Cricket in Australia
In 2007, "The Age" reported that a survey by Sweeney Sports had found that 69% of the Australian public have an interest in cricket, second to none. Cricket is often known as Australia's national sport due to its equal popularity in all parts of the country. Cricket is also a mass participation sport in Australia: a census conducted on behalf of Cricket Australia found that in the 2003–04 season there were 471,329 participants in Australian cricket programmes and competitions, including 47,780 female participants.
In 2015–16, a record 1,300,000 Australians played formal, organised cricket during the year, an increase of nine percent over the previous year, making cricket Australia's biggest participant sport.
List of England Test cricket records
Test cricket is the oldest form of cricket played at international level. A Test match is generally scheduled to take place over a period of five days, and is played by teams representing full member nations of the International Cricket Council (ICC). England was a founding member of the ICC, having played the first Test match against Australia in March 1877 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. They have played a total of 1,008 matches, the most by any Test playing team. , England is the third most successful team in Test cricket with an overall winning percentage of 36.11, behind Australia on 46.94 and South Africa on 38.13.