First, Let me catch my breath back!!! Its been almost 12 hours since the drama at New Lands, Cape Town unfolded last night but I am still feeling that unknown anxiety, thrill, joy... Call it whatever but it is because of days like these that test cricket remains a favorite of mine like so many others...
Australia started the day at 214/8, with Aussie captain Michael Clarke still batting after reaching his ton on the first day. He batted superbly with the tail to take the Australian score to 284. He made a masterful 151!! South Africa were coasting at 49/1, when all hell broke loose.... What was to happen in the next couple of hours was madness, chaos and frantic cricket... Events which have not happened in a 100 years happened, events which have happened only twice in over 2000 tests happened....
South Africa collapsed to 96 all out, loosing their last 9 wickets for just 47 runs!!! The Aussies got a huge lead of 188 runs. They must have thought of putting the match beyond the South Africans.... But, they were soon brought down to earth, their dreams shattered, they were reeling at 21/9, in a sense of disbelief.... They threatened the lowest test score of all time but the last wicket added 26 valuable runs to more than double the score!!! They were all out for a measly 47!! Thus South Africa needed 236 runs to win, they are 81/1 at stumps...
Some Fast Fun Facts -
Australia started the day at 214/8, with Aussie captain Michael Clarke still batting after reaching his ton on the first day. He batted superbly with the tail to take the Australian score to 284. He made a masterful 151!! South Africa were coasting at 49/1, when all hell broke loose.... What was to happen in the next couple of hours was madness, chaos and frantic cricket... Events which have not happened in a 100 years happened, events which have happened only twice in over 2000 tests happened....
South Africa collapsed to 96 all out, loosing their last 9 wickets for just 47 runs!!! The Aussies got a huge lead of 188 runs. They must have thought of putting the match beyond the South Africans.... But, they were soon brought down to earth, their dreams shattered, they were reeling at 21/9, in a sense of disbelief.... They threatened the lowest test score of all time but the last wicket added 26 valuable runs to more than double the score!!! They were all out for a measly 47!! Thus South Africa needed 236 runs to win, they are 81/1 at stumps...
Some Fast Fun Facts -
- Shane Watson, Australian opening Batsman took most wickets in South African 1st innings while their number 11, Nathan Lyon made the most runs in the Aussie 2nd innings!!!
- Watson took a five wicket haul in just 21 balls!!
- There were nine referrals for the day, DRS made its presence felt amidst all the excitement!
- All 4 innings were played in a single day of a test match, it has happened only 2 times in the entire history of tests.
- Michael Clarke made 151 in the first innings, a score better than the combined score of South Africa and Australia (96+47=143)!!!!
- It was Australia's lowest test score since they made 36 in 1902!!
What a day it will be today, today is 11-11-11, a day which occurs only once in hundred years!!!
Cricket celebrated its own once-in-a-hundred-years-day yesterday!!!!
Cricket celebrated its own once-in-a-hundred-years-day yesterday!!!!
7 comments:
What a coinkidence, DS! ;) SA lost their 9 wickets for 47 runs, and Aus lost all their wickets for the same! :D
Shows what difference a wicket can make :D
I was laughing seeing the Aussie batsmen commit hara-kiri.. Shame that Siddle and Lyon could bat, I was expecting 21 all out, like I told u on Inditalk :D
Ya, about 10 years ago would not have even dreamt that Australia would be 21/9!!!!!
ya it was a damn exciting match and really fun the way you have written the post
@ imaginopia
Thanks, Glad you liked reading my post :)
Was quite an enthralling test, wasn't it. Was more fun to track than a T20 match... :)
@ Vishal
Yup, I am a hard core test match lover!!! I would prefer them any day over T-20's :)
The day was awesome to say the least!!! 23 wickets, all 4 innings in a day!! Too much to digest in a day!! Test Cricket won that day!!
type: Bloggers Park
Post a Comment