whole 90s kids is a big thing in India because this was the generation that first grew up with some sort of access to cable TV and internet and thus a lot more exposure to global culture etc. And cricket was/is our first love. I am pretty sure things won't be the same even 10 years down the line. I am already seeing kids in my family who follow cricket but also follow the English Premier League or the Spanish League (La Liga) with the same passion. While I don't think cricket will ever even become a #2 sport in India, at least in my lifetime, I do think the passion and the time we had for cricket (and the exposure) will not be something any other generation will really have.
 

h_hurricane

International Vice-Captain
A bit weird if we think about it but some childhood memories linger longer than adulthood ones. For instance, I still remember the run out of David Boon in the 1992 WC opener but don't remember much from the 2011 WC opener between India and Bangladesh though I saw both the matches.
 

Pothas

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
England vs. India Edgbaston 2018 also worth a mention
This is one my favourites as I went to all but one day of it. England v Pakistan in 2016 as well for similar reasons.

Two Ashes ones that I was there for were day 1 of Lords in 2005 (maybe not a great match but a great day) and 2009 when Flintoff bowled all morning on one leg.

Best of all live though was England v West Indies in 2000. The bowled out for 54 game, one of the first Tests I ever went to and I doubt I will see a better one.

Favourites otherwise are those two great England away wins Melbourne 2010 and best of all Mumbai 2012.
 

honestbharani

Whatever it takes!!!
Tell me about it. I remember a random ODI Vs RSA in Calcutta, as it was called back then, probably the first day and night game in India but have a hard time remembering the NZ tour that just went by even though I watched all the LO games fully in that series, I think.
 

vcs

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A bit weird if we think about it but some childhood memories linger longer than adulthood ones. For instance, I still remember the run out of David Boon in the 1992 WC opener but don't remember much from the 2011 WC opener between India and Bangladesh though I saw both the matches.
Yeah this is true. Another weird thing for me is the fact that I have a great sentimental attachment to the place where I was born and spent the first 10-12 years of my life in, but none whatsoever to any place I've lived or visited since then.
 

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