Test cricketTest cricket is a form of first-class cricket played at international level between teams representing full member countries of the International Cricket Council (ICC). A match consists of four innings (two per team) and is scheduled to last for up to five days. In the past, some Test matches had no time limit and were called Timeless Tests. The term "test match" was originally coined in 1861–62 but in a different context. Test cricket did not become an officially recognised format until the 1890s, but many international matches since 1877 have been retrospectively awarded Test status.
Beeching cutsThe Beeching cuts were a major series of route closures and service changes made as part of the restructuring of the nationalised railway system in Great Britain in the 1960s. They are named for Richard Beeching, then-chair of the British Railways Board and the author of two reports - The Reshaping of British Railways (1963) and The Development of the Major Railway Trunk Routes (1965) - that outlined the necessity of improving the efficiency of the railways and the plan for achieving this through restructuring.
SmethwickSmethwick (ˈsmɛðᵻk) is an industrial town in Sandwell, West Midlands, England. It lies west of Birmingham city centre. Historically it was in Staffordshire and then Worcestershire before being placed into then West Midlands County. In 2019, the ward of Smethwick had an estimated population of 15,246, while the wider built-up area subdivision has a population of 53,653. It was suggested that the name Smethwick meant "smiths' place of work", but a more recent interpretation has suggested the name means "the settlement on the smooth land".
WednesburyWednesbury (ˈwɛnzbəri) is a market town in Sandwell in the West Midlands County, England. It is located near the source of the River Tame. At the 2011 Census the town had a population of 37,817. The substantial remains of a large ditch excavated in St Mary's Road in 2008, following the contours of the hill and predating the Early Medieval period, has been interpreted as part of a hilltop enclosure and possibly the Iron Age hillfort long suspected on the site.
RugeleyRugeley (ˈruːdʒli or ) is a market town and civil parish in the Cannock Chase District, in Staffordshire, England. It lies on the north-eastern edge of Cannock Chase next to the River Trent; it is situated north of Lichfield, south-east of Stafford, north-east of Hednesford and south-west of Uttoxeter. At the 2021 Census, the population was 24,386. Rugeley is twinned with Western Springs, Illinois and, in July 1962, both towns made telephone history on national television when the chairman of Rugeley Urban District Council made the first telephone call via the new Telstar satellite to the mayor of Western Springs.
CoseleyCoseley (ˈkoʊzli ) is a village in the Dudley Metropolitan Borough, in the West Midlands County, England. It is situated north of Dudley itself, on the border with Wolverhampton. Though it is a part of the Dudley North constituency. It also falls within the Wolverhampton South-East parliamentary constituency. Coseley was originally a village in the ancient manor of Sedgley. In 1867, it joined with Brierley and Ettingshall to break away from the parish of Sedgley and formed Lower Sedgley Local Board District.
SedgleySedgley is a town in the north of the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, in the West Midlands, England. Historically part of Staffordshire, Sedgley is on the A459 road between Wolverhampton and Dudley, and was formerly the seat of an ancient manor comprising several smaller villages, including Gornal, Gospel End, Woodsetton, Ettingshall, Coseley, and Brierley (now Bradley). In 1894, the manor was split to create the Sedgley and Coseley urban districts, the bulk of which were later merged into the Dudley County Borough in 1966.
