Declaring and losing

As England weren't able to level the (rediculously short) Test series in India in the 2nd Test, inevitably focus moves to how on earth they lost the 1st Test. This interesting article on Cricinfo looks at the times when a team has lost after a declaration. A couple of comments on the article:

"The most recent match in which a team declared their first innings and lost was the Adelaide Test during the 2006-07 Ashes. England reached a seemingly impregnable 551 for 6 in the first innings before declaring. Only twice had teams lost after posting higher first-innings scores, so their decision was justified. England gained a slender lead but a third-innings meltdown left Australia with only 168 to chase, a target they achieved with six wickets in hand. England's first-innings effort was also the fourth-highest losing total in any innings and the second highest declaration in a defeat."

I've got to totally disagree with that! As I was saying to anyone willing to listen at the time, England's only chance of winning was Australia following on. So in effect England only asked them to score 352 and on that wicket, that was a synch.

The other thing that I noticed in this article was the brilliant name of an old England player - Jack Crapp. Yes, I know, I still have the sense of humour of a 4 year-old!