1999 not 2000

I was going to write something about the 2000th test match but was distracted by Murdochpalooza. Happily this is not actually the 200th test. Or it should not be. The ICC, reliably mistaken as ever, have given test status to the (disappointing) 2005 match between Australia and the Rest of the World. The Bearded Wonder and his successors do not approve of this and there has, consequently, been much chuntering about the matter in scoreboxes across the land as this trivial-yet-oddly-significant landmark approaches.

It is not the fact that the 2005 match was a marketing ploy that rankles, it is the inconsistency. If the 2005 match is given test status then the 1970 matches between England and a strong Rest of the World side, organised following the cancellation of the South African tour, should also enjoy test status.

So, even without considering the status, all these years later, of World Series Cricket this should be the 1999th test or the 2005th.