When Australia won with a high score of 22

Matthew Hayden's 380 against Zimbabwe at the WACA is the highest top score for a winning team in a Test. Brian Lara made 400 against England but that was in a draw. Last week, however, West Indies beat Pakistan at Providence despite two meagre batting performances, in which Lendl Simmons' 49 in the first innings was their best individual score. Have many Tests been won by teams despite extremely low top scores?

The previous time a team won a Test without any of their batsmen scoring more than 50 was in Hamilton in 2002, when New Zealand hosted India on perhaps the most bowler-friendly pitch of the 21st century. Nobody even got to 40 in that game. It was the first time that both teams were dismissed for fewer than 100 in the first innings. India made 99, New Zealand 94. Rahul Dravid's 39 was the top score of the Test but it was Stephen Fleming's 32, which was New Zealand's best, that successfully guided a chase of 160. It was only the second time in Tests that a part of all four innings had been played on the same day (the third).

The first such occurrence also appears in the table below - the Lord's Test in 2000, when England beat West Indies by two wickets despite their top scorer being Michael Atherton, who made 45 in the chase of 188. The second day of that match began with West Indies nine down in the first innings and ended with England on 0 for 0 in the fourth.

The lowest top score to contribute to a team's victory was also made at Lord's, in 1888. Percy McDonnell and Jack Blackham scored 22 each in Australia's first-innings total of 116. England were shot out for 53, after which Australia collapsed for 60 in their second innings. WG Grace's 24 during England's chase of 124 was the highest individual score of the Test, but the hosts were routed for 62.

While there have been 27 instances of a team winning a Test without any of its batsmen scoring a half-century, in only 13 has there been no score in excess of 50 in the entire match (excluding draws). The recent Providence Test does not figure among them because Misbah-ul-Haq made 52 in Pakistan's defeat. Hamilton 2000 and Lord's 1888 do feature though.

That 1888 tour of England was an unhappy one for Australia's batsmen. After the visitors won at Lord's, they were beaten at The Oval and at Old Trafford. England had stormed to an innings victory in the second Test by posting 317, and their batsmen made 172 in the first innings of the final match, with WG Grace top scoring with 38. In reply, Australia were skittled for 81 and 70, with a high score of 32. It was the first time that a team had failed to score a half-century in a series comprising at least three Tests. It's only happened once since, when South Africa hosted England in 1895-96 and were routed by George Lohmann. South Africa had a top score of 41 in that series.

We've also dug up a list of Tests in which the winning team's most successful bowler had extremely modest figures. England once won a Test even though their best bowler in the match was Alan Mullally, who managed only 2 for 42. It emerged later, though, that the result at Centurion in 2000 was dubiously contrived by Hansie Cronje. He engineered it by forfeiting South Africa's second innings and setting England an extremely chaseable target. England had to take only eight wickets to win the Test instead of 20.

In 1968, England won a Test in Trinidad even though they took only nine wickets in the match. West Indies declared on 526 for 7 in the first innings and then closed their second innings on 92 for 2. England's most successful bowler had been David Brown, who took 3 for 107 in the first innings. Garry Sobers, however, had set England a target of only 215, which was strange considering the series was level at 0-0 with one to play. England chased successfully, with seven wickets in hand, and Sobers became the first captain to lose a Test after declaring in both innings. It's happened only once since, when Graeme Smith declared twice at the SCG in 2006 and lost.

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