10 GREATEST TESTS EVER
On Wednesday, England play their 1,000th Test. Wisden editor Lawrence Booth picks out his…
v AUSTRALIA, SYDNEY, 1894
WHEN Australia reached the fifth evening of this timeless Test on 117 for two in pursuit of 177, some of England’s players were convinced defeat beckoned and went out to get roaring drunk. Next morning, Andrew Stoddart — their furious captain — ordered his left-arm spinner Bobby Peel to sober up under a cold shower. The shock worked: Peel finished with six for 67 as Australia collapsed to 166. England had won after following on — the first of only three instances in all Test cricket.
v AUSTRALIA, THE OVAL, 1902
ENGLAND needed 263, but found themselves 48 for five when Gilbert Jessop (below), the Gloucestershire all-rounder known as ‘The Croucher’ because of his distinctive stance, walked out. He smacked a century in 77 minutes, prompting C B Fry to eulogise: ‘No man has ever driven the ball so hard, so high and so often in so many different directions.’ Even so, England still required 15 when their ninth wicket fell. Legend has it that George Hirst told Yorkshire team-mate Wilfred Rhodes: ‘We’ll get ’em in singles.’ England won by one wicket, causing Wisden editor Charles Stewart Caine to leap up in the press box waving his hat.
v AUSTRALIA, THE OVAL, 1968
THE importance of this game lay not so much in the result, a last-gasp victory for England by 226 runs after a Biblical downpour had threatened to hand Australia a 1-0 series win. No, what mattered was the 158 made by Basil D’Oliveira in England’s first innings. The winter tour later that year was scheduled for D’Oliveira’s native South Africa, where the government had no wish to see one of their own ‘Cape Coloured’ cricketers competing against the all-white team of apartheid. When D’Oliveira was eventually picked to face South Africa, having initially — and controversially — been omitted, the tour was derailed. Two years later South Africa entered sporting exile, and would not play another Test until 1992.
v AUSTRALIA, THE OVAL, 1882
IT’S A wonder Hollywood hasn’t bought the rights to this one. England needed only 85 for victory and were cruising at 51 for two. But Frederick ‘the Demon’ Spofforth was angry. WG Grace had run out Sammy Jones in Australia’s second innings while Jones repaired a divot, and Spofforth retaliated with a ferocious spell of 28-15-44-7. England were skittled for 77. The result sent the nation into shock, not least the Sporting Times, who published a mock obituary of English cricket (left). Its body, it said, would be cremated — ‘and the Ashes taken to Australia’. The rest is history.
v AUSTRALIA, MELBOURNE, 1982
MORE than 18,000 turned up on the final morning to watch the conclusion of a game which could have been over in one ball. Australia’s final pair, Allan Border and Jeff Thomson, had already chipped away 37 of the 74 they needed to clinch the match and hearts raced on both sides as they took the score to 288, just four away. But Botham — who else? — persuaded Thomson to fiddle at a wide one outside off stump and the edge flew towards Chris Tavare at second slip. Tavare fumbled, but the ball looped up behind him, allowing Geoff Miller at first slip to complete the catch.
v WEST INDIES, LORD’S, 2000
WITHOUT this win, England’s renaissance under Nasser Hussain and Duncan Fletcher might never have happened. Things didn’t look good when West Indies, already 1-0 up in the series, took a lead of 133. But on a crazy day which included some part of all four innings, Andy Caddick claimed five for 16 to bundle out Jimmy Adams’s team for 54. That set England 188. Thanks to an unbroken ninth-wicket stand of 31 between Dominic Cork and Darren Gough, they stumbled over the line. A few weeks later, they had won a home series against West Indies for the first time since 1969.
v PAKISTAN, KARACHI, 2000
AS Nasser Hussain (near left) put it: ‘Another five minutes and it would have been complete darkness.’ Pakistan had never lost in 35 Tests at the National Stadium in Karachi, and captain Moin Khan tried every timewasting trick in the book as the light faded and England chased 176 in a minimum of 44 overs. He reckoned without some strong umpiring from Steve Bucknor, who insisted on the game reaching a conclusion. Thanks to Graham Thorpe’s (far left) unbeaten 64, it did, allowing England to complete their first series win in Pakistan for 39 years. Not that anyone could actually see what was going on . . .
v AUSTRALIA, EDGBASTON, 2005
‘JONES… Bowden… Kasprowicz the man to go, and Harmison has done it. Despair on the faces of the batsmen, and joy for every England player on the field.’ How better to sum up the conclusion of a game to rival Headingley 1981 than the commentary of Richie Benaud? Some lowerorder scrapping by Australia had taken them to within three runs of going 2-0 up, which would have condemned yet another Ashes series to one- sided tedium. Instead, Steve Harmison had Michael Kasprowicz caught behind down the leg side by Geraint Jones, umpire Billy Bowden’s finger went up, and England set about winning the greatest series of all time.
v AUSTRALIA, HEADINGLEY, 1981
MIKE BREARLEY’s team had checked out of their hotels when Ian Botham instructed batting partner Graham Dilley to ‘give it some humpty’. Following on, England were seven down and still 92 behind. Botham humptied 149 not out, Dilley 56, leaving a jittery Australia needing 130. Enter Bob Willis, who took eight for 43 as he rubbished concerns over his 32-year-old knees. England won by 18 runs, though at least Rod Marsh and Dennis Lillee didn’t leave empty-handed. In a move that would now see them banned by anti-corruption officials, they had placed £15 on an England win at odds of 500-1.
v AUSTRALIA, EDGBASTON, 1981
IF Headingley was a miracle, what did that make Edgbaston a fortnight later? This was a low-scoring thriller, in which no batsman reached 50, but at 105 for four chasing 151, Australia had control. Then Botham grabbed the game by its scruff once more, taking five for one in 28 balls. Wisden recalled: ‘Somerset’s giant bowled quicker than for some time… and one after another five Australian batsmen walked into the point of the lance. The crowd, dotted with green and gold, were beside themselves with agony and ecstasy as, only 12 days after Headingley, history amazingly repeated itself.’