Test match, the biggest format of cricket, has its own thrill. Although a test match can continue for five days, but if a match ends in just two days, then it deserves to be recorded in the pages of history. In the year 2000, one such test match took place between England and West Indies.
That fourth match of the five-match Test series was played at Headingley ground in Leeds. On the first day of that test match i.e. on 17th August, 15 wickets fell. Then on the second day i.e. 18th August also the same number of wickets fell. The England team had won that test match by an innings and 39 runs.
In the match, West Indies captain Jimmy Adams won the toss and decided to bat first because the pitch was expected to help the fast bowlers. Anyway, England included four fast bowlers in the playing-11. In the morning session on the opening day, the English fast bowlers shook the top order of the West Indies. After the fall of 5 wickets for 60 runs, young batsman Ramnaresh Sarwan and wicketkeeper Ridley Jacobs (35 runs) tried to handle the West Indies innings by making a partnership of 68 runs.
Then Dominic Cork ended this partnership by dismissing Jacobs. From here the rest of the West Indies batsmen could not do anything special and their first innings collapsed for 172 runs in 48.4 overs. Sarwan played an unbeaten inning of 59 runs with the help of 9 fours. For England, Craig White took five wickets, while Darren Gough and Dominic Cork got three and two wickets respectively.
Vaughan-Hick rescues England from crisis
The special thing is that England also did not have a special start in the first innings and by the end of the first day’s play, they scored 105 runs for 5 wickets. However, on the second day, Michael Vaughan played an important role in giving England the lead by making a 98-run partnership with Graeme Hick for the seventh wicket.
England scored a total of 272 runs in its first innings after playing 81.5 overs. That means England got a lead of only 100 runs. Michael Vaughan scored the maximum 76 runs with the help of seven fours, while Graeme Hick scored 59 runs (7 fours). Courtney Walsh and Curtly Ambrose got four wickets each in the first innings for West Indies.
West Indies team could score 61 runs in the second innings
Now a fighting performance was expected from the West Indies batsmen in the second innings, but it did not happen. The visiting team surrendered before the English fast bowlers. In the second innings, five West Indies batsmen could not even open their account. West Indies team could score only 61 runs in its second innings after playing 26.2 overs, due to which it had to face defeat by an innings and 39 runs.
In the second innings for England, Andy Caddick took five wickets and Darren Gough took four wickets. After this, the England team also won the fifth test match by 158 runs and captured the series 3-1. This was the last Test series in which Courtney Walsh and Curtly Ambrose were seen playing together.
So far this many test matches have ended in two days
This was the first time since 1946 (Australia vs New Zealand, Wellington), when a Test match ended in two days. So far, a total of 25 test matches have taken place in which the winning team was decided within two days. India has also been successful in winning Test matches in two days on three occasions. First of all, it defeated Afghanistan in two days in the Bengaluru Test match in 2018. Then in 2021, India did a similar situation to England in the Ahmedabad Test match. After this, India won the Cape Town Test match against South Africa in two days this year.