England beat South Africa by 2 wkts in last ball

By A. C. de Silva

CRICKET: Test cricket has its high and interesting features in this game and one such instance was when England beat South Africa in the last ball of the match in the 1948 series between the two sides.

England beat South Africa by 2 wickets in the final ball with a leg-bye in the Test played in Durban. In the first innings, South Africa could score only 161 runs in the face of some accurate bowling by England's Alec Bedser (4 for 39) and Cliff Gladwin (3 for 21).

The English bowlers were aided a great deal with some superb fielding by their fielders and this smart fielding by the Englishmen really paved the way for a good allround display.

Came England's turn to bat and there was no stopping the veteran Len Hutton who made a crisp 83 and there was also Dennis Compton wjp made 72 and a result of this good batting displays by their veterans, England were able to rattle up 253 runs, thereby gaining a lead of 92 runs.

England, however, had to contend with the accurate bowling of "Tiffy" Mann (6 for 108) and Athol Rowan (4 for 108) who presented all the problems to the England's batsmen with their spot on bowling. Hutton is a beautiful model for the young aspirant to watch.

His footwork and movements of the bat backwards and forwards are one and pleasing to the eye. He has always educated his natural instincts by observation and study. His batsmanship is organised and grammatical.

It is natural that Hutton should perpetually be remembered for his fine innings. Came the second innings and England's bowlers were once again equal to the task of restricting South African batsmen going for their exhilarating strone-play and kept the batsmen in check.

South Africa were all out for 219 runs in their second turn which gave them a overall total of 380 runs which left the Englishmen to make 128 runs for victory in their final turn in the middle.

While Wade the top score of 63 in the South African second innings total of 219 it was English bowler Dougles Wright with 4 for 72 who made in-roads into the South African batting in the second innings and egged the Englishmen to put their best feet forward and go flat-out for a win when they had the last use of the wickets.

The timefactor too was something that England's batsmen had to keep in mind when they went into the vital second innings. There was 135 minutes play left for England to make those 128 runs that were needed for victory.

Five minutes were lost due to injury to Dudley Nourse and a sharp shower reduced play by a further 12 minutes. So, there was no time to waste and run-making had to be crisp with some effective strokes. England were equal to the task of making runs, but at the same task they lost wickets too. Eight wickets were down and England had made 116 runs - that's 12 more runs required for victory with just two wickets in hand and just 10 minutes to go.

Then came 19 year-old South African speedster Cuan McCarthy, who claimed six wickets in his debut, seemed to be on high alert to get the two remaining English batsmen.

The light further deterioated. It was so dark that either side could have appealed against the light, but neither side did.

England tail-ender Gladwin offered a catch off the first ball he received, but it was his good fortune to see that the catch being dropped.

The fielder seemed not to sight the ball as a result of the dark clouds above. Then there was three balls remaining and England needed two runs for a win with two wickets in hand. Bedser levelled the score with two balls left. Gladwin had a mighty swipe out missed the seventh ball.

Now the important final delivery. Bedser and Gladwin, perhaps, decided to run come what may. Gladwin failed to bring bat to ball and make an effective hit, but as the all ball hit his thigh and the batsmen galloped to glory.

England won off the final ball with a leg-bye!

Both Bedser and Gladwin executed a one-step dance on the field to celebrate the moment - a truly memorable occasion to be remembered a lifetime.