The phrase “two sides of the same coin” was never more apt than on the Independence Day weekend for India. As the country celebrated its 68th year of independence over a long holiday weekend, cricket fans watched the team’s abysmal surrender at The Oval in horror.
The Women’s team had earlier provided the cheer the men couldn’t, having delivered a historic Test win over England Women at Wormsley just 24 hours ago. The pundits rightly slammed the men’s team for their pathetic display with both bat and ball in the humiliating Test series defeat – their third series loss in a row against England after 2011 and 2012 (in India). Interestingly, England have won their last two series against India after being one Test down.
However, the series that set up several landmarks and milestones was the one just concluded in Sri Lanka, which the home side won 2-0 against Pakistan. Rangana Herath was the unlikely hero to emerge from this series. The left-arm spinner is the only survivor from the Test side of the 1990s in the present day, alongside Shivnarine Chanderpaul. Herath’s nine-wicket haul in the first innings and 14-wicket match haul in the second Test ensured a fitting farewell from Tests for the retiring Mahela Jayawardene.
Herath’s 23 wickets set a new record for the most wickets in a two-match Test series. He bettered his former teammate Muttiah Muralitharan’s tally of 22 wickets against the South Africans eight years ago. Incidentally, Herath is now the only Test bowler to claim 20 or more wickets in a two-match Test series on two separate occasions.
The table below lists all bowlers with 20 or more wickets in a two-match Test series.
Most wickets by a bowler in a two-match Test series
Herath also became the second oldest bowler in Test cricket history to claim nine or more wickets in an innings, and the fourth oldest to claim 14 or more wickets in a Test. The details are given below.
Oldest to claim nine or more wickets in a Test innings
Oldest to claim 14 or more wickets in a Test match
Meanwhile, Herath became the first left-arm bowler in Test cricket history to claim a nine-wicket haul in an innings and his match figures of 14 for 184 are now the fifth best match performance by a left-arm bowler in Tests.
Most wickets in a Test innings by left-arm bowlers
+ 4 ball over
LAS – Left arm slow
LF – Left arm fast
Most wickets in a Test match by left-arm bowlers
+ 4 ball over
LAS – Left arm slow
LF – Left arm fast-medium
Thanks to Herath’s efforts, the Sri Lanka-Pakistan series saw 43 of the 69 wickets fall to left-arm bowlers. In a two-match Test series, this now occupies the second position in terms of maximum wickets for left-arm bowlers. The only occasion this tally has been surpassed was in 1889 – 125 years ago – when 49 wickets fell to six left-arm bowlers in the inaugural Test series in South Africa. The table below has all the details.
Most wickets claimed by left-arm bowlers (for both sides) in a two-match Test series
Note: The most wickets claimed by left-arm bowlers in any Test series is 86 out of 168 wkts (51.19%) in the India v England five-match series in India in 1976-77 (England won the series).
Finally, Jayawardene, ended his long and distinguished 17-year Test career spanning 149 matches, with 11814 runs at an average just short of 50. His final innings of 54 was his 50th half-century, over and above his 34 Test centuries. Jayawardene had made his Test debut as a 20-year old in the famous Colombo Test at the Premadasa Stadium in August 1997, when Sri Lanka amassed a mammoth total of 952 for 6, the most ever in an innings. Interestingly, he came out to bat for the first time only on the fifth and final day of the Test, when he made 66 runs. By scoring 54 in his final innings at Colombo, he joins a select band of 21 cricketers to have the distinction of making a 50+ score in both their debut innings and their final innings in Tests. He is first Sri Lankan to achieve this and the fifth from the subcontinent. The table below provides the details.
50+ scores by a subcontinent batsman in both their debut innings and final innings in Tests
