England vs West Indies Lord's Test 1984

[ssuhaide]

I was watching footage of this last night with the good old BBC putting on highlights of this test match. A great watch and a brilliant run chase from the West Indies. Some points of interest.

Gower's captaincy was poor. England were piling on runs before the umpires offered them the light. With Lamb still batting I felt sure had England turned down the light the lead would have been 370 plus and they could have had the West Indies back in for an awkward few overs. Could have won that test.

Botham was amazing in that match bar Day 5 where his bowling was taken apart.

Great catch by sub fielder Don Topley on the boundary but sadly for him he had a foot over the boundary line.

Neal Foster batting was proper number 11 stuff.

 

[Markhor]

Yeah I caught that last night on the BBC. Gordon Greenidge was breathtaking with his powerful offside strokeplay on a Day 5 pitch.

 

[MMHS]

There are not many Tests, where teams have lost the game after declaring on 3rd innings of the game; fewer by host teams. In olden days, when the game was played on uncovered wickets, sometimes captains did declare on 3rd innings & ended up losing (I believe WI lost one such Test against Australia), but in modern era, I can recall only 3 such instances- WIN failed to defend 400+ at PoSpain (1975, vs IND), England declared at Chennai in 2000s (2008?) & this one. In all three chases, the instrumental figure was one of the openers.

 

[Last Monetarist]

There are not many Tests, where teams have lost the game after declaring on 3rd innings of the game; fewer by host teams. In olden days, when the game was played on uncovered wickets, sometimes captains did declare on 3rd innings & ended up losing (I believe WI lost one such Test against Australia), but in modern era, I can recall only 3 such instances- WIN failed to defend 400+ at PoSpain (1975, vs IND), England declared at Chennai in 2000s (2008?) & this one. In all three chases, the instrumental figure was one of the openers.

A few other instances that come to mind in the modern era, two at Headingley: England chasing 315 vs Australia in 2001 with Butcher scoring 173, and the West Indies chasing 322 against England a couple of years ago.

There was also a test at the SCG in 2006 where Ponting scored a fourth innings century against South Africa after Smith had declared leaving them to chase 280 odd. It might have been Ponting's 100th test.

 

[Junaids]

The West Indies were very under-strength in that match: both Holding and Roberts were injured and had lost their fourth to eighth choice fast bowlers (Croft, Stephenson, Moseley, Clarke and Alleyne).

So they were reduced to picking their ninth choice (Milton Small) and tenth choice (Eldine Baptiste) quicks to South African rebel bans.

Especially because Courtney Walsh and Roddy Estwick and Tony Gray weren’t ready yet, and Wayne Daniel and Winston Davis weren’t good enough.

It’s incredible that any team could have 15 quicks of that class at the same time. And nine of them were from Barbados!

 

[MMHS]

A few other instances that come to mind in the modern era, two at Headingley: England chasing 315 vs Australia in 2001 with Butcher scoring 173, and the West Indies chasing 322 against England a couple of years ago.

There was also a test at the SCG in 2006 where Ponting scored a fourth innings century against South Africa after Smith had declared leaving them to chase 280 odd. It might have been Ponting's 100th test.

Thanks, I can recall those now. I actually have seen all three - Ponting made a pair of hundreds in that game where Smith desperately declared from 0-1 down; Butcher one was epic - not even in dreams you see things like this; Aussies declared in an attempt to make it 5-0, ended up losing!!!! The WIN one at Headingley I should have remembered- just few years back.

 

[NishanKonar]

Virender Sehwag played a dazzling 80 odd in that Chennai test where India chased 380 odd

 

[Robert]

I was there to see Botham get his eighter and then hit 81, his best performance against WI. He was running in much quicker than usual. Lovely sunny day and wonderful atmosphere with the vocal WI fans.

Unfortuantely he blew himself out with that massive effort, and was tired and unable to come back in the second innings. With a flagging Willis, and a green Pringle and Foster, England had little on a very flat fifth day pitch and Greenidge ruled, supported by a very cool Larry Gomes.

 

[Robert]

Just watched it again.

Good gracious, Maco was quick.

 

[Robert]

Interesting to see Botham drop Greenidge when he was on about 100. Sharp chance which surprised me as I remember him catching everything. Wouldn’t have mattered as the wicket was so flat that Richards and Lloyd would have seen WI home.

 

[Hasan123]

I enjoyed watching this. Don't think many teams in modern era would have chased this down with such ease.