ALL Nations Test States

Test Cricket

Test matches are a subset of first-class cricket. However, the step up in required skill from normal first-class cricket to Test cricket is considerable, with many players who excel in the first-class game proving unable to handle Test cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams which have "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council (ICC). As of 2007, ten national teams have been given Test status, the most recent being Bangladesh in 2000.

• A list of matches defined as Tests was first drawn up by Australian Clarence Moody in the 1890s.
• Representative matches played by simultaneous England touring sides of 1891-92 (in Australia and South Africa) and 1929-30 (in the West Indies and New Zealand) are deemed to have Test status.
• In 1970, a series of five "Test matches" were played in England between England and a Rest of the World XI. Although initially given unofficial Test status (and included as Test matches in some record books, notably Wisden), this was later withdrawn and a principle was established which states that official Test matches can only be between national sides.
• The series of "Test matches" played in Australia between Australia and a World XI in 1971/72 do not have Test status.
• The commercial "Supertests" organised by Kerry Packer as part of his World Series Cricket enterprise and played between "WSC Australia", "WSC World XI" and "WSC West Indies" from 1977 to 1979 have never been regarded as having official Test match status.
• In 2005 the ICC ruled that the six-day Super Series match that took place in October 2005 between Australia and a World XI was an official Test match. This ICC decision was taken despite precedent (e.g. the ICC's earlier ruling on the 1970 England v Rest of the World series) that only matches between nations should be given Test match status. Many cricket writers and statisticians, particularly Bill Frindall, have decided to ignore the ICC's ruling and have excluded the 2005 match from their records.

Test Cricket Playing Nations

Order	National team	Date of first Test Match	Notes
1	Australia	March 15, 1877
	England		Consists of players from England and Wales.
3	South Africa	March 12, 1889	Did not participate in international cricket between March 10, 1970 and April 18, 1992 due to the international reaction to apartheid.
4	West Indies	June 23, 1928	Consists of players from a number of Caribbean nations and dependencies.
5	New Zealand	January 10, 1930
6	India	June 25, 1932	Before Indian independence in 1947, consisted of territory of the Indian subcontinent that are now Pakistan and Bangladesh.
7	Pakistan	October 16, 1952	Before Bangladeshi independence in 1971, included territory that is now Bangladesh.
8	Sri Lanka	February 17, 1982
9	Zimbabwe	October 18, 1992	Suspended from involvement in test cricket between June 10, 2004 and January 6, 2005, and currently since January 18, 2006.
10	Bangladesh	November 10, 2000