Cricket Life

Scorecard & Match Highlights  At Birmingham, July 23, 24, 25, 27, 28. Drawn. A placid Edgbaston pitch looked certain to produce a draw from the time Pakistan dealt comfortably with Gatting's decision to bowl first after winning the toss. The match, however, suddenly sprang to life after lunch on the final day, with England going close to achieving a remarkable victory. An incisive spell of fast bowling from Foster, supported well by Botham, brought a swift and unexpected end to Pakistan's second innings and left England with the difficult, but not impossible, target of 124 from the last eighteen overs. Given a brisk start by Broad, who made 30 of an opening stand of 37 in five overs, England should have levelled the series. However, Pakistan were able to harness the talents of Imran Khan and Wasim Akram throughout the run-chase, and without the one-day restrictions on short-pitched bowling and wides, or of fielding circles, England were kept in check as wicket...

  Scorecard & Video Highlights  At The Oval, August 17, 18, 19, 20. England were awarded the match when Pakistan refused to play. Toss: Pakistan. One day before the scheduled end of a Test series previously remarkable for a lack of serious controversy, cricket made up for lost time and plunged into crisis - and the water turned out to be deep, cold and very murky. Outraged at being punished for ball-tampering, the Pakistan team refused to take the field after tea and, in front of a full and voluble house, Darrell Hair, the senior of the two umpires, melodramatically removed the bails. The gesture brought a symbolic and actual end to the game, the first ever forfeited in 1,814 Tests and 129 years. It also unleashed a media frenzy that splashed cricket over the front pages for days. The first signs of the impending turmoil came shortly after 2.30 on the fourth afternoon, when Trevor Jesty, the fourth umpire, brought out a box of balls. It was assumed that the current ball,...

 Scorecard & Video Highlights Toss: England. As Logie on-drove DeFreitas for the winning boundary nineteen minutes after tea on the fourth day, the flag of St George fluttered at half-mast on the pavilion roof, a sad symbol of England's failure to compete on the same plane as a formidable team re-emerging as the world's best. It was England's eighteenth successive Test without a victory. Nevertheless, Gooch, captaining England for the first time, could derive comfort from his own staunch batting and from England's commitment until lunch on the third day, when it was conceivable that they could have forced a winning position. From there, however, West Indies stepped firmly on the throttle and were uncatchable. The days leading up to the match were a test of fortitude for the beleaguered England selectors. They had chosen a side containing two uncapped players in Barnett and Maynard, although the latter was intended as cover for Lamb, who was still str...

Scorecard and Video Highlights  At St John's, May 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 2003. West Indies won by three wickets. Toss: Australia. Many expected the final Test to bring a disappointing series to a historic conclusion with Australia's first Caribbean clean sweep. Few, though, could have imagined the controversies that the game would bring and still less that West Indies would etch their names in the record books by achieving the largest successful run-chase in 1,645 Tests. The talking-point on the opening day was in fact more of a whisper. Presented with the most sporting pitch of the tour, Lawson could scarcely hide his excitement - and exposed hitherto unseen weaknesses in the Australian batting, which was without Ponting, suffering from a viral infection. Lawson, fast and furious, pocketed careerbest figures of seven for 78 in Australia's modest 240. But by the end of the day the word was spreading around the Recreation Ground: to many, Lawson's action, which had first d...