Greatest Tests: Australia create a win out of nothing vs WI chase 418 at St John's
The first, in Adelaide, was a win manufactured from a position where a draw was the only likely outcome, while the second was an against-the-odds scrap that ended with a world-record chase
ESPNcricinfo staff
14-May-2025
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The final day of the Adelaide Test of 2006-07 started with 1123 runs already scored, and only 17 wickets having fallen. The ESPNcricinfo report after the fourth day's play was headlined "Draw beckons after Clarke hundred" - Michael Clarke was the fourth century-getter in the Test, after Paul Collingwood, Kevin Pietersen and Ricky Ponting.
But within no time on the fifth morning, Shane Warne - who else? - had broken through, and broken through again, and 54 overs into the day, England were done for 129. Collingwood, who had scored 206 in the first innings, was 22 not out at the close, his runs coming in well over three hours.
And Australia had a target: 168. In 36 overs. That meant an "asking rate" of 4.67.
We didn't know what Bazball was, but Australia had their own version of it at the time, and made a dash for it.
Matthew Hayden's 18 came off 17 balls. Ponting's 49 off 65. Mike Hussey remained unbeaten on 61 off 66. And Clarke, slow by comparison, scored 21 not out in 39 balls. And it was done. Australia victors by six wickets, with 3.1 overs in the bag, having scored their 168 at a scoring rate of 5.11. A victory from… nothing, really.
To start with, there was a tie - both teams stopping at 240 in their first innings. So it came down to a one-innings-a-side shootout. One which Australia appeared to have won when they scored 417, leaving West Indies upwards of two days to cross or crumble. Not to forget, it was the Test with the (in)famous Glenn McGrath-Ramnaresh Sarwan spat.
Australia had a specific target: sweeping West Indies in a Test series in the West Indies. Never done before. West Indies also had a target: preventing aforementioned sweep. Australia's target was closer, it seemed.
Lara fell for 60 on the fourth afternoon, and then it was a 123-run stand between Chanderpaul and Sarwan that took West Indies to 288. But, when Sarwan was gone for 105, and Ridley Jacobs fell for a first-ball duck, off successive Brett Lee deliveries, the die appeared to have been cast. Chanderpaul had no one really to partner him, and the target was still 130 away.
But help was an unexpected source away. In fact, "help" might be the wrong word to use, since Chanderpaul was gone for 104 the final morning, and Australia were closing in, and it was left to Omari Banks, the first Test cricketer from the island of Anguilla to play Test cricket, to do the job, with Vasbert Drakes for company.
They did. Banks scored 47 not out. Drakes scored 27 not out. And West Indies had pulled off the highest successful chase in Test history, still unsurpassed.