Monday, July 13, 2009

THE GREAT ESCAPE

England saved the Cardiff Test by the skin of their teeth. The last pair of James Anderson and Monty Panesar batted for 37 minutes to steer England to safety. Here is a glance at some of the drawn Test matches with narrowest of margins.

Last wicket pair saving an innings defeat
(by taking their side’s match-aggregate to at par or just ahead of opponent’s total)

Ahead by For Vs Venue Season Stay of last wicket
0 runs England South Africa Manchester 1998 19 minutes
13 runs England Australia Cardiff 2009 37 minutes
The Tests that ended in a draw with fielding side needing just one wicket to win

Total Target Batting side Fielding side Venue Season
152-9 278 India England Manchester 1946
273-9 460 Australia West Indies Adelaide 1960-61
228-9 234 England West Indies Lord's 1963
206-9 308 England West Indies Georgetown 1967-68
339-9 360 Australia West Indies Adelaide 1968-69
251-9 306 West Indies Pakistan Bridgetown 1976-77
258-9 369 West Indies Australia Kingston 1977-78
197-9 335 West Indies India Kolkata 1978-79
230-9 247 Australia New Zealand Melbourne 1987-88
341-9 372 Pakistan West Indies Port of Spain 1987-88
223-9 288 New Zealand Australia Hobart 1997-98
207-9 373 West Indies Zimbabwe Harare 2003-04
210-9 323 England Sri Lanka Galle 2003-04
371-9 423 Australia England Manchester 2005
298-9 392 West Indies India St.John's 2006
282-9 380 India England Lord’s 2007
370-9 503 West Indies England St.John’s 2008-09
The Test matches that were drawn with narrowest margins, as the batting side just failed to achieve the fourth innings winning target

Diff Batting side Target Score Fielding side Venue Season
1 run England 205 204-6 Zimbabwe Bulawayo 1996-97
6 runs India 361 355-8 West Indies Mumbai (BS) 1948-49
6 runs England 234 228-9 West Indies Lord's 1963
8 runs Australia 246 238-8 England Melbourne 1974-75
9 runs India 438 429-8 England The Oval 1979
10 runs New Zealand 284 274-6 Australia Brisbane 2001-02
11 runs West Indies 253 242-5 Australia Bridgetown 1964-65
11 runs New Zealand 286 275-8 Zimbabwe Bulawayo 1997-98
15 runs England 124 109-7 Pakistan Birmingham 1987
17 runs Australia 247 230-9 New Zealand Melbourne 1987-88
Note: The first entry in the above table is an intriguing one. It was for the first time in Test history that two teams tied on the same score and yet the match ended in a draw and not as a tie since England had not lost all their wickets. The entries in the bold are the ones also appearing in the first table, meaning either of the two sides could have won the match!