Shunning the follow-on

Rahul Dravid's decision not to enforce the follow-on against England at The Oval after India had secured a 319-run lead in the first innings evoked strongly divided opinions. Some thought that the move was too defensive while others appreciated the need to safeguard a precious 1-0 series lead. This week we look at other instances of a team batting again despite having taken a massive first-innings lead.

West Indies v England, 4th Test, Kingston, 1929-30
The four-Test series was level at 1-1 heading into the final timeless game in Jamaica. England batted first and, by the third day had ensured that they couldn't possibly lose the series. Andy Sandham, aged 40, batted ten hours for his 325 while Les Ames scored 149 off 174 balls as England piled up 849 - the highest Test total at the time. West Indies were dismissed for 286 in reply, giving England a lead of 563. The fact that it was a timeless Test and that several of his players weren't exactly young prompted Freddie Calthorpe, the England captain, to bat again. They declared on 272 for 9 with Sandham scoring 50 to take his match tally to 375 - a record that stood for 44 years. Defending an impossible target of 836, England would have had ample time to dismiss West Indies had rain not washed out the eighth and ninth days, by which time they had to catch their ship home. The match ended in a draw with West Indies battling on 408 for 5 in the final innings.

Australia v England, 1st Test, Brisbane, 2006-07
The build-up to England's Ashes defence after their thrilling victory in 2005 had been tremendous. It came to boiling point when Steve Harmision charged in to Justin Langer in front of 40,000 fans at the Gabba and let loose a dreadful wide outside the off stump. Australia never looked back; Ricky Ponting led the way with 196, and eventually declared on 602 for 9. England were rolled over for a feeble 157, giving Australia a lead of 445 with two and a half days remaining. Australia's decision not to ask England to follow on wasn't surprising. Since Steve Waugh retired, Ponting and Adam Gilchrist have enforced it only once out of seven opportunities - against New Zealand at Wellington in 2004-05 - and, thanks to bad weather, it was the only time that they didn't win. Langer's century led Australia to 202 for 1 in 45.1 overs. England offered more resistance in the final innings, but their 370 all out fell well short of the target of 648.

South Africa v Australia, 3rd Test, Durban, 1949-50
There are two entries in our table below where a team has not enforced the follow-on and gone on to lose the Test. Both matches involve South Africa and one of them was the infamous contrived result at Centurion in 2000. The other match was the third Test at Durban during Australia's tour in 1950. South Africa were ideally placed to pull one back after Australia had taken a 2-0 lead in the series. Eric Rowan scored 143 to lead South Africa to 311 before Hugh Tayfield took 7 for 23 in 8.4 overs with his offbreaks as Australia were dismissed for 75, 236 in arrears. Dudley Nourse, the South Africa captain, had the rest day to mull over the follow-on decision but eventually decided against it. South Africa batted again but their hopes of setting a crushing target vanished as they were skittled for 99. Chasing 336 in the final innings, however, was still a daunting task and Australia were soon reduced to 95 for 4. But Neil Harvey shelved his natural game and revived the chase with a patient 151. He remained unbeaten as Australia completed the victory on the final day with 25 minutes and five wickets in hand and took the series 3-0 with two to play.

Australia v West Indies, 5th Test, Sydney, 1968-69
Since the series was still undecided - Australia led 2-1 - the teams played the final Test over six days. West Indies, after putting Australia in, didn't do themselves any favours by dropping catches off both Bill Lawry and Doug Walters, who went on to score 151 and 242 respectively. Australia amassed 619 in the first innings and had effectively batted West Indies out of the game. Lawry could have asked West Indies to follow on after they were dismissed for 279 but, keeping in mind how they had fought in the second innings at Adelaide, he decided to build on the lead of 340. Walters scored 103 and became the first batsman to score a century and a double in the same Test. Ian Redpath also scored a hundred and Australia set West Indies 735 to win in ten hours. Garry Sobers and Seymour Nurse struck centuries but West Indies were dismissed for 352 after scoring at four runs per over.

Biggest first-innings lead when not enforcing the follow-on (min 230-run lead)

Team	Lead	Opposition	Result	Margin	Ground	Season	Scorecard
England	563	v West Indies	drawn		Kingston	1929/30	Test 193
Australia	445	v England	won	277 runs	Brisbane	2006/07	Test 1817
England	399	v Australia	won	675 runs	Brisbane	1928/29	Test 176
Australia	380	v England	won	562 runs	The Oval	1934	Test 237
Australia	340	v West Indies	won	382 runs	Sydney	1968/69	Test 646
West Indies	326	v England	won	289 runs	Georgetown	1929/30	Test 192
Australia	324	v New Zealand	won	213 runs	Adelaide	2004/05	Test 1723
India	319	v England	drawn		The Oval	2007	Test 1842
England	282	v India	won	171 runs	Manchester	1959	Test 477
Sri Lanka	281	v South Africa	won	313 runs	Colombo (SSC)	2004	Test 1710
West Indies	278	v India	won	295 runs	Chennai	1958/59	Test 465
South Africa	278	v England	won	196 runs	Cape Town	2004/05	Test 1732
India	275	v New Zealand	drawn		Ahmedabad	1999/00	Test 1465
England	270	v West Indies	won	256 runs	Port of Spain	1959/60	Test 488
England	266	v India	won	170 runs	Lord's	2002	Test 1610
Australia	259	v England	won	184 runs	Brisbane	1994/95	Test 1275
West Indies	252	v England	won	231 runs	The Oval	1976	Test 781
South Africa	248	v England	lost	2 wickets	Centurion	1999/00	Test 1483
West Indies	247	v England	won	140 runs	Kingston	1953/54	Test 380
South Africa	236	v Australia	lost	5 wickets	Durban	1949/50	Test 320
Australia	236	v India	won	47 runs	Adelaide	1977/78	Test 816
England	235	v Australia	drawn		Adelaide	1970/71	Test 678
India	231	v Australia	drawn		Sydney	2003/04	Test 1680
England	230	v West Indies	won	256 runs	Birmingham	2004	Test 1708
South Africa	230	v Pakistan	won	324 runs	Johannesburg	1994/95	Test 1283
New Zealand	230	v West Indies	won	204 runs	Bridgetown	2002	Test 1607

Note: The lack of early Tests in our table is due to a couple of reasons. Before 1900 the follow-on wasn't an option; its enforcement was compulsory, which led to controversy in some county matches where the fielding side would deliberately bowl wides in order to avoid batting last on a worn pitch. Declarations were also not allowed in most circumstances at the time and so the batting side would deliberately throw away their wickets in an attempt to thwart the opposition's gamesmanship.

Also, it wasn't until the 1950s that three-day Tests were abolished. For a while after 1900, Tests in Australia had two follow-on targets, the first usually being 150 runs, where the follow-on was optional and the second being 200 runs, where the follow-on was compulsory.