TEST CRICKET... SO THAT'S WHAT IT'S ALL ABOUT

The Test cricket world is a small one. Just a handful of Test-playing nations, and the rest of the world either hasn't heard of the game, or just doesn't get it.

You know that old yarn about trying to explain the peculiarity of the rules and intents of the game to Americans? The one about when a batsman's in until he's out and so on. All very confusing.

Test cricket is an acquired taste, a bit like vegemite. You have to grow up with it to appreciate it.

For the uninitiated but the well-intentioned, perhaps the Second Test between Australia and Pakistan in Sydney was a watershed moment. Ah, so that's what it's all about.

This was an incredible match, where the vagaries of the pitch and the weather combined to provide a third player in what unfolded into an enthralling contest. Finally, it was Australia who prevailed, thanks to a stirring 9th-wicket partnership between Mike Hussey and the unlikely Peter Siddle, a disciplined and, at times, brilliant performance in the field, and some unconvincing Pakistani tactics with the bat and ball.

Perhaps not for the genuine lovers, but for many general sports aficiandos, cricket is a strange game. Many of day, I have wondered what it is that wills grown men to spend five days in pursuit of, maybe a drawn result. Batting is one thrill, bowling another, maybe even fielding. But for fifty percent of the time, almost half of the 22 players are sitting around doing nothing but reflecting a what has just been, or nervously awaiting what's to come. Maybe for a full day or so, sitting in the viewing room.

For the younger players, the drive to achieve and the thrill of success is a major factor. But what about the 30-somethings playing at the next tier, in Australia's case Sheffield Shield? In front of maybe 100 people in cavenous arenas, like the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Players who realistically have no chance of advancing their careers beyond the status quo. What is it that drives them to turn up day after day, match after match and summer after summer?

Professionalism of the game has meant that cricket has become a lucrative career path for the elite, so that's one reason for the strange human behaviour outlined above. But that wasn't the case for the first 100 years of the sport when, to the contrary, cricket could often be an interference to genuine career paths.

No, the real reason is the unpredictability of the game, where the sum total of 22 individuals can be upturned by a lone flash of brilliance or defiance to determine an eventual outcome.

The very uniqueness of Test cricket means the doubts of its very being are erased, even once or twice a year, when matches like that at the SCG unfold the way they do.