Editing Test cricket (section)

===Statistics===
{{main|List of Test cricket records}}
For [[cricket statistics|statistical purposes]], Tests are considered to be a subset of [[first-class cricket]]. Performances in first-class matches count towards only the first-class statistical record, but performances in Test matches count towards both the Test statistics and the first-class statistics.

Statisticians have developed criteria to determine which matches count as Tests if they were played before the formal definition of Test status. There have been exceptional circumstances including the simultaneous England touring sides of 1891–92 ([[English cricket team in Australia in 1891–92|in Australia]] and [[English cricket team in South Africa in 1891–92|South Africa]]) and 1929–30 ([[English cricket team in the West Indies in 1929–30|in the West Indies]] and [[English cricket team in New Zealand in 1929–30|New Zealand]]), all of whose international matches are deemed to have Test status.

In 1970, a series of five "Test matches" was played in England between England and a Rest of the World XI: these matches, originally scheduled between England and South Africa, were amended after South Africa was suspended from international cricket due to their government's [[apartheid]] policies. Although initially given Test status and included as Test matches in some record books, including ''[[Wisden Cricketers' Almanack]]'', this was later withdrawn, and a principle was established that official Test matches can only be between nations (the geographically and demographically small countries of the West Indies have, since 1928, fielded a coalition side).

Despite this principle, in 2005, the ICC ruled that the six-day [[2005 ICC Super Series|Super Series]] match that took place that October between Australia and a World XI was an official Test match: some cricket writers and statisticians, including [[Bill Frindall]], have ignored the ICC's ruling and exclude this match from their records.

The series of "Test matches" played in Australia between Australia and a World XI in 1971–72, and the commercial "[[World Series Cricket|Supertests]]" organised by [[Kerry Packer]] as part of his [[World Series Cricket]] enterprise played between "WSC Australia", "WSC World XI" and "WSC West Indies" from 1977 to 1979, have never been regarded as official Test matches as of 2021.