March 15, 1877: On this day, 144 years ago, England and Australia played 1st ever international cricket match

Australia went on to win the first-ever official international cricket match against England that was played from March 15-19, 1877 by 45 runs.

It was on March 15, 1877 that the first-ever official international cricket match was played between England and Australia at Melbourne. It was a Test match that Australia, led by Dave Gregory, went on to win by 45 runs in four days time. Interestingly there was also a ‘rest day’ after three consecutive days of the match. Charles Bannerman, the opening batsman for Australia in the match, became the first person to score an international run and also became the first centurion as he went on to hit 165 runs. He was eventually retired hurt after having spent 285 minutes out in the middle.