The new Caddick, and second-innings fightbacks

Caddick's carbon copy
They're both from England, they're both tall, strapping fast bowlers, and, if their records are anything to go by, they both love to bowl in the second innings of a Test. These are early days yet in Steve Harmison's Test career, but his amazing burst of 7 for 12 against West Indies in Jamaica only emphasised that he, like Andy Caddick, is a far more potent bowler on a wearing pitch than on a fresh one. As the table below indicates, Harmison averages less than 14 when bowling in the second innings, a third of his first-innings average. And it isn't as if Harmison's second-innings figures look impressive only because of that hot spell at Sabina Park: remove that effort, and Harmison still averages 17.76 in the second innings.

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Second-innings recovery
Australia have made a habit recently of collapsing in the first innings, and then making up for it with a vengeance in the second. At Galle, they turned around a weak first-innings effort of 220 with a magnificent batting display in the second, scoring 512 for 8 declared, 292 more than they had managed batting first. They then did even better at Kandy, scoring 442 in the second dig after faltering for 120 in the first. It was a remarkable performance, but it only ranks joint-27th in the alltime list of the maximum differences between firstand second-innings totals. Leading the way are Pakistan: against West Indies at Barbados in 1957-58 they were bundled out for 106 in their first innings, conceding a massive lead of 473. In their second outing, the story was slightly different - Hanif Mohammad led the way with a monumental 337, as Pakistan amassed 657, an incredible 551 more than their first-innings total, and ultimately ended up saving the Test.

That remains the only instance of a team managing to score over 500 more in their second innings than their first. There are eight other instances of a 400-plus difference, led by New Zealand's effort against Sri Lanka at Wellington in 1990-91, when they were bowled out for 174 then hit back scoring 671 for 4, with Martin Crowe running up 299 and Andrew Jones 186. The most famous of those eight instances happened more recently, at Kolkata in 2000-01, when India were shot out for 171 by Australia, and then turned the match - and the series - on its head, scoring 657 for 7 declared in their second innings, spearheaded by VVS Laxman's epic knock of 281.

The Australians have outdone their Kandy effort only three times. Their best comeback was achieved at Edgbaston in 1997 - though in a losing cause - when they were bowled out for 118 in their first innings, and then hit back with 477 in the second. Their Kandy and Galle performances both figure in their top eight fightbacks.

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Another half-century for Tendulkar
The Man-of-the-Match award that Sachin Tendulkar won at Rawalpindi was his 50th in ODIs, but only his fourth in a losing cause. Before the Rawalpindi game, the last time Tendulkar won the award in a match India lost was against Sri Lanka at Sharjah in 2000-01. It was also his sixth such award against Pakistan - the last time he was Man of the Match against them was in the 2003 World Cup clash at Centurion.