The recently completed 5th Test Match between England and India marked the 2318th game to have been played in this particular format of the sport since the inaugural match in 1877. Trying to choose a selection of matches across that kind of time period for the project that @hassan had put in place would be impossible and while I have read a lot about the classic games from yesteryear, I can not of course claim to have witnessed the action either first hand or via the TV.
As such I have decided to shorten the time period of games I would consider both for this post and all other posts in the series to only include matches played after 1980. While I am sure there are a few Millennials amongst us, I feel confident in saying that the vast majority of Scorum users at this point are children of the 1980's or 90's with the remainder born prior to that. Therefore, the matches I have selected would be in living memory of most Scorum users including myself, who was born in the 1980s (it was a simpler time). Beyond that, I have decided to further filter selection by adding an extra element into the mix for each individual blog.
In the case of this first post, the extra element will be to consider not only great matches that included a comeback from one side but also the larger historical context of the results between the 2 teams. As sports fans, the clubs and nations we follow will all have had their bogey teams, those rivals that your side just can't seem to beat for years if not decades at a time. Finally beating them is one of the greatest feelings that a sports fan can have, but to do so from a position when all hope seems to once again be lost is doubly special.
These 3 matches are examples of teams who have overcome not only the odds of the match but the burden of history to take famous victories.
England win in the dark
Pakistan v England 2000 - England win by 6 wickets
Historical context: England end 38-year winless streak in Pakistan
No country for Englishmen
England had not won a single Test match in Pakistan since 1962 let alone an entire series when they arrived for their tour at the turn of the millennium. I have written before about the importance of conditions and the way they affect the outcome of Test Matches. In that respect, there is a reasonable argument to be made that cricket is the hardest sport to win away. A football pitch or basketball court is essentially the same wherever a team travels but the dry, sunbaked cricket pitches of Pakistan are about as far removed from the cool, lush conditions of England as one can imagine.
Beyond the hostile conditions, England had also had problems with what they perceived to be unfair and bias umpire decisions, particularly in previous decades where both officials originated from the host country!
“In Pakistan many men have been killed for the sort of insults he threw at me. He’s lucky I didn’t beat him.”
Pakistani umpire Shakoor Rana's comments following a confrontation with England captain Mike Gatting in 1987 who accused Rana of unfair treatment of his touring team.
And of course wherever England travel in the sub-continent, there is always that added desire from the home team and their supporters to put one over on their former imperial overlords. Up until the year 2000, Pakistan had been enjoying this brand of sporting revenge on a regular basis.
An unfancied England team dig deep
England scrapped hard in the first match of the series. A determined century from Graham Thorpe who himself was going through a personal crisis which may well see him feature in a future post of greatest individual comebacks, helped England to 480 in their first innings. While this meant that Pakistan had very little chance of winning the game, they could still save it and in batting out the best part of 2 days in the dry heat they not only got the draw they desired but also sapped England's energy levels.
The 2nd match saw even first innings scores from both teams before Pakistan took control of the game following Abdul Razzaq's maiden Test century. On a worn and turning pitch England faced a couple of tricky sessions against the Pakistani spinners and at one point lost 3 quick wickets to give Pakistan a sniff at victory. Veteran pair Atherton and Stewart stood firm for England, who just about escaped with a draw to fight another day.....
A ray of light in the Karachi night
The 3rd and final game of the series started well for Pakistan as star batsmen Inzamam-ul-Haq and Mohammad Yousuf combined to put on a 259 run partnership. However, England found hidden reserves of energy to hit back and took the final 6 Pakistan wickets for just 82 runs before a Michael Atherton marathon innings of just shy of 10 hours in extreme heat took England to within 17 of their hosts. Inspired by Atherton's efforts and an impassioned team talk from fiery captain Nasser Hussain, England's bowlers rolled Pakistan for just 158 in their 2nd innings, giving them an unexpected chance at a series win. Given the fact that England had managed just 23 wickets in the previous 2 matches, it was a remarkable turnaround for them to have bowled out Pakistan in such a manner.
Beyond the quickly deteriorating pitch, the main obstacle for England's batsmen was time and the fast setting Karachi sun. Pakistani captain Moeen Khan used every trick in the book to try and slow down the play, meaning that England batsmen Graham Thorpe and Nasser Hussain were left to hit the last 20 odd runs in near total darkness. The celebrations that followed victory are testament to how much this comeback win meant to the England team after all those decades of disappointment
This series as well as the win later that winter in Sri Lanka against Murali and co. are often forgotten when people talk about great away wins for England. For me, this victory represented a defining moment for an England team that just 18 months earlier had been bottom of the ICC's Test rankings. Many of the players who helped win this match had been part of that England team during the dark days of the 1990s and as such this game represents the perfect example of a comeback for England in the match itself as well as in the larger historical context.
Bangladesh set the record straight
Bangladesh v England, 2016 - Bangladesh win by 108 runs
Historical context: Bangladesh claim a first win against England and a first win against an established Test team in their history
No honeymoon for the Tigers
Until Afghanistan and Ireland were granted full Test status earlier this year, the newest members of cricket's elite club were Bangladesh. Despite being a cricket-mad nation, the team from the Bay of Bengal had only previously recorded Test Match wins against 2 other relative minnows in the form of the West Indies and Zimbabwe in their 94 matches prior to their encounter with England. Worse yet, their record up until that point against England was played 8, lost 8.
There had been moments throughout those 16 years when the Bangladesh side had come close to breaking their barren run against the big 7 in Test Match cricket. For example, their match against Pakistan in 2003 where they lost by just 1 wicket or a series against Australia in 2006 where they pushed one of the best teams of their generation very close. However, despite engineering these promising positions Bangladesh had lacked that cutting edge and winning mentality that was needed to get them over the line.
Familiar failings
Bangladesh's inability to close out a match was further illustrated by their performance in the first Test. With a quality spin bowling attack on home pitches that turned from ball 1, Bangladesh had more than just a passing chance of winning the game. They had England in trouble at 21-3 and then 106-5 in the 1st innings before allowing them to recover to 293. Similarly, in their own 1st innings they reached 163-3 before collapsing to 248 all out. England were allowed off the canvas again in their 2nd innings from 62-5 to make 240 and set Bangladesh an unlikely 285 for victory. Despite a great effort in the chase, Bangladesh came up 22 runs short and it felt like another case of so close and yet so far for this talented but psychologically flawed group.
16 years of hurt, never stopped them dreaming
Bangladesh were in trouble again in the 1st innings of the 2nd match after they lost 9 wickets for a paltry 49 runs to be bowled out for 220. On a pitch that was already turning a considerable amount, England's long batting line-up managed to scrape them a valuable lead of 24 runs. However, the Bangladesh top order came out fighting in the 2nd innings, with 4 of the top 5 all making contributions to help set England a target of 272 to win the match and take the series 2-0.
England appeared to be cruising towards victory after a century stand between Ben Duckett and Alastair Cook took them to an even hundred at tea on Day 3. However, Bangladesh coach Chandika Hathurusingha got stuck into his players during the interval, telling them that the chance to beat one of international crickets big boys may never come again for this group. Vice-captain Tamim Iqbal who had scored important runs for Bangladesh during the series was inspired by the words of his coach and took to the field like a man possessed. You could see and hear him on TV waving his arms, barking orders and generally trying to inspire his team to get back into this contest. Whatever he said did the trick, and with 19-year-old spinner Mehedi Hasan and quality Shakib Al Hasan along for the ride too, the Bengal Tigers roared back into life, taking all 10 England wickets in less than an hour and a half to deliver them their first major Test scalp in their 16 years at the top table.
For this young Bangladesh team, being able to overturn a 200-year deficit in regards the overall development of the game of cricket between the 2 countries was a major achievement. As far as the individual match itself was concerned, the grit and will to win shown by the Bangladeshi team in the final session was incredible and they fully deserved their comeback victory. Too often the side had let their emotions affect their play but this was the perfect balance of intensity, discipline and skill.
India come from behind Down Under
Australia v India, 1981 - India win by 59 runs
Historical context: India had lost every Test series they'd played in Australia since 1947
India's greatest ever comeback win?
Australia have more Test wins than any other cricket playing nation in the world and yet throughout their history, they have found themselves on the wrong side of many great turnarounds. The 3rd match of India's 1981 tour was a case in point but in general, it also signifies one of the greatest comebacks in Test match cricket. Indeed, I would go as far as saying that this is India's greatest ever comeback in a Test Match. I'd love to hear what the many Indian cricket fans here think of that statement and where they feel this performance ranks against say the win against Australia in 2001 or victory against England in 1971?
Suni Gavaskar's moment of madness
The first name on many people's all-time great XI to open the batting would be the little maestro, Sunil Gavaskar. He was as courageous as he was talented and he had a penchant for making very big scores from the top of the order. As India's captain for the 1981 tour of Australia, a lot rested on his diminutive shoulders, especially when considering that the opposition boasted a fast bowling attack lead by another superstar for the ages - Dennis Lillie. Lillie v Gavaskar, any cricket fan would pay good money to see this showdown but it was the Australian quick that took the honors for most of the series as Gavaskar made scores of 0, 10, 23 & 5 up until the final innings of the final Test. Indeed so frustrated was Gavaskar with his and his team's performance that he allowed a dispute with an umpiring decision to boil over into an incident that nearly finished this match prematurely.
Kapil Dev leads India to victory
Batting first at the MCG in the final Test, India made a disappointing 237 all out and were indebted to a century from Gundappa Viswanath to get them that far. In reply, Australia put themselves in a very strong position as a result of a century from Allan Border who received support along the way from captain Greg Chappell, Doug Walters and Rod Marsh, that gave the Aussies a formidable 1st innings lead of 182.
However, India showed remarkable courage and skill to fight back on a deteriorating pitch against an Australian bowling attack that had dominated them for the majority of that tour. This match proved to be a great comeback not only for the Indian team as a whole but also for their beleaguered captain Sunil Gavaskar who put on 161 for the opening wicket with Chetan Chauhan to all but wipe out the 1st innings deficit. The rest of India's top order took encouragement from their captain's efforts and all chipped in with valuable runs that saw India to a total of 324 and a lead of 142. While the lead was not much, it would give India's bowlers something to work with and they knew that if they could make early inroads that their hosts would be under immense pressure.
This is exactly what happened as Australia lost 3 quick wickets at the start of their chase to give India hope and bring doubt amongst the remaining batsmen. However, Kim Hughes and Bruce Yardley dug in for over an hour to begin to take the game slowly away from India. Enter Kapil Dev, another player in this game who would go onto claim legendary status in the annals of the game. At this point in his career, he was a fairly raw and inexperienced 21 year old but he produced an inspired spell to rip through the Australian batting line-up and ultimately dismiss them for just 83 runs.
This remarkable comeback win in the final Test of the tour, helped India draw the series, the first time that they had ever avoided a series defeat to Australia at home in their history, a losing streak that stretched back to 1947. 2 years later, the India team would go on to claim victory in the 1983 World Cup while the same Australia side would visit England later in 1981 and once again find themselves on the end of an incredible comeback.
For more details on that match and many more great sporting turnarounds, look out for the next episode in the Tri-Sports Super Comeback Series
Introduction to Tri-Sports Super Comeback Series
Episode 1 - The Greatest Tennis Grand Slam Comebacks from Injuries and Crisis
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