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If you want to know how the average Australian cricket fan feels about Test cricket, you need to first look at how the Australian people look at life.

Generally speaking, Australians are fighters. Not in an alcohol-fueled bar room sort of way - though that is a regular part of life, but in a 'don't expect life to hand you any favours, you've got to earn everything you get' way.

We are of convict heritage, so our forefathers had to work hard for their freedom, their reputation and their future. We live on an island that is half desert, with a climate that can be punishing and cruel. So those that built this country did so in some of the most demanding conditions imaginable, over distances that have to be seen to be believed.

Our working class are dubbed 'Aussie battlers' and are spoken of as typical of the nation, not some disrespected sub-section of Australia. We will always back the underdog and cut down the tall poppy.

Test cricket is where the mentally and physically tough play, Twenty20 and One Day cricket is the domain of the flashy show pony. It takes guts to take on a four man pace assault for hours on end to grind out a century, the type of guts that made names like Boon and Waugh revered as almost god like in households and playgrounds all over the country.

Where Twenty20 and One Day cricket is fun and instantly gratifying, like a McDonald's happy meal, Test cricket is delivered over time and is far more satisfying for the consumer, like a 3 course meal. Sure, it helps when the local restaurant is a five star establishment, which the Australian Test side has been in the past 15 years or so, but our take away food outlets have not been too shabby either - a fact backed up by the past three World Cups.

Settling down to watch a limited overs contest gives you a chance to watch some of the best batsmen in the world throw the bat for anything up to three hours, maybe knock up a few boundaries in the process. It also allows you to witness up to ten overs from the best bowlers in the game, but often while the fielders are restricted in where they can stand and while batsmen have not time to give them the respect they deserve.

This may be all good fun, but Test cricket is where the likes of Lara, Tendulkar and Ponting can stay at the crease for seven or eight hours and face the likes of Warne, Steyn and Muralitharan for as long as they are able to bowl. The battles that come from such match ups are the stuff any true cricket fan lives for.

When Australia

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