5 facts about Australian cricket history that you probably didn't know

As far as cricketing nations are concerned, no other team can quite match the consistent history of success that has been enjoyed by the Australians and that makes the history of the cricket team a fascinating subject. The famous wins, Bradman, the legendary Invincibles side of 1948, the teams led by Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting have gone into cricket folklore.

Those things have been dissected to no end and any cricket fan worth his salt is aware of the cricket history of Australia. However, there might be some things that might not be as mainstream or perhaps forgotten and here is a look at 5 of those fascinating, little-known things from the history of Australian cricket.

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#5 Tests in Australia used to have 8 ball overs until 1979

When Test cricket first commenced back in the 19th century, an over used to consist of 4 deliveries, before the 6-ball over was adopted in England in 1900. Australia started off similarly and adopted the 6-ball over in the 1891-92 season before adopting the 8 ball over for one season in 1924-25 and finally, in 1936-37, the country seemed to have permanently gone back to the 8-ball over.

All first-class cricket and Test cricket in Australia consisted of 8-ball overs and needless to say, it must have been a big shock for visiting bowlers in particular, who were used to bowling 6-ball overs.

Although it might seem that the 8-ball over is a bit prehistoric, it is interesting to note that Test matches in Australia consisted of 8-ball over till as recently as the 1978-79 season. The change came about after Kerry Packer's World Series Cricket swept Australian cricket and showed the commercial potential of 6-ball overs.

The broadcaster could then have more time for advertisements and by extension, more money for the cricket board. In the 1979-80 season, the cricket board in Australia adopted the 6-ball over across first-class cricket and Test cricket and it has been the same ever since.

#4 Australia is the only country to have hosted a 7-Test series

Bill Lawry the Australian Captain (Left) and the England Captain Ray Illingworth (right) toss the coin ahead of a Test in the 1970-71 Ashes

One would usually be safe to assume that a Test series is usually supposed to include no more than five Tests and even if one is talking about the Ashes, it would be a safe assumption. However, that is not the case and had it not been for Australia's crazy decision to have seven Tests in their summer during the 1970-71 Ashes, then it would never have been possible.

The marathon ended in ignominy for the hosts as England won the Ashes 2-0 and the captain Bill Lawry was sacked in the middle of the series. That being said, Australia did gain by promoting the young Ian Chappell to the top job and he was responsible for bringing about another great era in the country's cricketing history.

The third Test of the series at Melbourne saw another historic event when on the 5th day the two teams played in the first ever one day international after the game had been washed out by rain. Australia won the game by 5 wickets, just like they had won their first ever Test match all those years ago.

#3 Australia had remained unbeaten at Lord's for 75 years

Australia have enjoyed some great moments at Lord's

Lord's is the spiritual home of cricket and no other visiting team had such a brilliant record at the ground other than the Australians, who dominated Test matches at the venue for decades. During the 1934 Ashes in England, Australia lost the 2nd Test of the series at Lord's by an innings and 38 runs en route to their eventual 2-1 triumph in the series.

However, since that defeat, Australia dominated the Test matches that it played at the venue and over the course of the next 75 years, they played 18 Test matches at Lord's and won 9 of them to set up a record that will probably never be matched by any other visiting team.

Their proud record was eventually broken in 2009 when a Freddie Flintoff inspired England beat them by 115 runs. After that, Australia lost another Test at Lord's when they were beaten by 347 runs during their 2013 tour but in 2015, they beat the hosts by 405 runs to perhaps restart a new cycle of success at the home of cricket.

#2 Only team in cricket history to have won a Test series after trailing 0-2

Gubby Allen's England during the 1936-37 Ashes in Australia

When it comes to a five-Test series, then the first two Tests pretty much set the tone for the rest of the series and if a team wins the first two, then the series is pretty much over. As a result, there is no team in cricket history which has won a five-Test series from being 0-2 down, with the exception of one.

Back in the 1936-37 Ashes in Australia, England had the hosts on the mat in the first two Tests, having handed them innings defeats at Brisbane and Sydney. It is inconceivable for a team to then fight back from that sort of hammerings and then win the next three Tests.

However, Australia did just that and in the very next Test at Melbourne, the visitors started their fightback with a 365 run win. The fourth one at Adelaide was won by 148 runs and then the unthinkable became a possibility when the teams went back to Melbourne for the 5th Test.

It might be said that the belief had gone out of the England team as Australia steamrolled them to win by an innings and 200 runs. They had completed a comeback that has never since been managed in Test cricket. In each of those Tests, Bradman scored heavily. He made 270 in the third, 212 in the 4th and in the decider, he slammed 169.

#1 Sir Donald Bradman only hit 6 sixes in his whole career

Bradman Batting

Australia's Sir Donald Bradman is not only the greatest batsman to have ever played the game but perhaps also the most dominant batsman to have played Test cricket and some of his run-scoring feats bear testimony of this aggressive streak. For instance, he once scored a triple hundred against England in a single day's play.

So, it is a well-established fact that he was one of the finest attacking batsmen to have ever existed but he was not much of a six-hitter and hit only 6 sixes in his entire career, spanning 52 Test matches. Five sixes were hit against the age-old enemies England and the other one was hit against India.

Bradman's batting was centred around hitting along the ground and in only 52 Test matches, he hit an astounding 618 boundaries. For perspective, the present day gold standard of attacking batsmanship, David Warner has hit 723 fours in 70 Tests and that goes to show the sort of attacking flair that the Don brought to the table.

However, it seems that Bradman's strategy of primarily scoring through fours was only restricted to Test cricket since he had hit 45 sixes in his first-class career in Australian domestic cricket.