Test Cricket's Great Redemption

How fitting that Ian Smith — the commentator who etched his name into cricket folklore with his half-anguished, half-ecstatic cry of “By the barest of margins!” when England defeated his own New Zealand in the 2019 World Cup Final — was back in the commentary box for another defining moment in cricket history. As the sun began to set on the fourth day, Australia needed nine runs to win, and the West Indies were one wicket away from their first test match victory on Australian soil since 1997. Shamar Joseph, who only the day before hobbled off the pitch in tears after being injured by a Mitchell Starc toe-crusher, had his eyes set on a seven-wicket haul in only his second test match. Joseph, raring, chest-pumped and practically on one leg, dismantled Josh Hazelwood’s off stump, and Smith the great wordsmith couldn’t contain his astonishment as his rhetoric collapsed — “He’s got him!” Smith repeated, “The West Indies have created the most amazing thing here!” And beside him in the commentary box, Adam Gilchrist embraced a tearful Brian Lara as the West Indian team gathered in a craze by the boundary.

After Australia’s 3-0 victory against Pakistan, and a convincing victory over the West Indies in the first test, it looked like another Aussie whitewash summer. Who would have thought that such an inexperienced West Indies team would even come close to winning a match against an all-too-reliable, cut-throat Australian pack at the Brisbane fortress (they are only the second team to come out on top against the host nation at the GABBA since 1988). And who else but Shamar Joseph, former security guard and cricket’s latest lovechild, to breathe much-needed life into test cricket, and reiterate why it is the greatest sporting format.  

Meanwhile in Hyderabad, whilst news of a West Indies victory was filtering through, England were on the brink of reaching their own nirvana. After two days of Indian dominance — the home side took a nearly 200-run lead heading into the second innings — we were looking at an all too familiar pattern of underwhelming English performances on Indian soil. That is until Ollie Pope, who looked like a rabbit in the headlights in the first innings, took a typically Bazballian approach against the Indian spinners, reverse sweeping and scooping his way to an otherworldly 197. After Pope made his claim for the greatest innings by an English batter on Indian soil, India required 230 to win. Enter Tom Hartley, the Lancastrian debutant who had been given a baptism of fire in the first innings, to spin England to victory with a seven-wicket haul of his own. Pope and Hartley, whose places in the second test match looked in doubt, were front and centre in the most unlikely of English victories. Even the harshest of critics can be silenced within a day. We can only speculate whether the Barmy Army — England’s most vocal and loyal support group — with their West Indian chants, fuelled the English bowlers to cap off what is not only a brilliant advertisement for test match cricket, but a perfect day for the regularly pessimistic English cricket fans. Heading into the second test of a five-match series, India will be without two of their most experienced spearheads — all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, batter KL Rahul and the formidable Virat Kohli (who misses the first two tests for personal reasons). Now England feel like they can turn the screw and take a formidable two-nil lead in the five-match series. Bring on Vizag, long live test cricket, and God save Ollie Pope, Tom Hartley, and Shamar Joseph. 

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