Cricket has come under a lot of scrutiny this week with the Indian team’s refusal to play and Ricky Ponting’s controvery (I’m behind you 100% captain). Thankfully the Cricket blogs have once again provided an opinion on every possible side of this debate, and have given everyone some food for thought. In case you have missed some of this weeks posts, the highlights were -

Ottayan suggested that the sacking of Bucknor is a good precedent because it is a warning to other umpires that bad calls are no longer acceptable.

Dinnie has summarized the conspiracy well, and has put it behind him. “Thanks heaven, we’ll have some actual whacking bats around a cricket pitch.”

Swollen Pickles has seen the lighter side, and has provided a video that is well worth watching.

To try and end the arguments JC from Cricket-Blog.com has provided some easy to follow tips for bloggers and fans alike entitled The Spirit of Cricket-Blog.

And finally, to get away from the single point of focus this week, Harrow Drive has provided a clever piece of advice for all cricket players - 5 ways Ferris Bueller can improve your cricket

Remember - cricket is just a game, no matter how serious it becomes and it should always be treated as such.

I would like to welcome everyone to the first edition of The Weekly Test. Every Friday night the best cricketing posts from around the world will be celebrated for all to enjoy. Just in case you have missed the cricketing news, opinions, and analysis of the previous week, it will all be laid out in front of you.

Thankfully the first week of 2008 is one of the best for both cricket and controversy. The major source this time has been the umpiring of the Australia-India test in Sydney. To sum up the events I would like to call on our very own Sridhar Natarajan.

This very same test has also been a huge source of discussion over at Cricket-Blog.com. The post itself is just a summary of the day’s play, but the really exciting part is the discussion that follows. I encourage you all to read through it and participate yourself.

Dinnie from Six and Out has compilled a great selection of Cricketing videos showcasing the newsmaking images of the year gone by.

A great analysis of the boxing day test was published by Gagan. For anyone who missed this amazing match I urge you all to read for yourself and see exactly what happened.

And finally for the cricket players out there, David of Harrowdrive has reviewed a number of scientifically proven ways to reduce fat without losing strength.

That concludes the first post of the Weekly Test. Please send me your great posts for next week’s edition, so I can consider entering them. Thanks for listening.