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Captain Sylvester Joseph and Tonito Willett missed out on centuries as Leeward Islands and Jamaica remained locked in a tense battle, after honours were evenly shared on the second day of their first-round Carib Beer Series match at St Mary’s Park in St Kitts.Joseph failed to add to his overnight 97 while Willett was dismissed for 89 as Leewards were bowled out for 396, after resuming at 291 for 4. At the close, Jamaica had reached 165 for 3, with Brenton Parchment stroking 51.Joseph, who batted soundly on Thursday to steady the innings, survived just 12 balls on Friday before being caught at square leg by Tamar Lambert, attempting to pull a short ball from fast bowler Jerome Taylor with the score on 297. Willett unbeaten on 43 overnight, again batted enterprisingly as he held the innings together after Joseph’s dismissal.He failed to find a steady partner, however, as wickets tumbled around him. Taylor, who finished with 3 for 69, produced a sharp, lifting delivery to Omari Banks which the batsman fended to Parchment at short square leg, to leave Leewards 314 for 6.Jermaine Lawson, Jamaica’s best bowler with 4 for 72, took care of Jason Williams for ten with a slower delivery, and Willett’s knock finally ended when he edged a faster ball from offspinner Samuels to wicketkeeper Carlton Baugh. He batted just under four hours, faced 173 balls, striking 11 fours.Jamaica quickly dispatched the two remaining Leewards wickets and hastily started their pursuit of first-innings points, with Chris Gayle and Parchment adding 70 for the first wicket. Gayle was bowled by the first delivery after tea when he played over a pitched up delivery from Adam Sanford.Samuels was brilliantly taken one-handed by Banks at second slip off Carl Simon for 34 with the score on 127, and with no addition to the score Parchment was taken at silly mid-off off Banks. Captain Wavell Hinds was unbeaten on 30 at the close.
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Barbados are behind the eight-ball for the moment. A keen-battle for first innings honours was slightly in favour of Trinidad and Tobago at the half-way stage of their opening round Carib Beer Series match yesterday. When stumps were drawn on the second day at the North Stars Club ground, Barbados were trailing Trinidad and Tobago by 53 runs with only two wickets intact.Had it not been for the resolute Floyd Reifer, the situation might have been worse. It was pleasing to see the diligence and application from Reifer, especially after a lean season last year. There wasn’t a flurry of exciting strokes, but you saw the value of watchful occupation of the crease. If some of his teammates could take a leaf out of his book, it would serve them well for the remainder of the season.Reifer’s unbeaten 54 off 212 balls stretched almost four-and-a-half hours and contained seven boundaries. He left countless balls outside the off stump, defended a whole lot that were on the wicket, nudged the ball around and spanked some of the bad balls to the fence. A lot rests on his shoulders if Barbados are to get close to Trinidad and Tobago’s total.Dale Richards, polished and purposeful, and Dwayne Smith, exciting and selective, wasted the benefit of promising starts by giving away their wickets on the approach of an interval. Richards was especially strong when driving through the off-side but failed to capitalise on a sharp chance he offered low to wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin. Seven minutes short of the first refreshment break of the day and two shy of a half-century, Richards should have done better with a long-hop from offspinner Amit Jaggernauth which he pulled to the man running in from deep midwicket.Smith sent a buzz around the ground with a wonderful straight drive off Mervyn Dillon and then batted with increasing responsibility for the better part of an hour-and-a-half. The time he has spent working with the legendary Seymour Nurse, it seemed, was paying off.Ten minutes before tea, Smith picked up the medium-pace of Bravo and deposited him down the throat of deep midwicket after making 38. It was a waste of a wicket. Kevin Stoute is the darling among local fans at the moment and he immediately created a favourable impression upon his arrival. He played a few attractive strokes and looked at ease on the way to his 24 in front of another good crowd.Stoute surely shouldn’t be batting as low as No. 8, but he didn’t let it bother him. There were occasions when he appeared not to be sure which way the ball was turning when he was facing up Dave Mohammed’s chinamen. He survived that uncertain period before falling to an edged catch at gully in the second over with the new ball.If the final line-up Barbados put out on Thursday raised a few eyebrows, there was even more debate about the batting order yesterday. Patrick Browne is a wicketkeepe- batsman and capable of handling himself in front of the stumps, but in a team packed with a plethora of specialist batsmen, No. 3 is not the place for Browne.He batted soundly for an hour- and-a-half before falling to an outstanding one-handed catch at forward short-leg by Jason Mohammed. Browne’s elevation pushed promising rookies Kirk Edwards and Stoute down to No. 7 and 8 and more significantly, denied Barbados of an experienced head at a critical position.Either the captain Ryan Hinds or Reifer or possibly Smith should be given the responsibility of No 3. In a tight battle for first innings, you can hardly afford two run outs. Both Hinds and Tino Best fell by that route, but neither could be faulted.The two dismissals involved Reifer, but he could not be targeted either. On both occasions, Reifer slipped in the process of running, forcing his partners to try to regain their ground at the opposite end.
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Early morning rain and another sharp shower during the tea break condemned the second day of the first round Carib Beer Series match between the Windward Islands and Guyana to just 40 minutes action.In the 10.3 overs allowed at the Tanteen cricket ground, the Windward Islands moved to 185 for 6, continuing from their overnight 163 for 5. A soggy outfield delayed the start of play until 2:30 pm and Windwards quickly lost danger man Junior Murray in the third over of the day for 44.Murray, unbeaten on 38 overnight, edged offspinner Narsingh Deonarine to wicketkeeper Derwin Christian to miss out on his 31st regional first class half-century, with the score on 170 for 6. Captain Rawl Lewis, 10 not out, and Liam Sebastian, unbeaten on 3, were together when rain ended play prematurely.

James Pattinson celebrated six wickets during West Indies’ first innings at the MCG, but you’ll only see four on the scorecard. Twice during the opening session of the third day, Pattinson dismissed Carlos Brathwaite, only to have the umpire ask for a review of the front foot. On both occasions, Pattinson was shown to have delivered a no-ball. Brathwaite went from not really out on 13, to not really out on 50, to really out on 59.It was all part of a frustrating session for the Australians as Brathwaite and Darren Bravo almost batted through until lunch without loss. Brathwaite was eventually caught and bowled by Nathan Lyon just before the break. That and some more lower-order fight pushed West Indies along to 271 and discouraged Steven Smith from enforcing the follow-on. Instead a potential three-day Test, the game was set to last four days or perhaps even five.That means plenty of work still ahead for Pattinson and the rest of the bowlers. While he was pleased to finish with 4 for 72 in a Boxing Day Test, he knows he created more work for himself. In the 48th over of the innings, Brathwaite was bowled trying an ugly cross-bat slog, and in the 66th over he hooked a short ball straight into the hands of fine leg. Both were called retrospectively as no-balls.”I’ve always been pushing the line, ever since I’ve been playing cricket,” Pattinson said. “It’s momentum and stepping over the line, it’s obviously something I have to work on because it cost us a bit of time today and a few runs. I have to work on it and try to improve that.”They were two of four no-balls that will show on Pattinson’s analysis at the end of the innings, but the lack of on-field calls for the wicket deliveries suggests that others might have slipped by unnoticed. Asked whether umpire Chris Gaffaney had warned him he was close to overstepping, Pattinson said no, but he took responsibility for the no-balls himself.”It was more after I bowled the no-balls, he wasn’t telling me before that,” Pattinson said. “I know I’m always up there, it’s quite hard. I’ve got to try and get into a rhythm where I can stay behind the line and not push it but umpires do try and help you out a fair bit.”So far in this series, Pattinson has collected nine wickets at 18.55, making him Australia’s leading wicket taker so far, which is a pleasing result given this series marks his return after a long injury lay-off. After initially rebuilding his action to be much more side-on, Pattinson has reverted to an action that is something of a compromise between side and front, and it seems to be working.”I still feel like I’m not 100% yet,” Pattinson said. “Obviously when you do bowl no-balls it is in the back of your mind a little bit. So I’m still not running in as hard as I would like to be, because I’m sort of a bit wary of that front foot.”I’ve just got to try to get a stage where I’m running in full steam and not worrying about overstepping, but apart from that I’m pretty happy with the way the ball is coming out. I feel like I’m getting better and better each time I bowl. If that’s the worst it’s going to get – bowling a couple of no-balls, I’ll take that.”Australia remain in a powerful position to push for victory with two days to play, boasting a lead of 459 runs with seven wickets in hand in their second innings, but West Indies at least showed some resistance on day three. Pattinson said he had been impressed by the way West Indies both batted and bowled after their underwhelming displays of the first five days of the series.”Darren Bravo didn’t give us much at all,” Pattinson said. “He was pretty solid. He made us work really hard for his wicket. The same as Carlos Brathwaite when he came out. We thought he was probably going to tee them up a bit more than he did. But he looked pretty solid and fought pretty hard.”When they came out they bowled pretty well in tough circumstances when they’re 300 behind and could easily have just dished up a few half-volleys for us. Our boys batted well. It was a pretty good day’s cricket.”

Chris Schofield is confident that his hand injury won’t prevent him from taking part in the ICC World Twenty20.Schofield split the webbing on his left hand when fielding during Surrey’s Pro40 victory against Kent on Tuesday and had to have four stitches, but his club says there is nothing to worry about. He even batted as Surrey moved to the one-wicket win.”He was keen to return to the field,” a Surrey spokesperson told Cricinfo, “but Alan Butcher and Mark Butcher didn’t want to risk it, particularly with the internationals coming up.”He did, however, bat and made 11. “He batted really well – a little gingerly to start with, but then as the adrenaline kicked in he started to play his shots.”The stitches are due to come out around the time Schofield heads to South Africa on September 9. His international commitments mean he will miss the closing stages of Surrey’s Pro40 promotion campaign, which continues in earnest with the floodlit match at The Oval against Somerset on Tuesday.While Schofield is sad to be missing out on the end of Surrey’s season, he knows it’s for the right reasons. “It’s not a bad thing because I’m playing for England,” he told Cricinfo, “but Surrey have been brilliant and have given me every opportunity to express myself.”The change in Schofield’s fortunes has been well-documented, but his inclusion in the England side still hasn’t sunk in. “It was a massive surprise. The start of this year was a new beginning, like I hadn’t been in first-class cricket. I’ve had lots of challenges in the last two years and now I’m about to face another big challenge.”

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Twenty wickets fell in a day at Jammu as the hosts secured a 28-run first-innings lead against Jharkhand, which may prove crucial in the low-scoring encounter. Jharkhand, opting to bat first, crossed the 100-run mark, thanks only to a 30-run last-wicket stand between Kuldeep Sharma and Sandip Roy. Kuldeep scored 24 and stayed unbeaten. For Jammu & Kashmir, the new-ball bowlers did all the damage, with Vijay Sharma taking five and Samiullah Beigh taking four wickets.The two were not done, though, as they put on 48 for the eighth wicket to take J&K past Jharkhand’s total. Beigh stayed unbeaten on 33, while Vijay scored 26. For Jharkhand, Kuldeep followed up on his batting performance with 3 for 57, while SS Rao took 3 for 56.
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Haryana never really recovered from the early blows Sanjay Bangar dealt them, and were bowled out for 193 on the first day at Rohtak. Railways made a bright start and reached 80 without loss by stumps.Bangar struck in his second and fourth overs to start the rot for Haryana. Sanjib Sanyal joined in the demolition job and soon Haryana were 71 for 6. Amit Sharma and Sandeep Singh took them to 100 with a 29-run stand, but three quick wickets followed. That’s when Gaurav Vashisht, the offspinner, came up with a timely half-century to provide some respectability to their total.Siddharth Joshi and Amit Pagnis, the Railways openers, came out with an aggressive mindset and hit 13 boundaries in 20 overs.
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S Suresh scored a crucial half-century to take Assam to 198 and then took two wickets to help reduce Kerala to 23 for 5 at Guwahati. Dhiraj Goswami, Suresh’s new-ball partner, took three wickets for five runs in seven overs. Scoring, generally, happened as an afterthought as Kerala scored 23 runs in 22.3 overs.Earlier, it was Suresh’s 57 at the top of the order, along with wicketkeeper Rajdeep Das’s 30, that held the Assam innings together and took them to a total, which by the end of the day, looked huge.
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At Margao, the Madhya Pradesh batsmen punished the Goa bowling to end the day at 334 for 6. They were led by a century by Jatin Saxena and half-centuries by wicketkeeper-opener Naman Ojha and Murtaza Ali.Jatin, who came in at No.3 and shared an 87-run stand with Ojha, scored his second first-class century, in his fourth match. Ali finished the day unbeaten on 75, his maiden first-class half-century. For Goa, Saurabh Bandekar, the former India Under-19 medium-pacer, stuck to the task and took four wickets for 98 runs, even though he bowled eight no-balls.
ScorecardNiraj Patel scored his 10th first-class century to take Gujarat to a comfortable 230 for 3 in Delhi. Niraj’s unbeaten 107 came off 192 deliveries and featured 18 boundaries. Niraj joined opener Nilesh Modi when Gujarat were at a tricky 50 for 2. Modi scored a cautious 51 and put on 75 for the third wicket with Niraj. Bhavik Thaker scored an equally cautious 35 in an unbeaten stand of 105 for the fourth wicket.
ScorecardFaiz Fazal’s second first-class century and Alind Naidu’s 87 put Vidarbha in a commanding position against Tripura, at Nagpur. The two shared a 160-run stand after Vidarbha had lost their first wicket for two runs. Fazal hit 19 fours and a six in his innings of 110.Tripura, though, struck with Naidu’s wicket in 83rd over of the day, after which Vidarbha scored only 11 runs.

The first international match in ten years at Hyderabad’s Niaz Stadiumheralds a potential return for a venue that, though not often used, is a significant one in Pakistan.The stadium has hosted only five Tests and six ODIs before Zimbabwe becamethe first international team to play here since 1997-98. But the venue isassociated with some key moments in Pakistan’s cricket history.This was the venue, for instance, when two Pakistan teams turned up toplay a Test against New Zealand in October 1976. The senior team was thenembroiled with the Board of Control for Cricket in Pakistan (BCCP) in apay dispute and the chairman, Abdul Hafeez Kardar, had selected and sentan entirely separate XI to play the Test. The issue was eventuallyresolved just before the Test started and Pakistan went on to win by tenwickets, sealing a first series win at home since 1964-65.Niaz Stadium is also remembered for what was then a world-record equallingpartnership between Javed Miandad and Mudassar Nazar, against India inJanuary 1983. The pair scored double hundreds and put on 451 runs for thethird wicket equalling the stand set by Don Bradman and Bill Ponsford in1934. Miandad was famously left stranded on 280, after Imran Khan, thecaptain, declared Pakistan’s innings on the third day. Imran later rattledIndia with a celebrated spell of five for 8 in 23 balls, leading his sideto an innings triumph.The ground hosted what turned out to be Test cricket’s 1000th Test,against New Zealand in November 1984. That remains the last Test to beplayed here, though it later staged the opening match of the 1987 WorldCup, between Pakistan and Sri Lanka. But since 1997, the ground has falleninto disrepair and at one stage, it was being used to host weddings. It also hosted the first hat-trick – Jalal-ud-Din against Australia in 1982.The current PCB administration has taken back control of the ground,however, and the successful hosting of the second ODI against Zimbabwe,said Nasim Ashraf, chairman PCB, is a sign that more international cricketmay be played here in the future. “We’re extremely proud that the stadiumhas been restored to international status. We’ve put in a fantastic newpitch and we’ve got this ground ready to host a game in four months. Thefacilities in the city and in the stadium are very good.”We want to develop a regional academy in the city and build more groundsto enable club cricket. Our policy now is to host matches on a rotationalbasis and we need to develop grounds in places like Sahiwal and Sialkot togive them more exposure.”The ground’s capacity is currently limited to only 7500 and it wasexpectedly full – and raucously so – for the match. But plans are underwayto increase that. There are also plans to build a five-star hotel, a keyICC requirement for any city hoping to stage international matches.”Crime is lower in Hyderabad than any other city in Sindh,” said KanwarNaveed Jamil, the city’s mayor. “The district government is planning tobuild a five-star hotel right next to the ground and that should attractmore matches in the future.”It may be hard to dispute that claim: despite worries before the match about whether the stadium – and the city – would be able to cope, the second ODI passed off without incident, in front of a healthy, appreciative crowd.

India Pistons set up a title showdown with Chemplast in the Moin udDowlah Cup in Hyderabad on Sunday with a comfortable 49 run win overIndia Cements. In the semifinal clash at the Gymkhana ground, Pistonswere dug out of a hole by the familiar crisis man Robin Singh whoshepherded the lower order to 218 with a priceless unbeaten 80. Inreply, Cements were never in the running, losing wickets at closeintervals and it was only a lone hand of 77 by Sunil Oasis whichhelped them to 169.In the morning, Tamil Nadu seamer J Gokulakrishnan bowled an incisivefirst spell of 5-0-26-3 to leave Pistons reeling at 33/3 after havingbeen put in to bat. Vikram Rathour and JR Madanagopal restored someorder with a battling 44-run stand before both fell in the space oftwo runs to leave Pistons in grave peril at 79/5. Pistons were missingReetinder Sodhi for this vital game, the Punjab youngster havingfallen ill after yesterday’s game and flown back home.Robin was thus the last hope and he responded with the typical gustoof a man who thrives under the challenge of a pressure cookersituation. Two more partners left him along the line after brief showsof solidarity to leave Pistons at 135/7. But although No’s 9, 10 and11 made precisely 13 runs between them, they helped Robin add 83 forthe last three wickets with the skipper running out of partners aftermaking 80 in 90 balls inclusive of six fours. Gokul finished top ofthe pack among the Cements attack with figures of 4/46.Robin led with the way with the ball too, dismissing Jesu Babu withhis first delivery. The other opener VB Chandrasekhar was not hisusual aggressive self, hanging around for 43 balls to make 19 beforeleg spinner Balaji Rao dismissed him. Balaji Rao delivered anothertelling blow by removing S Sharath for three and at 61/5, Cements werein dire straits. Left arm spinner Satyajit Medappa then stepped in andcleaned up the tail in spite of Oasis’ heroics. The Kerala Ranjiplayer was last out for 77 (106 balls, 6 fours, 3 sixes) as Cementsfolded up ignominiously for 169 with 14 balls to spare.

Mark Ramprakash has expressed his disappointment at not earning an England recall after selector Geoff Miller called him three weeks before the squad to Sri Lanka was announced and asked him about his future plans.”When selector Geoff Miller rang me before the squad was picked, asking lots of questions about my future plans, I thought I had a genuine chance of going to Sri Lanka,” Ramprakash told the newspaper. “Chairman of selectors David Graveney rang me before the squad was announced to try and explain the rationale behind leaving me out, but afterwards I was still none the wiser. He said I had a great season and couldn’t have done any more to get in the squad, so I replied. ‘Hang on – if I couldn’t have done any more, why am I not in the side?'”Ramprakash was the highest run-scorer of the 2006 and 2007 County Championship with averages of over 100 and was the only batsman to go past the 2000-run mark in the two seasons.”It’s cause for concern when people score 2000 runs and average more than 100 in back-to-back seasons, which is hardly a flash in the pan, and they are still overlooked,” he said.”I would love to know which boxes I hadn’t ticked.”All my fitness charts at Surrey last summer showed I’m as fit at 38 as I was when I broke into the England side at 21. And if age alone was the issue, all I can say is that’s unfair – Graham Gooch scored heaps of runs for England between the age of 35 and 40.”

A match dominated by the bat ended with more records as Somerset and Middlesex completed a run-feast at Taunton. Justin Langer was finally yorked for 315, 27 short of the Somerset record that he holds, but the home side set a new record for the highest score on the ground. Their 850 beat Lancashire’s 810 set in 1895 and was also the highest total in any match involving Somerset. Peter Trego helped boost the total with a run-a-ball 130, his fifth first-class ton. Middlesex, 250 behind despite scoring 600, needed to bat out just over two sessions and Ed Smith’s 103 ended the match in fitting style.Nottinghamshire, the division two favourites, laid down an early marker with a nine-wicket win against Leicestershire at Trent Bridge. The visitors led by 67 with five wickets remaining at the start of the final day, but any hopes of building a significant lead vanished when Tom New fell to the fifth ball. The wicketkeeper hadn’t added to his 57 when he edged Mark Ealham low to second slip where David Hussey took a fine catch. Ryan Sidebottom then wrapped up the tail with 3 for 18 in five overs, leaving a target of 111. Although Jason Gallian fell for 37, top-edging Claude Henderson, Bilal Shafayat and Mark Wagh completed the formalities.Essex comfortably survived two sessions to share the spoils with Derbyshire at Chelmsford. After the visitors batted on for 20 overs, Essex were set 376 but there was never any chance of them attempting the chase. Varun Chopra batted for two-and-half hours after both openers fell to leave Essex 36 for 2.

Steve Harmison completed an eight-wicket match haul as Durham made short work of Worcestershire on the final day at New Road. With just four wickets left, it was only a matter of time before the home side folded. When Gareth Batty fell to the brotherly combination of the Harmisons – Steve’s fifth wicket – the tail didn’t hang around long. Callum Thorp wrapped up the innings with three wickets and Durham bagged 20 points.It took Sussex less than 19 overs to knock off the 56 runs they needed to comprehensively beat Kent at Hove and open their Championship defence with a 22-point win. Richard Montgomerie completed an outstanding match, finishing undefeated on 33.Yorkshire showed their winter problems are well behind them with a crushing 346-run win over Surrey at The Oval. Scott Newman offered the lone resistance, falling 11 short of his second century of the match, although he benefited from the attacking fields as plenty of his runs came from third man. When Newman was seventh out the other batsmen had contributed just 36. Darren Gough took another three wickets, including Rikki Clarke who shouldered arms, but the leading performer was Matthew Hoggard as he found movement to remove the middle order. A decent crowd had turned out, but the Surrey fans among them will have left disappointed. Life back in the top flight hasn’t started well. “We could surprise a few teams this year along the way if we play this sort of cricket,” Gough said. “The body language was excellent throughout. I’m not saying we’ll play like that every game. We’re going to lose games but hopefully we’ll win games also.”Mal Loye’s century ensured Lancashire left Edgbaston with draw despite Warwickshire‘s dominance of more than half the match. After not enforcing the follow-on yesterday Gary Keedy had opened up the chance of a turnaround, but Warwickshire’s lower order extended the lead on the final morning before setting a target of 347 with Tim Ambrose’s half century. Alex Loudon struck early with his off spin, but a stand of 91 between Loye and Stuart Law guided Lancashire through the final session.

Bangladesh’s 62 against Sri Lanka was depressing but there have been much worse … here are the lowest team totals since World War Two

26 – New Zealand v England Auckland, 1954-55
England took a first-innings lead of 46 in the second Test of the series, but on a far-from-difficult pitch, New Zealand were bundled to an innings defeat in 104 minutes. England’s pace attack of Frank Tyson and Brian Statham, the brisk seamers of Bob Appleyard and the spin of Johnny Wardle (who finished with 5-5-0-1) found little resistance, and once John Reid and Bert Sutcliffe, New Zealand’s two quality batsmen, had departed cheaply (Sutcliffe’s 11 was the only score in double figures) the rest folded. It was – and remains – the lowest Test total, beating South Africa’s two scores of 30 against England in 1984-95 and 1924.42 – New Zealand v Australia Wellington, 1945-46
New Zealand again, this time in their first Test against Australia (and their last for another 27 years). “It had been so wet in Wellington for a week before the scheduled start on March 29 that it was not feasible to mow the outfield,” Walter Hadlee, New Zealand’s captain, explained. “The pitch was saturated and a new one was cut out alongside the prepared one.” He won the toss, batted, and his side reached 37 for 2 on the stroke of lunch – then lost eight wickets for five runs. Naturally we are disappointed,” Hadlee said with all the understatement of those less media-savvy times. “We failed and that is all there is to be said.” It was the same story in the second innings, 54 all out and an innings defeat.

42 – India v England Lord’s, 1974
A bizarre match. The first three days were hot and sunny, and midway through Saturday’s play India were 131 for 0 in reply to England’s 629. By the close, they had been bowled out for 302 and were 2 for 0 following on. “There are lots of runs left in the pitch,” wrote John Woodcock after the rest day. But the morning was overcast and the ball, which had done little, suddenly started moving significantly, both off the pitch and through the air. In Geoff Arnold and Chris Old, England had two bowlers ideally suited to the conditions. In 70 minutes Old took 5 for 21, Arnold 4 for 19 and India were routed. They only lost nine wickets as Chandrasakar was injured and so unable to bat, but it made little difference.46 – England v West Indies Port of Spain, 1993-94
England began this innings with a chance for victory. Their only solace by the end was that they had avoided their lowest Test score, by one run. The damage was done on the third evening. Mike Atherton fell lbw to the first ball of the innings, and the level of incompetence thereafter was best illustrated by Mark Ramprakash’s crass run-out to the fifth ball of the same over. It was downhill from then on and an hour later England closed on 40 for 8. “It was the worst hour of my life,” reflected Atherton, the situation made worse by the fact that England had been in control of the match throughout and needed just 194 to pull the series back to 2-1. In The Independent Martin Johnson wrote: “There were rumours that England’s sponsor Tetley Bitter would double its financial support if its name was removed from the team shirts.”47 – New Zealand v England Lord’s, 1958
Heavy overnight rain meant that New Zealand were caught on a drying pitch and against Jim Laker (4 for 13) and Tony Lock (5 for 17) they were almost clueless. Again, Reid and Sutcliffe were the main line of resistance, Sutcliffe’s dogged 18 the top score. Reid swished Lock into the Tavern Stand for six and then holed out to mid-on trying another big hit, Sutcliffe opted for defence, while Lock polished off the tail with 4 for 1 in 49 balls. New Zealand fared little better in their second innings, scoring 74, and with 22,000 in the ground and the match over by 3.30pm, the two sides played an exhibition match.

47 – West Indies v England Kingston, 2003-04
In the nine years since England’s humiliation at Port-of-Spain, West Indies cricket had gone into sharp decline, and from 13 for 0 early on the fourth day, they lost ten wickets for 34 runs. Steve Harmison shredded them with 7 for 12, and it seemed the side had hit a new low. It later emerged that West Indies had trained once in the five days leading up to the match, instead attending psychological sessions, ironically watching motivational videos of basketball legend Michael Jordan stressing the importance of practice. And as the post-mortems started, several West Indies players were found joining in parties in the stands.51 – West Indies v Australia Port of Spain, 1998-99
The moment when the reality of a decade of decline finally hit home. In the first Test West Indies were set an improbable 364 to win, but they never came close. Within an hour they had slumped to 16 for 5, and were left to claw their way past some of Test cricket’s most unwanted records, aided by nine overthrows gifted by the Australians. In 19.1 overs and 102 minutes, they were humiliated. “Cricket is my life,” Brian Lara, the captain, said afterwards. “I think it’s important that before I retire that I lead West Indies back on the way to the top.” He did his utmost for the rest of the series, which was eventually drawn 2-2 thanks to three Lara centuries of matchless brilliance. But the Trinidad debacle still lingered. “Afterwards there was some angry finger-pointing and heated words between players and officials, while the mercifully small crowd swarmed round the pavilion and shouted, `Fire them, fire them,’ to no-one in particular,” noted Paul Weaver in The Guardian. Others shouted `Rubbish’ to everyone in particular.

52 – England v Australia The Oval, 1948
The Times reported that England’s batting was deplorable while Australia’s bowling, fielding and catching was superb. In two hours and 25 minutes on a drying – but far from treacherous – Oval pitch England were blasted away by Ray Lindwall (6 for 19). Only Len Hutton, who opened the innings and was last man out for 30, showed any kind of technique. The next highest score was Norman Yardley’s 7. Australia found the going much easier and closed on 153 for 2, but the day is best remembered as the one on which Don Bradman was bowled for a second-ball 0 in his final Test innings.53 West Indies v Pakistan Faisalabad, 1986-87
Another West Indies low, but this one stands out as it came at a time they were the unchallenged world No. 1. In the opening Test they took a first-innings lead of 89 and were left chasing 240. But on a crumbling pitch Imran Khan blasted out both openers and then Abdul Qadir exploited the conditions to the full to take 6 for 16. It was West Indies’ third defeat in 54 Tests. They bounced straight back with an innings victory in the next Test.53 Pakistan v Australia Sharjah, 2002-03
Pakistan’s dismal effort came 24 hours after they had been bowled out for 59 in a ‘home’ match at Sharjah (sides refused to tour Pakistan in the aftermath of September 11). The conditions were uncomfortable – both days were played in sweltering heat – but that didn’t bother the Australians. Pakistan succumbed to “a feeble procession of wafts and drives” reported The Guardian. “It feels a little bit hollow I must admit,” said Steve Waugh, Australia’s captain, as he rubbed salt in a gaping wound. “You expect to work a little bit harder to win a Test but we’ll still take it.” It was the lowest two-innings total (112) in Pakistan’s 50-year Test history, and they were in effect defeated by Matthew Hayden’s 119. It was the fourth lowest match total by one team in Test history.54 New Zealand v Australia Wellington, 1945-46
54 West Indies v England Lord’s, 2000
54 Zimbabwe v South Africa Cape Town, 2004-05
Three scores tie for 11th. The first was the second innings of New Zealand’s first Test against Australia mentioned above. The second came on a remarkable second day at Lord’s where spectators saw all four innings of the match. England, replying to West Indies’ 267, were bowled out for 134, but the high fives had hardly finished before West Indies’ own second innings was falling apart at the seams. Andy Caddick bowled 13 overs unchanged from the Nursery End and took 5 for 16, including 5 for 7 in 9.5 overs after tea. West Indies made 54 and England went on to win a nail-biter by two wickets on the third evening. Zimbabwe’s score against South Africa was amassed in a little more than the first session at Cape Town, and by the close South Africa had underlined the massive gulf in class between the sides by scoring 340 for 3, a lead of 286. It broke the record for the biggest lead on a first day’s play in a Test match (England, 233 v Australia at Lords in 1896).

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsMatch package
Bulletin – Hayden sets up thumping victory
Verdict – A rebuilt opener
Quotes – ‘Australia didn’t permit themselves to be tested’ – Lara
Plays of the day – Lara smashes, Samuels swishes
Audio – Ian Chappell: Australia win comprehensively
Stats – Driving it straight and hard
Plays of the Day – The big hits and misses
Gallery – Powerful Aussies take control
Preview package
Preview – Underdongs don’t need to fear Australia
Stats – Ponting and McGrath have point to prove
Quotes – Lara upbeat ahead of Australia clash
News – A guide to the Super Eights