Sport Today

Here is a list of the highest losing first innings totals in Test cricket.
The losing margin is at the end of the lines.

586    Aus v Eng  Sydney(1)        1894-95   10 runs
526-7  WI  v Eng  Port-of-Spain(4) 1967-68    7 wkts
520    Aus v RSA  Melbourne(5)     1952-53    6 wkts
519    Eng v Aus  Melbourne(5)     1928-29    5 wkts
496    Eng v Aus  Leeds            1948       7 wkts
490    Aus v WI   Bridgetown       1998-99    1 wkt
445    Eng v SL   The Oval         1998      10 wkts
445    Aus v Ind  Calcutta         2000-01  171 runs

aslam
GO PACERS!!!

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I knew this game rang a chilling bell somehow.  Well done India.  Quite
spectacular recovery, proving that the Aussies are still fragile when
they're under the cosh.

--
Chris Weston

I dont quite see how you can draw that conclusion.One defeat does not
prove anything other than the fact that they are mortal.I have seen plenty
of times during this streak that the Aussies have been pressured and have
come out of it very well.They had one bad day(and for a change almost
every one failed spectacularly) and its their bad luck that it came on the
final day of the test match which meant there was no coming back.I
personally wont read too much into this loss as far as Aussie ability
to handle pressure goes.The streak had to end and it ended at the hands of
India.It just means people will start talking about so called Aussie
vulnerability under pressure earlier.No team ever wins everything,not even
this quite superb Australian side and all we saw was proof of that
yesterday besides an amazing Indian performance:-).

-Ragu

1 is equal to 2 for sufficiently large values of 1
--Anonymous

Is 274 the largest first innings lead by a losing side?

I *think* so - the next largest I could find was the 263 by which Australia led
England in 1894/95 before losing after enforcing the follow on.

Also noticed a couple of interesting draws:

Edgbaston 1957: England 186 & 583/4 declared v West Indies 474 (lead by 288) &
72/7.
Adelaide 1968/69: West Indies 276 & 616 v Australia 533 (lead by 257) & 339/9.

In first class cricket, the largest first innings lead before losing I found was
384, at Bridgetown in 1926/27:  Barbados 175 & 726/7 declared v Trinidad 559 &
217

Andrew

291, when Australia beat Sri Lanka in Colombo, 1992/3 - Aus 256 & 471,
SL 547/ d & 164

On Fri, 16 Mar 2001 12:25:19 +1300, "Andrew Dunford"

Remember listening to the closing stages on the radio as a kid.
Australia, needing only another 20 or so to win, only shut up shop
after the fall of the 8th wicket. The No 6 Alan Sheahan was still at
the crease. There were 4 run outs in the Australian 2nd innings
(checked this with baggy green).

paul x is the spam filter

If you are saying anyone is susceptible to pressure, then I agree with that
statement, as its pretty much a non-statement.

But, I don't think that you can draw any conclusions about the Aussies
fragility based upon this one Test.  In this Test they were beaten, largely
by one man, who played arguabley the greatest Test innings in recent
history -- ably supported by a young bowler, and a veteran bat
re-discovering
lost form.  Australia didn't lose this game in some sense -- they were
beaten by someone who played better than them..

Did they make some tactical errors?  Yes they did.  Were they guilty of
some over-confidence, in believing that India was a beaten side with
12 wickets still to get?  Almost surely.  Did they have a bad last
session, when some resolution (not 'resoluteness':-) could have seen
them through?  Yes, they did.  But, thats only being human..

Now if Australia fall over like ninepins in Chennai and lose abjectly then
I suppose you could begin to draw that conclusion.  My money is on
Australia to come out fighting like the champions they are.  If I were to
bet right now, I'd put the odds something like:

Aus victory: 45%
Ind victory: 35%
Draw: 20%

(Much better than the 50-25-25 odds that I gave at the start of Test 2,
btw:-)

Any if India go in thinking they are favorites, they'd better think again.
Sadly, I think the Indian team might think they are favorites now, but
you can't hope that lightning strikes twice.  Everyone needs to buckle
down and play...

Bharat
--
R. Bharat Rao

Data Mining, Siemens Corporate Research, Princeton, NJ
"Never argue with an idiot.  They drag you down to their
level and beat you with experience."

Sri Lanka 8-547decl and 164 vs Australia 256 and 471 in Colombo,
August 1992.

Aust won by 16 runs.

Australian captain Allan Border apparently couldn't believe his luck
when Sri Lanka declared, as Kaluwitharana (132 no) was carving them up
at the time.

Another interesting stat from this Test is that in Australia's 2nd
Innings of 471, the top scorer was David Boon with 68. All 11
Australian batsmen made double figure scores, ie between 10 and 68.

paul x is the spam filter