Most exciting day in Test cricket history can now be watched on YouTube

High-quality batting, top-class bowling, intense drama, flaring tempers, twists and turns – that day of cricket had everything. It was May 12, 2003 – the fourth day of the final Test in a four-game series between Australia and West Indies. The venue was Antigua and the match had gained great importance. 

Brian Lara-led West Indies had lost all the three Tests in the series so far. If they had lost this match as well, it would have been the first whitewash suffered by that illustrious cricketing nation at home, in a series of four matches or more. What followed was a day of cricket with unprecedented drama and action in the annals of cricket. Thanks to Cricket West Indies, all that action can be relived, or experienced as a viewer for the first time. But before we tell you how, let's give you a summary of what transpired on that day in Antigua and why it is so historic. 

How the match set-up?

Steve Waugh’s Australian team, at the peak of their powers at the time, seemed highly likely to condemn their opponents to the ignominy of a home whitewash. But the hosts, still boasting a group of highly-capable batsmen, were not going to go down without a fight. They managed to restrict Australia to just 240 in the first innings. However, they also scored the exact same number of runs in their first innings.

Matthew Hayden’s big hundred led Australia to 417 in their second innings, giving West Indies a target of 418 to win the match and avoid the whitewash. Time was not an issue. Things seemed bad for the beleaguered Caribbean side, especially since such a big target had never been successfully chased before in Test cricket. 

Roller-coaster ride on Day 4

On the penultimate day of the match, at the famous Antigua Recreation Ground, West Indies lost the wickets of their openers – Chris Gayle and Devon Smith – early. Darren Ganga, who had scored two hundreds in the series so far, was also dismissed cheaply when the score was at 74. Hosts seemed doomed. 

But then, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Brian Lara, the latter in great form throughout the series, decided to dig in and fight it out. Lara soon started unleashing those strokes from his repertoire which used to mesmerize all connoisseurs of the game. Not surprisingly, he decided to most severely attack Stuart MacGill – the leading spinner for Australia due to the ban on Shane Warne for taking banned substances. 

In his characteristic style, Lara charged down the wicket several times to the leg-spinner and hit him over long-on for sixes. The partnership between Lara and Sarwan bloomed and the score reached 165. But then, at the personal score of 60, Lara came down the wicket to MacGill again, only to be beaten this time by the leggie. The ball went through the left-hander’s defences and hit the stumps. 

This brought to the wicket West Indies batting line-up’s rock, Shivnarine Chanderpaul. The two Guyanese batsmen then formed a wonderful partnership that started to revive West Indies’ hopes. In the meanwhile, Glenn McGrath, whom we later learned had just discovered about his wife’s cancer, got into a very ugly verbal spat with Sarwan which involved blatant finger-pointing and vile personal abuses. 

The highly animated West Indian crowds let McGrath have a piece of their mind when he went to field on the boundary after this altercation. Waugh then changed McGrath’s position to get him away from the Windies supporters’ ire. But this didn’t derail the partnership and Sarwan eventually reached his hundred. 

Following a 123-run partnership, Sarwan was dismissed when he top-edged a pull shot off a Brett Lee delivery. After taking the catch off his own bowling, Lee rushed towards McGrath and grabbed his legs to hoist him up. The score was 288/5. 

The very next delivery was a sharp bouncer from Lee that lobbed up in the air after hitting the new batsman Ridley Jacobs’ elbow. However, the pacer started celebrating even before wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist took the catch. After much wait, umpire David Shepherd raised his finger, much to the amazement of the batsman. When the replay was shown on the big screen and the error of the umpire revealed, angry crowds couldn’t hold back their emotions and started throwing bottles and other stuff on the field of play. 

After a brief halt, play resumed. Amidst, all this drama, Chanderpaul retained his unflinching focus and continued to bat smoothly. Eventually, the left-hander reached his century. The man at the other end, 20-year-old spinner Omari Banks, came close to getting out on multiple occasions. He was dropped in the slips twice and another edge went over the cordon. 

Conclusion of the story

But Chanderpaul and Banks saw the day’s play to a close, adding 83 for the seventh wicket. West Indies now needed just 47 to win on the final day. Despite losing the wicket of Chanderpaul with the addition of just one run on day 5, the hosts ended up making the world record for the highest successful chase thanks to Banks and the number 9 batsman Vasbert Drakes. 

How to watch it all?

Now, you can watch almost the entire innings, with all the drama on day 4 of the Test, on YouTube thanks to West Indies cricket board’s YouTube channel. The nearly 8-hour video would take you down the memory lane and also let you witness one of the greatest days in Test cricket history. Watch it here 

Powered by Froala Editor