da betobet： Chasing the fourth innings target
Arshad Chughtai23-May-2001In the recent fifth and final Test at Kingston (Jamaica), South Africa failed to chase a victory target of 386 runs in the fourth innings. In the history of cricket, only two teams have successfully chased a target of more than 386 runs. India made 406 for four to win against the West Indies at Port of Spain in 1975-76 and Australia made 404 for three to beat England at Leeds in 1948. Incidentally, India also holds the record for highest fourth innings total – to tie a match (347 against Australia at Madras in1986-87) and – to lose one (445 against Australia at Adelaide in 1977-78).How has Pakistan done in a fourth innings chase?Pakistan’s record of chasing a target in the fourth innings has remained dismal throughout. In fact, they even failed to reach targets as low as the 146 set by South Africa at Faisalabad in 1997-98 and 159 set by Australia at Sydney in 1972-73. The only time Pakistan could reach a fourth innings target of over 300 runs and win the match was at Karachi against Australia in 1994-95, recording a narrow one-wicket victory. On scrutiny one finds that 14 of Pakistan’s 67 defeats could be attributed to their batsmen’s inability to reach the target set by the opponents. The details in chronological order are:
1957-58 WI Port of Spain WI 325 282 312 356 235 120 runs1971 Eng Leeds Eng 316 350 264 231 205 251972-73 Aus Melbourne Aus 441/5 d 574/8 d 425 293 200 921972-73 Aus Sydney Pak 334 360 184 159 106 521976-77 WI Kingston WI 280 198 359 442 301 1401979-80 Ind Bombay Ind 334 173 160 322 190 1311980-81 WI Faisalabad WI 235 176 242 302 145 1561982 Eng Birmingham Eng 272 251 291 313 199 1131992-93 WI Port-of-Spain WI 127 140 382 370 165 2041995-96 SL Faisalabad Pak 223 333 361 252 209 421995-96 SL Sialkot SL 232 214 338 357 212 1441996-97 NZ Lahore NZ 155 191 311 276 231 441997-98 RSA Faisalabad RSA 239 308 214 146 92 531997-98 RSA Port Elizabeth Pak 293 106 206/7 d 394 134 259