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weird test match

SaeedAnwar

U19 Debutant
This is a really weird test match, how come this was a draw with such low scores:1st Test: England v Pakistan at Leeds, Jul 25-30, 1974 | Cricket Scorecard | Cricinfo.com

and whats with this:

Close of play
25 Jul day 1 - Pakistan 1st innings 227/9 (Sarfraz Nawaz 5*, Asif Masood 1*)
26 Jul day 2 - Pakistan 2nd innings 20/0 (Sadiq Mohammad 8*, Shafiq Ahmed 10*)
27 Jul day 3 - England 2nd innings 38/2 (JH Edrich 8*, MH Denness 6*)
28 Jul rest day
29 Jul day 4 - England 2nd innings 238/6 (KWR Fletcher 67*, CM Old 10*, 107 ov)
30 Jul day 5 - no play
 

NUFAN

Y no Afghanistan flag
Looks like rain and the rest day ruined the match of an exciting finish on day 5.
 

stumpski

International Captain
Very much a match of its time though - only about 850 runs scored in 348 overs (the equivalent of four days' play). And the sixties was even worse.

Nowadays you feel short-changed if you don't get 300 runs in a day.
 

Lillian Thomson

Hall of Fame Member
I watched every ball that the appalling BBC coverage of the time allowed and there was nothing weird about it. It probably wouldn't have suited the short attention span of the modern day fan who think every ball should be hit for 6 but it was an intriguing Test Match for the non "crash bang wallop" brigade.
 

wpdavid

Hall of Fame Member
Yup, I followed it at the time too and thought it was a cracking game on a traditional Leeds wicket. The only weird aspect was Keith Fletcher actually making some tough runs, which didn't happen too often.
 

stumpski

International Captain
Now this is an odd match of the type mentioned in the opening post. Going into the last day New Zealand, with all second-innings wickets intact, needed another 260 to beat Test cricket's newest nation. They managed just 117 runs all day; Martin Crowe's scoring rate beggars belief. Being 1-0 up in the series hardly justified the approach.
 

zaremba

Cricketer Of The Year
Now this is an odd match of the type mentioned in the opening post. Going into the last day New Zealand, with all second-innings wickets intact, needed another 260 to beat Test cricket's newest nation. They managed just 117 runs all day; Martin Crowe's scoring rate beggars belief. Being 1-0 up in the series hardly justified the approach.
My God, I'd never seen or heard about that. Unbelievable.

Was Crowe alright? He batted down in the order in the 1st innings.
 

Lillian Thomson

Hall of Fame Member
My God, I'd never seen or heard about that. Unbelievable.

Was Crowe alright? He batted down in the order in the 1st innings.
It says in the Notes for Day 4 "•MD Crowe, after dislocating a finger in the Sri Lanka 1st innings attempting a slip catch, and with a stomach disorder, took a test record 210 minutes to reach double figures".
 

stumpski

International Captain
Yes the Wisden report mentions Crowe suffering from food poisoning - perhaps it might have been worth moving Hadlee or Cairns up the order to get the scoring rate going a bit. It's true that NZ were 10-2 but given that Howarth faced 43 balls, it must have taken 12 or 13 overs just to get that many. The tone was set by the openers. In any case the tourists went on to win the series 2-0 so presumably they were happy to ride out the criticism.

If Crowe took 210 minutes to reach double figures it looks as if he really let loose afterwards - 19* in 217.
 
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Smudge

Hall of Fame Member
I'll check my copy of The Crowe Style tonight to see if there was any more reason for the low scoring rate in that innings.
 

NUFAN

Y no Afghanistan flag
I had never seen this Test match either.

I'm liking the name VB John - had a very good start to his career too, does anyone know why he played his last Test at the age of 24?
 

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