Stats: Most deliveries faced by an unbroken 10th-wicket partnership in 4th innings of a Test

VVS Laxman and Pragyan Ojha after India’s 1 wicket win against Australia at Mohali, 2010

The final day of a Test match is always one interesting day as more often that not it makes for a thrilling finish if either side is within sight of a win. The recently concluded Test series between England and Sri Lanka witnessed two of the most evenly contested Test matches you will ever see on a cricket field.

In the first Test match at Lord’s, the last wicket pair of Nuwan Pradeep and Shaminda Eranga survived 5 intense deliveries before holding on for a draw. In the second match, they fought against the will of James Anderson and Moeen Ali who kept the Lankans at bay for 121 balls, to earn a win in the last over of the match.

Here we have the list of most number of balls the last pair of batsmen faced in the fourth innings of a Test when the pitch and the ball tests one’s skill to the maximum. Jimmy Adams and Courtney Walsh of the West Indies hold the record for remaining unbeaten for the most number of deliveries when they led the Carribean team to a famous win against Pakistan at St.John’s in the year 2000 by batting for 79 deliveries.

Had Anderson was blessed with some fortune to see through the last 2 balls, the English pair would have set a new record to remain unbeaten and faced the most number of balls as the last set of batsmen.

The list is being dominated by West Indians as they occupy 4 places in the top 10 including the first three. Fidel Edwards is the only one to make it to the list thrice and the ground at St.John’s, Antigua, has witnessed an unbeaten final wicket stand three times in the top 10. Melbourne and Lord’s are the other two grounds where the tail hung on in the end on three occasions. England has allowed the opposition to survive thrice and have also frustrated their opponents three times.

The list also includes the famous Indian win when VVS Laxman got India home against Australia in Mohali, 2010. The 30-ball stand between Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Shanthakumaran Sreesanth against England at Lord’s 2007 is at 4th position in the list.

#	Last Wicket Pair	Balls Faced	Runs Scored	Opposition	Venue	Year
1	Jimmy Adams – Courtney Walsh (WI)	79	19*	Pakistan	St. John’s	2000
2	Fidel Edwards – Ridley Jacobs (WI)	71	3*	Zimbabwe	Harare	2003
3	Fidel Edwards – Daren Powell (WI)	60	17*	England	St. John’s	2009
4	MS Dhoni – S Sreesanth (Ind)	30	19*	England	Lord’s	2007
5	Brett Lee – Glenn McGrath (Aus)	24	17*	England	Manchester	2005
6	VVS Laxman – Pragyan Ojha (Ind)	20	11*	Australia	Mohali	2010
7	Ashley Giles – Matthew Hoggard (Eng)	19	2*	Sri Lanka	Galle	2003
8	Corey Collymore – Fidel Edwards (WI)	19	1*	India	St. John’s	2006
9	Paul Collingwood – Graham Onions (Eng)	19	10*	South Africa	Centurion	2009
10	Monty Panesar – Matt Prior (Eng)	19	11*	New Zealand	Auckland	2013

Stats updated till June 25, 2014