Airdate: The Test
Seven to screen sports doco on how the Australian team rebounded from the 2018 ball-tampering scandal.
- Published by David Knox
- on
- Filed under Programming, Video
Seven has picked up the Free to Air rights to sports documentary The Test which shows how the Australian team rebounded from the 2018 ball-tampering scandal.
Produced as an 8 part series by Cricket Australia Films in conjunction with Whooshka Media and directed by Adrian Brown, this premiered at Amazon Prime in February.
On Seven it will run as a 2 hour edited feature.
When The Test takes up the story, Australian cricket has just been plunged into crisis, its captain Steve Smith, vice-captain David Warner and young batsman Cameron Bancroft all banned for their roles in the ball-tampering scandal of March 2018.
Under new captain Tim Paine and new coach Justin Langer, the Aussies have no choice but to embark on a new era, one in which they face a long and steep road to regain the respect of the cricket world and the affection of the Australian public.
But The Test is not just a sports documentary, it’s an inspiring real-life drama that will appeal to both non-sports fans and the avid cricket follower. In some ways, it’s Australia’s version of The Last Dance.
Produced by CA Films and Whooshka Media, The Test: Feature Length Special covers the Australian team’s up and downs over the 16 months following Cape Town, including their difficult run in limited-overs cricket, the fighting drawn 2018 Test series against Pakistan in the UAE, the first-ever Test series loss to India on Australian soil in 2018-19, and the glorious 2019 Ashes series when Paine’s men became the first team in 18 years to retain cricket’s oldest and most coveted prize in England.
Along this remarkable journey, fans are taken behind the scenes as:
Top-order batsman Usman Khawaja and Langer have a heated exchange on the eve of the Test series against Pakistan
Paine and Indian captain Virat Kohli exchange verbal barbs during the 2018-19 Test summer
Smith triumphantly returns to the team with a Bradman-like run spree in the 2019 Ashes series
English spearhead Jofra Archer strikes a stunning blow in the second Ashes Test, forcing Smith to retire with a suspected concussion
Langer battles to cope with the almost unbearable tension during the closing stages of the third Ashes Test as Ben Stokes blasts England to a thrilling one-wicket win
The utter jubilation in the dressing room after the Aussies retained the Ashes.
As the Australians prepare to defend their No.1 Test ranking against India this summer, The Test reveals the arduous path Paine’s team had to negotiate to restore Australia to the top of world cricket.
7pm Sunday on Seven.
Share
- Tagged with The Test
8 Responses
Why bother showing a two hour edited feature? Either show the full series or not at all.
Frankly I am surprised they bothered to make an 8 part series and 7 will air a 2 hour version.
I suppose I was disgusted and don’t care!
It appears that 7 are showing what they have been given
so 2 hours FTA = roughly 90 min of footage + 30 min of ads?
Has Channel 7 used too much sandpaper to dust off some content? Very disappointing from 7 by cutting a lot of content out.
Either air it as a 8 part special or not at all I reckon.
The 2 hour version of the test is the version provided by Cricket Australia to Seven and Foxtel.
A 2 hour edited feature for a show that has 8x 50 minute episodes seems a bit stupid. How much content are you cutting out?? Can they not just air the 8 episodes as they are on Prime? The episodes have plenty of room for ads
In all honesty I don’t think I could sit through 8 episodes anyway and this may be of interest but watching anything Cricket on channel 7 ,well that’s just not Cricket 🏏.