Mondo Knows Facts

The first Test match was played in 1877

Australia met England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in March that year The match began on 15 March 1877 before a crowd of about 4,500 and Australia won by 45 runs. Charles Bannerman made 165, the first century in Test cricket, though a blow to the hand ended his innings. A second match followed within weeks, which England won. It sits in Mondo's sports collection, one of 200 facts that each trace back to the reference below.

Where this comes from

International Cricket Council

Facts that can change over time are reviewed and updated. If something here looks wrong, Mondo would rather know than be confidently incorrect.

Go further

More facts like this

Tags: cricket, test-match, 1877

The first Test match was played in 1877: the short answers

Where does this come from, and can I check it?
Australia met England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in March that year. The figure is taken from International Cricket Council, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
Is this really a sports fact?
Yes. It sits on the Sports shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
What else can I read about it?
The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.