Stats: Most deliveries faced for a 10th-wicket partnership in 4th innings of a Test match

Moeen Ali and James Anderson faced most deliveries for a 10th-wicket pair in 4^th innings of a Test

Despite James Anderson and Moeen Ali just failing in their task to get England home against Sri Lanka in the second Test match of the tour to squander the series to the visitors, they did successfully manage to break a record that stood for nearly 12 years.

The England pair during their innings of high concentration, faced 121 deliveries before Anderson was the last man to fall, unable to sway away from a bouncer at the body from Shaminda Eranga. Moeen and Anderson became the pair to face most number of balls for the 10th wicket in the fourth innings of a Test match.

They could have been the first last wicket pair to face more than 100 balls and remain unbeaten in the 4th innings if not for that unfortunate dismissal for England.

Four Australian pair made it to the top 10, with 2 instances involving James Pattinson in 2013. The Indian pair of Ajit Agarkar and Ashish Nehra are at second place for their determined partnership of 63, surviving 109 balls against England at Lord’s in 2002. The West Indian pair of Jimmy Adams and Courtney Walsh are the only unbeaten pair in the top 10. England bowlers failed to dismiss the last wicket pair early in as many as 4 instances.

Heath Streak and Blessing Mahwire representing Zimbabwe survived against West Indies in 2003, finding themselves at 6th position.

#	Partners	Balls Faced	Runs Scored	Against	Ground	Year
1	Moeen Ali – James Anderson (Eng)	121	21	Sri Lanka	Leeds	2014
2	Ajit Agarkar – Ashish Nehra (Ind)	109	63	England	Lord’s	2002
3	Mervyn Dillon – Ridley Jacobs (WI)	100	64	South Africa	Cape Town	1999
4	Brad Haddin – James Pattinson (Aus)	99	65	England	Nottingham	2013
5	Ryan Harris – James Pattinson (Aus)	86	43	England	Lord’s	2013
6	Blessing Mahwire – Heath Streak (Zim)	83	29	West Indies	Bulawayo	2003
7	Jimmy Adams – Courtney Walsh (WI)	79	19*	Pakistan	St. John’s	2000
8	Nathan Lyon – Mitchell Stark (Aus)	75	87	South Africa	Perth	2012
9	Michael Kasprowicz – Brett Lee (Aus)	74	59	England	Birmingham	2005
10	Ian Bell – Monty Panesar (Eng)	73	33	New Zealand	Hamilton	2008

Stats updated till 25 June, 2014