500 Declared: The Joys of Covering 500 Cricket Tests

SHORTLISTED FOR THE SPORTS BOOK AWARDS 2026 - CRICKET BOOK OF THE YEARA BOOK OF THE YEAR - NEW STATESMAN‘500 Tests is a mind-boggling number, a testimony to Scyld's commitment and passion for the game’ - RAVI SHASTRILEGENDARY CRICKET WRITER SCYLD BERRY CELEBRATES HIS REPORTING OF 500 TEST MATCHES IN THIS UNIQUE PORTRAIT OF ENGLISH CRICKET CULTUREScyld Berry attended his first Test match in a professional capacity in June 1973, as EW Swanton’s ‘amanuensis’.Having reached 500 England Tests - an achievement never reached by any other greats of the cricket-writing world - Berry has watched the sport evolve like no other. Test cricket is a steady stream: England have had only one winter without Test cricket since 1972, some Test series almost overlap with the next, and players span eras.But the game has changed enormously in the last half-century: helmets, neutral umpires, bigger bats, new shots, data, abolition of rest days, ICC Test Championship, and DRS have transformed this sport on the