What do you find to be the most exciting aspect of a test match?

[Black_Warrior]

At the start of the season I had created a topic about how excited I was about the upcoming test season. We haven't seen a season this packed in a long time. Now that the we're sort of midway through the season and we've seen some exciting test matches in England, Sri Lanka, India and now in Australia, a good time to have this conversation.

So the last few days I've found myself watching Rabada's wickets, especially the one to Khawaja and that over to Voges over and over and over again. It just something else for me. Nothing encapsulates what excites me about test cricket and what it means to me better than visceral moments like those.

And I realized these are the moments I keep going back to long after the series. I did that earlier with Amir's delivery to Hales in the second test or Broad's 8fer last year or Steyn's 7fer in India a few years back. There's something that a spell of fast bowling does for me that I don't get from seeing Herath or Sandakan run through Australia, as brilliant as they are, or Ashwin bamboozle Williamson as great a bowler that he is or even Yasir's 10fer at Lords.

Now this is not about pace being better than spin or the former bowlers being better than the latter so don't want a comparison analysis here.

This is about what excites us. No right or wrong answers.This is a completely subjective discussion, so please, let's not have arguments.

We all love cricket and even though we can't all be friends we can share our exciting moments and foster some kind of bond.

So, what do you find yourself going back to or what is registered in your memory long after the series is over?

 

[OverratedSanity]

As much as I enjoy watching a great fast bowler like Steyn running through a sideor a great spinner like herath/Ashwin making batsmen look stupid with close-in fielders building pressure every ball, my favourite thing about cricket is a batsman going on the counterattack when the team is in trouble. I don't mean just throwing the bat around and going #muhintent. Just good, smart, attacking batting. Watching the bowling team realize that the game is slipping away at an alarming rate when they were on top just half an hour ago is highly entertaining. When it's your team in the receiving end, there's nothing more depressing and when it's your team doing it, it's the best thing ever.

 

[Adders]

Yeah fast bowling can be so intoxicating when you get a class bowler with his tail up, but I do also love watching spinners turning it square with heaps of close in fielders all chattering with excitement. Think I'd say I find them equally absorbing.

For me though the excitement is always at it's peak for the first session of a test match, particularly first morning of a new series.

 

[TheJediBrah]

When you win that Fifth Test to make it 5-0

Every fan should know that feeling

 

[vcs]

As much as I enjoy watching a great fast bowler like Steyn running through a sideor a great spinner like herath/Ashwin making batsmen look stupid with close-in fielders building pressure every ball, my favourite thing about cricket is a batsman going on the counterattack when the team is in trouble. I don't mean just throwing the bat around and going #muhintent. Just good, smart, attacking batting. Watching the bowling team realize that the game is slipping away at an alarming rate when they were on top just half an hour ago is highly entertaining. When it's your team in the receiving end, there's nothing more depressing and when it's your team doing it, it's the best thing ever.

Yes, peak excitement is when you have a match with both teams making ~300-330 in the first innings, and it turns into a shootout with a definite result. The recent Aus-SA match was pretty good.

Smith/Amla in Perth 2012 was brilliant also.

 

[DriveClub]

Yes, peak excitement is when you have a match with both teams making ~300-330 in the first innings, and it turns into a shootout with a definite result. The recent Aus-SA match was pretty good.

Smith/Amla in Perth 2012 was brilliant also.

Amla in particular, was one hell of a counter attack

 

[anil1405]

Fast bowler making a batsman dance to his tunes would be the obvious choice for me at first thought.

Having a closer look at what grips us to Test Cricket, its about players overcoming gritty mental battles and coming out top. Be it batsmen on bowler friendly conditions or tough match situations or bowlers on not-so-friendly conditions.

Kusal Mendis knock recently against Australia in the first test and Dinesh Chandimal knock against India last year are probably the best examples where a batsman changed the fortunes of the test match in their favor from tricky situations.

 

[Howe_zat]

my favourite thing about cricket is a batsman going on the counterattack when the team is in trouble. I don't mean just throwing the bat around and going #muhintent. Just good, smart, attacking batting. Watching the bowling team realize that the game is slipping away at an alarming rate when they were on top just half an hour ago is highly entertaining. When it's your team in the receiving end, there's nothing more depressing and when it's your team doing it, it's the best thing ever.

Mostly agree though the difference between the two is usually hindsight.

 

[Black_Warrior]

As much as I enjoy watching a great fast bowler like Steyn running through a sideor a great spinner like herath/Ashwin making batsmen look stupid with close-in fielders building pressure every ball, my favourite thing about cricket is a batsman going on the counterattack when the team is in trouble. I don't mean just throwing the bat around and going #muhintent. Just good, smart, attacking batting. Watching the bowling team realize that the game is slipping away at an alarming rate when they were on top just half an hour ago is highly entertaining. When it's your team in the receiving end, there's nothing more depressing and when it's your team doing it, it's the best thing ever.

I know what you mean..I would probably say Lara and some of KP's knocks have come close to fast bowling for me.

 

[Black_Warrior]

Yes, peak excitement is when you have a match with both teams making ~300-330 in the first innings, and it turns into a shootout with a definite result. The recent Aus-SA match was pretty good.

Smith/Amla in Perth 2012 was brilliant also.

Yepp totally.

3rd Test: South Africa v England at Johannesburg, Jan 14-16, 2016 | Cricket Scorecard | ESPN Cricinfo

I have a feeling this is going to get forgotten because of the Ashes and 8fer in the same year but boy what a spell that was from Broad.

 

[honestbharani]

Spinners, close in fielders, huge crowd appealing every ball with those bowlers and fielders.. I wrote about my experience of watching Day 4 of the Chennai Test between India and Australia back in 2004, when Warnie broke the record for test wickets. It was just surreal. I was sitting right next to the Australian Pavilion and Lehmann and I think it was Brett Lee, was sitting so close to me that I could actually hear their conversations. There was THAT partnership between Gillespie and Martyn, and then Kumble and Harbhajan got on a roll and the crowd got into it during the post-tea session. Almost 45000 people screaming, every ball seemingly impossible to negotiate even though a tailender was doing it just fine just an hour ago... Was just amazing. Recall telling my young cousin who was with me that day that Warne wont last 3 balls. Think he lasted 1 He went in, was looking all over at the crowd and all the crazy noise, it was obvious he had let the moment get to him, then first or second ball, he just pushes his front foot down the pitch with the bat following the ball that just bounced a bit more than he would have thought. Bat pad. All over.

Its what I love about test cricket and why I loved watching that session in the 2nd England-BD test.

 

[StephenZA]

I have to admit I like that period between all the excitement when the games on the edge.... you need that wicket, want that wicket but there is no wicket. Or you know you team needs to bat out 20 overs not lose a wicket, tire out the opposition, even if you are not getting runs... knowing the game can change quickly. Its what makes the test cricket great for me... the patience required to realize that you have the time and space to just do the basics well.

 

[kykweer.proteas]

The first morning of test match and my team is bowling.

Then again...

1st Test: South Africa v India at Johannesburg, Dec 18-22, 2013 | Cricket Scorecard | ESPN Cricinfo

http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/current/match/730091.html

There is nothing like believing that the impossible is achievable.

Yeah I get it, I don't get the chance to watch many other matches lol

 

[Victor Ian]

A batsman dominating is exciting, a bowler decimating moreso, but what I find is the most exciting is kind of dull. I find a Batsman being made to work extremely hard to maintain his wicket, barely able to scratch out a run, but doing it and finally coming out on top (bonus points when they make a century) the most exciting facet of a test match. Perhaps because it inevitably involves a long investment of time waiting for that moment they blossom.

 

[vcs]

Spinners, close in fielders, huge crowd appealing every ball with those bowlers and fielders.. I wrote about my experience of watching Day 4 of the Chennai Test between India and Australia back in 2004, when Warnie broke the record for test wickets. It was just surreal. I was sitting right next to the Australian Pavilion and Lehmann and I think it was Brett Lee, was sitting so close to me that I could actually hear their conversations. There was THAT partnership between Gillespie and Martyn, and then Kumble and Harbhajan got on a roll and the crowd got into it during the post-tea session. Almost 45000 people screaming, every ball seemingly impossible to negotiate even though a tailender was doing it just fine just an hour ago... Was just amazing. Recall telling my young cousin who was with me that day that Warne wont last 3 balls. Think he lasted 1 He went in, was looking all over at the crowd and all the crazy noise, it was obvious he had let the moment get to him, then first or second ball, he just pushes his front foot down the pitch with the bat following the ball that just bounced a bit more than he would have thought. Bat pad. All over.

Its what I love about test cricket and why I loved watching that session in the 2nd England-BD test.

That Martyn knock was one of, if not the best, innings I've seen by a non-subcontinent player in those conditions (also KP in Mumbai 2012). Became a huge Martyn fan after that, though I hated every moment of it while watching.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

First session of a new series, can't beat the anticipation of it.

 

[listento_me]

Great question and I think it depends on the context of the test. Take the first test between Pakistan and England for example. The former was being viewed as a much tougher opponent than Sri Lanka but still a decided underdog and throughout the English media and dare I say, players, there was a real sense of the inevitable, i.e. England would steam roll their way through Pakistan. However that first test changed everything, from the Misbah's century to Shah's 10 wickets, it put the entire series on notice.

However, in some tests I enjoy the immense counter attack by either a solid bowling unit or a solitary, never say die batsman. A bit like Chanderpaul and many of his exceptional innings, which often seemed to come at the expense of England lol

 

[AndyZaltzHair]

the dilemma between teams,

- what's the good score to declare?
- do we have enough?
- what's our approach should be as the target is 501 and plenty of time left? Should we go for it or just be Mohammad Hanif
- **** we are doomed, should not have declared so early

 

[Crazy Sam]

Most exciting for me is seeing batsmen who rarely bowl thrown the ball to roll the arm over for a few overs. I just love the idea that guys who would never come close to making a first or second grade squad as a bowler are called upon to bowl at an international level in the hopes of jagging a wicket. Who would ever have thought Matthew Wade would bowl an over in test cricket?! Imagine being the one guy in test cricket who got out to the bowling of Mark Taylor or Michael Slater (both in the same innings too, ftr)!?

With all the science and training that takes place in sport these days, I can't imagine there are many other sports at international level where players are asked (and not forced, such as bowlers having to bat) to perform a skill they aren't trained for.

 

[sledger]

The bit where India lose.