6 Epic Sporting Stories That Deserve The Last Dance Treatment

Test cricket is a tough sell to the uninitiated. Keeping up with five whole days of play can be an arduous task for even the most diehard follower of the sport at times, but the endurance can often tell such a compelling story.

Because only twelve nations compete at test level, contests between the same countries are commonplace and an incentive is added to many regular matchups through the contesting of a trophy whenever a test series is arranged. The Ashes is the most prestigious of these by far and England and Australia have fought over a small urn for almost 150 years, making their rivalry one of the longest running in any sport.

Australia have won on 33 occasions and England on 32, but Australia have been far more dominant than those numbers would suggest. They put two streaks of 6 consecutive wins together in the mid-20th century (though these both included drawn series, where the holder retains the trophy), before they won 8 in a row between 1989 and 2003.

England, dominated for so long, became more and more of an underdog. Their 2005 triumph almost writes itself as a documentary as a result, with ridiculously narrow run and wicket margins proving decisive. The success spearheaded a revival in the fortunes of English cricket that has continued to this day (their victory in the Cricket World Cup final last year was even more dramatic) and revisiting it would be joyous for all.