Editing Test cricket (section)

===Growth of international cricket===
Teams designated as "England" or "All England" began to play in the 18th century, but these teams were not truly representative. Early [[international cricket]] was disrupted by the [[French Revolution]] and the [[American Civil War]]. The earliest international cricket match was between [[Canadian cricket team in the United States in 1844|the United States and Canada]], on 24 and 26 September 1844 (bad weather prevented play on the 25th).<ref>[http://www.espncricinfo.com/usa/engine/match/318995.html United States of America v Canada 1844] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629061551/http://www.espncricinfo.com/usa/engine/match/318995.html |date=29 June 2011 }}. ESPNcricinfo.</ref> Overseas tours by national English teams began in 1859 with visits to North America, Australia and New Zealand. The [[Australian Aboriginal cricket team in England in 1868|1868 Australian Aboriginals]] were the first organised overseas team to tour England.

[[File:Ashes Urn 1921.jpg|left|thumb|The earliest published photo of [[the Ashes urn]], from ''[[The Illustrated London News]]'', 1921]]
Two rival English tours of Australia were proposed in the early months of 1877, with [[James Lillywhite]] campaigning for a professional tour and [[Fred Grace]] for an amateur one. Grace's tour fell through and it was Lillywhite's team that toured New Zealand and Australia in 1876–77. Two matches against a combined Australian XI were later classified as the first official Test matches. The first match was won by Australia, by 45 runs and the second by England. After reciprocal tours established a pattern of international cricket, [[The Ashes]] was established as a competition during the Australian tour of England in 1882. A surprise victory for Australia inspired a mock obituary of English cricket to be published in the ''Sporting Times'' the following day: the phrase "The body shall be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia" prompted the subsequent creation of the Ashes urn.

The series of 1884–85 was the first to be held over five matches: England player [[Alfred Shaw]], writing in 1901, considered the side to be "the best ever to have left England". South Africa became the third team to play Test cricket in 1888–89, when they hosted a tour by an under-strength England side. Australia, England and South Africa were the only countries playing Test cricket before [[World War I]].