Drawing level with little damage

England's monstrous second-innings performance at the Gabba shattered several records, but during the course of their 517 for 1, Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook missed out on emulating a feat that has been performed only once in Test cricket. Faced with a deficit of 221, England's openers put on 188 before Strauss was dismissed. Had they erased it all, they would have been only the second pair of openers to overcome a 200-plus deficit in the third innings of a Test. We'll reveal the identity of the first pair a little later in today's column, which is about teams that have wiped out large deficits with minimum damage.

Guyana, 1972. West Indies had batted into the third day of the fourth Test against New Zealand and declared on 365 for 7, leaving little time for a result. New Zealand's response, however, stamped out all hope of victory and defeat. Glenn Turner and Terry Jarvis batted forever, adding 387 for the first wicket. Turner's 259 spanned 704 minutes - the longest innings by a New Zealand batsman - and 759 balls, the second most by any batsman in an innings. Jarvis batted nine hours for his 182. It remains the only time one team has overhauled an opponent's first-innings total in excess of 300 without losing a wicket. It's also the only drawn Test in the table below. "It would be hard to imagine a duller game of cricket than this," Wisden said, shortsightedly, not foreseeing the run-fests of more recent times.

The bat-a-thon between Sri Lanka and India at the Premadasa Stadium in 1997 was arguably duller than that game. India declared their first innings on 537 for 8 and then watched Sanath Jayasuriya and Roshan Mahamana bat for more than two days, only the second time that had happened in Tests, and the first time when no play was lost to rain. Their second-wicket partnership was worth 576 and Sri Lanka overhauled India's substantial total for the loss of only one wicket.

At Lord's in 1930, Australia amassed 729 for 6 in reply to England's first-innings score of 425, with Don Bradman giving his team the lead for the loss of only Bill Ponsford and Bill Woodful. England were dismissed for 375 in the third innings, leaving Australia with 72 to chase, which they did with seven wickets in hand. A total of 110,000 people watched 1601 runs and 29 wickets packed into four days.

The feat Strauss and Cook came close to emulating was that of Geoff Pullar and Colin Cowdrey against South Africa at The Oval in 1960. After having been shot out for 155 in their first-innings, England were facing a deficit of 264 at the start of their second. Pullar and Cowdrey, however, swept past that mark during a first-wicket partnership of 290 in under four and a half hours, eliminating chances of a South African victory. England declared with a lead of 215 and the game was drawn.

When a team draws level with its opponent with most of its wickets intact, it doesn't usually lose. England did, though, in Trinidad in 1974. Geoff Boycott and Dennis Amiss put on 209 for the first wicket in England's second innings and West Indies' lead of 261 was erased with nine wickets standing. England collapsed, though, from 328 for 1 to 392 all out, leaving West Indies with a chase of 132. Roy Fredericks led the charge and the hosts won with seven wickets in hand.

The three largest chases completed without losing a wicket have all been pulled off by Australia. The second of those was in an extremely low-scoring Ashes Test at the Gabba in 1990. England made the highest score of the match after they were sent in - 194. Australia in response made only 152. Terry Alderman, however, took six second-innings wickets to skittle England for 114, leaving Australia with 157 to chase. Mark Taylor and Geoff Marsh chose this challenge to make the highest scores of the match. Their stand of 157 sealed a 10-wicket win inside three days.

The last table contains a list of run-chases in which a target of more than 200 has been achieved for the loss of the fewest wickets. At Lord's in 1984, West Indies were set a target of 342 with five and a half hours remaining in the Test. Gordon Greenidge went after it, lost Desmond Haynes with the score on 57 and, in the company of Larry Gomes, pulled off one of the greatest Test victories with nine wickets in hand.

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