Top 5 players who have played the most consecutive Tests

Brendon McCullum New Zealand Cricket — McCullum holds the record for most consecutive Test matches played since debut

Test cricket is the ultimate benchmark for success at the international level and is undoubtedly the toughest format of the game, both physically and mentally.

Having the patience and technique to spend hours batting at the crease and speeding into bowl, over after over all day long, is not everyone's cup of tea.

There have been many good players who have failed to make a successful transformation from the shorter formats of the game to the 5-day format while there are some who excelled in the 5-day format better than others.

There have been very few players who have enjoyed a constant run in the Test side owing to many factors such as form, fitness, scheduling, temperament and so on. In fact, only five players have managed to feature in 100 or more consecutive Test matches for their sides.

Here we take a look at those players who has played the most consecutive Tests in the history of the game

#5 Brendon McCullum (New Zealand) - 101 Tests (2004-2016)

Brendon McCullum has been one of New Zealand's greatest players ever and someone who brought life into the game first as a swashbuckling batsman and later as an aggressive skipper who played to win.

Considering his attacking instincts, one may have assumed that McCullum was only suited to the shorter formats of the game - a reason why it took more than two years since his ODI debut in 2002 for McCullum to earn a call-up to the Test side.

The match was the first of the 3-Test series against South Africa at Hamilton and McCullum made his mark with a knock of 57 in his very first Test innings and there was no looking back since.

McCullum rarely found himself out of the New Zealand side in any format of the game, featuring in the Top 10 list for the most consecutive number of ODIs.

In Test cricket, his feat is even more remarkable as he holds the world record for the most consecutive number of Test matches since debut. He played all of his 101 Test matches on the trot before retiring from international cricket in February 2016.