da esoccer bet： a few notable statistical achievements from the Lord’s Test, which Sri Lanka saved with an incredible second-innings performance
da 888： Cricinfo staff16-May-2006After the first two days at Lord’s, no-one gave Sri Lanka a chance of going into the second Test with honours still even, but that was before their batsmen decided to show just what they are capable of. The Sri Lankan second-innings total of 537 for 9 was only the tenth occasion in the history of Test cricket when a team scored more than 500 after following on. Eight of those matches – including this one – ended in draws. The only two instances of decisive results both involved India: in 1967 they scored 510 and lost, while Australia were at the receiving end – quite famously – at Kolkata in 2000-01.
England/ South Africa 551 Trent Bridge, 1947 Draw Pakistan/ West Indies 657 for 8 Barbados, 1957-58 Draw India/ England 510 Headingley, 1967 Lost by six wickets England/ Australia 538 The Oval, 1975 Draw Pakistan/ Australia 537 Rawalpindi, 1994-95 Draw South Africa/ England 572 for 7 Durban, 1999-2000 Draw Zimbabwe/ India 503 for 6 Nagpur, 2000-01 Draw India/ Australia 657 for 7 Kolkata, 2000-01 India won by 171 runs England/ Sri Lanka 529 for 5 Lord’s 2002 Draw Sri Lanka/ England 537 for 9 Lord’s 2006 DrawWhat’s even more admirable is that Sri Lanka’s second-innings display wasn’t the result of just a couple of players putting their hands up. While Mahela Jayawardene did show the way with a patient and classy 119, almost everyone else did their bit as well – there were seven fifty-plus scores in the innings, only the third time that this has happened in Test cricket.
England Australia Old Trafford, 1934 Draw Pakistan India Karachi, 2005-06 Won by 341 runs Sri Lanka England Lord’s 2006 DrawSri Lanka’s unexpected resistance meant plenty of work for England’s bowlers, who sent down 199 overs in the second innings. More than 25% came from one bowler – their captain, Andrew Flintoff, who bowled 51 overs for his two wickets. It was only the seventh instance, since 1990, of a fast bowler bowling 50 or more overs in an innings. Merv Dillon is the only one to have toiled through more than fifty overs twice.
Kapil Dev 51-130-5 Adelaide, 1991-92 India lost by 38 runs Craig McDermott 51-147-4 Sydney, 1991-92 Draw Mark Ilott 51-161-3 Headingley, 1993 Eng lost by an innings and 148 runs Martin Bicknell 50-155-1 Headingley, 1993 Eng lost by an innings and 148 runs Merv Dillon 51-121-2 Galle, 2001-02 WI lost by 10 wickets Merv Dillon 51-116-3 Antigua, 2001-02 Draw Andrew Flintoff 51-131-2 Lord’s, 2002 Draw