diff --git a/.github/workflows/test.yml b/.github/workflows/test.yml
index 87765f68541..0751eccd8c8 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/test.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/test.yml
@@ -3,167 +3,75 @@ name: Check and test
 on: [push, pull_request]
 
 jobs:
-  # build the library, a compilation step used by multiple steps below
-  linux-build-lib:
-    name: Build
-    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    container:
-      image: amd64/rust
-    steps:
-      - uses: actions/checkout@v2
-      - name: Cache Cargo
-        uses: actions/cache@v2
-        with:
-          path: /github/home/.cargo
-          # these represent dependencies downloaded by cargo
-          # and thus do not depend on the OS, arch nor rust version.
-          key: cargo-cache-
-      - name: Cache dependencies
-        uses: actions/cache@v2
-        with:
-          path: /github/home/target
-          # these represent compiled steps of both dependencies and arrow
-          # and thus are specific for a particular OS, arch and rust version.
-          key: ${{ runner.os }}-amd64-target-cache-stable
-      - name: Setup toolchain
-        run: |
-          rustup toolchain install stable
-          rustup default stable
-          rustup component add rustfmt
-      - name: Build
-        run: |
-          export CARGO_HOME="/github/home/.cargo"
-          export CARGO_TARGET_DIR="/github/home/target"
-          cargo build
-
   # test the crate
-  linux-test:
-    name: Test
-    needs: [linux-build-lib]
+  ubuntu-latest:
+    name: Test full
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    container:
-      image: amd64/rust
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v2
         with:
-          submodules: true
-      - name: Cache Cargo
-        uses: actions/cache@v2
-        with:
-          path: /github/home/.cargo
-          # these represent dependencies downloaded by cargo
-          # and thus do not depend on the OS, arch nor rust version.
-          key: cargo-cache-
-      - name: Cache dependencies
-        uses: actions/cache@v2
-        with:
-          path: /github/home/target
-          # these represent compiled steps of both dependencies and arrow
-          # and thus are specific for a particular OS, arch and rust version.
-          key: ${{ runner.os }}-amd64-target-cache-stable
-      - name: Setup toolchain
-        run: |
-          rustup toolchain install stable
-          rustup default stable
-          rustup component add rustfmt
+          submodules: true # needed to test IPC, which are located in a submodule
+      - name: Install Rust
+        run: rustup update stable
+      - uses: Swatinem/rust-cache@v1
       - name: Setup parquet files
-        run: | 
+        run: |
           apt update && apt install python3-pip python3-venv -y -q
           python3 -m venv venv
           venv/bin/pip install pip --upgrade
           venv/bin/pip install pyarrow==3
           venv/bin/python parquet_integration/write_parquet.py
       - name: Run
-        run: |
-          export CARGO_HOME="/github/home/.cargo"
-          export CARGO_TARGET_DIR="/github/home/target"
-          cargo test --features full
+        run: cargo test --features full
 
   windows-and-macos:
     name: ${{ matrix.os }}
-    runs-on: ${{ matrix.os }}
     strategy:
       matrix:
         os: [windows-latest, macos-latest]
+    runs-on: ${{ matrix.os }}
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v2
         with:
-          submodules: true
-      # TODO: this won't cache anything, which is expensive. Setup this action
-      # with a OS-dependent path.
-      - name: Setup toolchain
-        run: |
-          rustup toolchain install stable
-          rustup default stable
-          rustup component add rustfmt
+          submodules: true # needed to test IPC, which are located in a submodule
+      - name: Install Rust
+        run: rustup update stable
+      - uses: Swatinem/rust-cache@v1
       - name: Run
         shell: bash
-        # no need to run the whole thing. Rust guarantees interoperability
         run: ARROW2_IGNORE_PARQUET= cargo test --features full
 
   clippy:
     name: Clippy
-    needs: [linux-build-lib]
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    container:
-      image: amd64/rust
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v2
-        with:
-          submodules: true
-      - name: Cache Cargo
-        uses: actions/cache@v2
-        with:
-          path: /github/home/.cargo
-          # these represent dependencies downloaded by cargo
-          # and thus do not depend on the OS, arch nor rust version.
-          key: cargo-cache-
-      - name: Cache dependencies
-        uses: actions/cache@v2
-        with:
-          path: /github/home/target
-          # these represent compiled steps of both dependencies and arrow
-          # and thus are specific for a particular OS, arch and rust version.
-          key: ${{ runner.os }}-amd64-target-cache-stable
-      - name: Setup toolchain
-        run: |
-          rustup toolchain install stable
-          rustup default stable
-          rustup component add rustfmt clippy
-      - name: Run
-        run: |
-          export CARGO_HOME="/github/home/.cargo"
-          export CARGO_TARGET_DIR="/github/home/target"
-          cargo clippy --features full
+      - name: Install Rust
+        run: rustup update stable
+      - uses: Swatinem/rust-cache@v1
+      - name: Install clippy
+        run: rustup component add clippy
+      - name: "clippy --all"
+        run: cargo clippy --all --tests
 
   miri-checks:
     name: Miri
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v2
+      - uses: actions-rs/toolchain@v1
         with:
-          submodules: true
-      - uses: actions/cache@v2
-        with:
-          path: |
-            ~/.cargo/registry
-            ~/.cargo/git
-            target
-          key: ${{ runner.os }}-cargo-miri-${{ hashFiles('**/Cargo.lock') }}
-      - name: Setup toolchain
+          toolchain: nightly-2021-07-09
+          override: true
+      - uses: Swatinem/rust-cache@v1
+      - name: Install Miri
         run: |
-          rustup toolchain install nightly-2021-07-03
-          rustup default nightly-2021-07-03
-          rustup component add rustfmt miri
+          rustup component add miri
+          cargo miri setup
+
       - name: Run
-        env:
-          RUST_BACKTRACE: full
-          RUST_LOG: 'trace'
         # --skip io: miri can't handle opening of files, so we skip those
-        run: |
-          cargo miri setup
-          cargo clean
-          cargo miri test --features full -- --skip io::parquet --skip io::ipc
+        run: cargo miri test --features full -- --skip io::parquet --skip io::ipc
 
   coverage:
     name: Coverage
@@ -172,138 +80,73 @@ jobs:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v2
         with:
           submodules: true
-      - name: Cache Cargo
-        uses: actions/cache@v2
-        with:
-          path: /home/runner/.cargo
-          # this key is not equal because the user is different than on a container (runner vs github)
-          key: cargo-coverage-cache-
-      - name: Cache dependencies
-        uses: actions/cache@v2
-        with:
-          path: /home/runner/target
-          # this key is not equal because coverage uses different compilation flags.
-          key: ${{ runner.os }}-amd64-target-coverage-cache-stable-
       - name: Setup parquet files
-        run: | 
+        run: |
           apt update && apt install python3-pip python3-venv -y -q
           python3 -m venv venv
           venv/bin/pip install pip --upgrade
           venv/bin/pip install pyarrow==3
           venv/bin/python parquet_integration/write_parquet.py
+      - uses: Swatinem/rust-cache@v1
+      - name: Install tarpaulin
+        run: cargo install cargo-tarpaulin
       - name: Run coverage
-        run: |
-          export CARGO_HOME="/home/runner/.cargo"
-          export CARGO_TARGET_DIR="/home/runner/target"
-
-          # 2020-11-15: There is a cargo-tarpaulin regression in 0.17.0
-          # see https://github.com/xd009642/tarpaulin/issues/618
-          cargo install --version 0.16.0 cargo-tarpaulin
-          cargo tarpaulin --features full --out Xml
+        run: cargo tarpaulin --features full --out Xml
       - name: Report coverage
         continue-on-error: true
         run: bash <(curl -s https://codecov.io/bash)
 
   feature-compilation:
     name: Feature coverage
-    needs: [linux-build-lib]
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    container:
-      image: amd64/rust
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v2
-      - name: Cache Cargo
-        uses: actions/cache@v2
-        with:
-          path: /github/home/.cargo
-          # these represent dependencies downloaded by cargo
-          # and thus do not depend on the OS, arch nor rust version.
-          key: cargo-cache-
-      - name: Cache dependencies
-        uses: actions/cache@v2
-        with:
-          path: /github/home/target
-          # these represent compiled steps of both dependencies and arrow
-          # and thus are specific for a particular OS, arch and rust version.
-          key: ${{ runner.os }}-amd64-target-cache-stable
-      - name: Setup toolchain
-        run: |
-          rustup toolchain install stable
-          rustup default stable
-          rustup component add rustfmt clippy
-          cargo install cargo-all-features
+      - name: Install Rust
+        run: rustup update stable
+      - name: Setup all features
+        run: cargo install cargo-all-features
+      - uses: Swatinem/rust-cache@v1
       - name: Run
-        run: |
-          export CARGO_HOME="/github/home/.cargo"
-          export CARGO_TARGET_DIR="/github/home/target"
-          cargo check-all-features
+        run: cargo check-all-features
 
-  # test the arrow crate builds against wasm32 in stable rust
-  wasm32-build:
-    name: wasm32 build
+  cross:
+    name: cross
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    container:
-      image: amd64/rust
+    strategy:
+      matrix:
+        target:
+          - wasm32-unknown-unknown
+          - i686-unknown-linux-gnu
+          - powerpc-unknown-linux-gnu
+          - powerpc64-unknown-linux-gnu
+          - mips-unknown-linux-gnu
+          - arm-linux-androideabi
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v2
         with:
           submodules: true
-      - name: Cache Cargo
-        uses: actions/cache@v2
+      - uses: actions-rs/toolchain@v1
         with:
-          path: /github/home/.cargo
-          # these represent dependencies downloaded by cargo
-          # and thus do not depend on the OS, arch nor rust version.
-          key: cargo-cache-
-      - name: Cache dependencies
-        uses: actions/cache@v2
+          toolchain: nightly
+          target: ${{ matrix.target }}
+          override: true
+      - uses: Swatinem/rust-cache@v1
+      - uses: actions-rs/cargo@v1
         with:
-          path: /github/home/target
-          key: ${{ runner.os }}-amd64-target-wasm32-cache-nightly
-      - name: Setup toolchain
-        run: |
-          rustup toolchain install nightly
-          rustup override set nightly
-          rustup component add rustfmt
-          rustup target add wasm32-unknown-unknown
-      - name: Build arrow crate
-        run: |
-          export CARGO_HOME="/github/home/.cargo"
-          export CARGO_TARGET_DIR="/github/home/target"
-          # no need 
-          cargo build --no-default-features --features=merge_sort,io_ipc,io_csv,io_print,io_json,io_parquet --target wasm32-unknown-unknown
+          use-cross: true
+          command: check
+          args: --features=merge_sort,io_ipc,io_csv,io_print,io_json,io_parquet --target ${{ matrix.target }}
 
   linux-simd-test:
     name: SIMD
-    needs: [linux-build-lib]
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    container:
-      image: amd64/rust
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v2
+      - uses: actions-rs/toolchain@v1
         with:
-          submodules: true
-      - name: Cache Cargo
-        uses: actions/cache@v2
-        with:
-          path: /github/home/.cargo
-          # these represent dependencies downloaded by cargo
-          # and thus do not depend on the OS, arch nor rust version.
-          key: cargo-simd-cache-
-      - name: Cache dependencies
-        uses: actions/cache@v2
-        with:
-          path: /github/home/target
-          # these represent compiled steps of both dependencies and arrow
-          # and thus are specific for a particular OS, arch and rust version.
-          key: ${{ runner.os }}-amd64-target-simd-cache-
-      - name: Setup toolchain
-        run: |
-          rustup toolchain install nightly
-          rustup default nightly
+          toolchain: nightly
+          override: true
+      - uses: Swatinem/rust-cache@v1
       - name: Run
-        run: |
-          export CARGO_HOME="/github/home/.cargo"
-          export CARGO_TARGET_DIR="/github/home/target"
-          # no need to run over all features: simd only affects the core
-          cargo test --no-default-features --features compute,simd --lib
+        # no need to run over all features: simd only affects the core
+        run: cargo test --tests --no-default-features --features compute,simd