The greatest ever Test innings under pressure of the modern era

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Edwards discredited then. Sure thing.

 

[Richard]

TBF, while Edwards does naturally deserve great credit for his batting in that knock, I've always viewed it more as a failure of England's bowlers than anything. Whereas with him and Collymore in 2006 it was truly a great last-pair escape-act.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

IMO Morkel's second escape in SA was a failure of South Africa's. Morkel didn't make him play enough IIRC.

 

[Days of Grace]

And as mentioned not so long ago, Cairns' 80 at The Oval in 1999, a much lesser-noticed masterpiece of instant match-situation transformation.

Considering that it was 1-1 and NZ were in a perilious position, that innings is probably the best played by a NZ test batsmen in the last ten years.

 

[wfdu_ben91]

Ponting's 156 at Old Trafford, 2005.

 

[Sanz]

Laxman 281 @ Eden against Australia.

 

[Richard]

IMO Morkel's second escape in SA was a failure of South Africa's. Morkel didn't make him play enough IIRC.

Dunno, didn't watch the game as closely as I watched said ARG Test TBH. In fact didn't watch that last session at all.

 

[Burgey]

Laxman 281 @ Eden against Australia.

Interesting, was he under pressure for his spot coming into that dig? I'd have thought being 4 for bugger all having kicked off more than 200 behind wouldn't be a lot of pressure unless you were.

Like Botham at Headingly, I'd have thought you'd have nothing to lose - may as well just bat and have a crack. I suppose the pressure would have built as the day went on though, when all of a sudden the prospect of saving the game became a reality, then the chance the game could be won..

 

[Richard]

When Laxman actually came in (obviously, at first-drop), although defeat would've seemed near-inevitable, it was a home Test series, defeat there tends to be near-unthinkable for India, and there was still the remote possibility of it being saved. As his knock went on that possibility became stronger and stronger.

As for Laxman's place, it was far from assured at that point. Very far indeed.

Whether he felt any great pressure or just batted as if he had nothing to lose, only he could tell you.

That it's one of the greatest against-the-odds innings' you'll ever see is beyond question though.

And as for the comparisons to Botham at Headingley, well, we know beyond doubt and always have that Botham just said to Graham Dilley "may as well have some fun". We don't know, UIMM, what Laxman's attitude was but Botham's play was coherant with his known attitude. But from what I've always seen of Laxman's knock (I didn't watch it ball-by-ball) it seems he just came in and batted absolutely normally.

 

[wfdu_ben91]

YouTube - Ricky Ponting 144 Vs England 2001

Innings prior to this: 0, 6, 0, 0, 11, 11, 14, 4, 14 and 17

A Ricky Ponting masterclass

 

[Himannv]

Mahela's century at Lords in very pace friendly conditions would be one. The entire team batted around him and came up with a great score despite the above average bowling. Shoddy catching from England in that game though. Dropping them like hot scones.

 

[iamdavid]

Laxman's 281.....answer to every "best innings ......" thread

 

[Richard]

Mahela's century at Lords in very pace friendly conditions would be one. The entire team batted around him and came up with a great score despite the above average bowling. Shoddy catching from England in that game though. Dropping them like hot scones.

Aside from the dropped catches (which really do render bowling however good pretty much irrelevant), the conditions were hardly seam-friendly. That deck was flat throughout the game, and only some really superb swing bowling from Hoggard and, later, some diabolical Lankan batting saw them bowled-out in the first-innings.

Aside from Hoggard and Flintoff, too, England's bowling that match (Plunkett, Mahmood, Panesar) was hardly The Ritz. Quite the opposite, in fact.

 

[GIMH]

Mahmood had one blistering spell in that game IIRC

 

[L Trumper]

Hmm, the scrutiny of Lara's captaincy might've been greater, but there's no way in my book that the former innings was anywhere near as good as Gooch's 154* and I'd put the latter a smidgen behind it as well.

Well gooch's 154 is better than 213 while i'd rate 153 same as 154 although there is a dropped catch in that 153.

But prior to sabina park test lara has to deal with backlash from public, former players , every tom, dick and harry so it is the innings that came under "god knows how much" pressure.

It is the reason why Lara himself personally rated 213 as the most important innings in his career even though 153 might be better.

 

[L Trumper]

Laxman's 281.....answer to every "best innings ......" thread

Under intense pressure ? nah! clearly one of the best innings but the possibility of saving the game is started after 4th day lunch. Before that laxman played more of his natural game considering he is the in form batsman in the series that was more or less expected, but only after he started make it count in a big way the reality of it all came and it became the most important innings in indian cricket history. Is it the most significant innings? YES , but does it come under intense pressure and scrutiny of his own place? no.

 

[Richard]

Mahmood had one blistering spell in that game IIRC

Sangakkara edged one that was so wide it barely hit the cut strip to slip, then he bowled a good one to get Samaraweera out, then Kapugedera missed a straight one. At the end of that over he had 4-9-3, which obviously looks good.

But it was hardly what I'd call a blistering spell TBH, and even if it was it was certainly cancelled-out by the utter dross he bowled for the remaining 44 overs, in which he took 2-159.

 

[Richard]

Well gooch's 154 is better than 213 while i'd rate 153 same as 154 although there is a dropped catch in that 153.

But prior to sabina park test lara has to deal with backlash from public, former players , every tom, dick and harry so it is the innings that came under "god knows how much" pressure.

It is the reason why Lara himself personally rated 213 as the most important innings in his career even though 153 might be better.

Importance and "good"ness of an innings aren't the same thing, and even when it's a case of the player\team being up-against-it, I'd still rate the calibre of the innings as more of a factor than just how up-against-it the player was.

For instance, Gooch's 154* >>>>>>>>>>>>> Strauss' 173, even though in terms of how much strife the player's career was in at the time and the fact that his team were far from out-of-the-woods in the game Strauss' has far more going for it. Gooch's calibre of play was simply immeasurably better.