Dancing in the dark: Was success in Karachi England's best Test win?

HUW TURBERVILL: Headingley '81 and '19 are often raised as England's finest moments of recent time but in the Sindh gloom Nasser Hussain and Graham Thorpe pulled off a minor miracle

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It’s 20 years since Karachi, when England won in the dark. Was that the greatest Test win you have seen by them (or not seen, as the case may be)?

It strikes me that it was, in my living memory anyhow, but when I posed the question on Twitter, some fine alternatives were proffered.

Of course many were seething that I wanted to overlook Headingley 2019. My natural inclination is to think that people have short memories, and for such polls they always choose something in recent years. But for England to be bowled out by Australia for 67 in their first innings, and to be 286 for 9 chasing 362 and still win, had true ‘specs’ appeal.

A loyal reader once wrote a pithy letter to us wondering if we’d ever gone an issue without mentioning Headingley 1981. So I’m glad we have not let him down and shoehorned that one in here again – we all know how England overturned odds of 500-1 in that match, thanks to the heroics of Sir Ian Botham and Bob Willis.

There were a lot of votes for the win at Jamaica in 1989/90. Graham Gooch seemed a miracle worker, after the 20-0 annihilation by West Indies (nine draws) in the six series before. Trinidad that series would have been exceptional too if Desmond Haynes’ men had not got away with such blatant time-wasting.

^{Michael Atherton's century had been widely derided - but it proved crucial to England's success}

There were a few votes for the two victories in Sri Lanka in the second half of that stupendous 2000/01 winter; to win after going 1-0 down against Muttiah Muralitharan’s men was indeed marvellous.

There were also the victories at the Wankhede and Eden Gardens in 2012/13 under Alastair Cook; or any of the seven Test wins England against those incredible Australians between 1989 and 2002/03, although in terms of the series they were consolation of course: they include Headingley 2001 and Mark Butcher’s century, suggested by Derek Pringle; or there was Edgbaston and Trent Bridge in 2005 when they finally found a way to stop them in a series.

I think I’m sticking with Karachi, though.

I’m not sure England had ever won a series in such unfamiliar conditions, and a Test match in such terrible light (since the War anyhow). Not many teams win after conceding more than 400 in their first innings, either (Pakistan made 405). Mike Atherton’s painstaking 125 (430 balls) was criticised for killing England’s chances, but ultimately proved crucial, and saw him named man of the match. England were simply not meant to triumph in Pakistan. They took their inaugural Test out there at Lahore in 1961/62, but hadn’t won one since. That victory at the National Stadium at Karachi ended a sequence of two defeats and – incredibly – 17 draws.

^{Umpire Steve Bucknor kept both teams on the field despite the unplayable light}

The introduction of neutral umpires five years before helped (well one out of two, Mohammad Nazir did the other end), but England captain Nasser Hussain admits he wasn’t sure which way “stubborn” Steve Bucknor was going to go.

"We didn’t know what he’d say to Pakistan captain Moin Khan, but luckily he made him stay out there and the time-wasting didn’t pay off," he said. “When I look back on my career that was such a high. There had been two turgid Tests before that and people were writing off the series as dull, but it all came to a crescendo on that last evening. 

"I was batting with Graham Thorpe and he cut it and no one knew where it had gone, and Inzy couldn’t see it, and then Thorpey did a back-cut for four. 

"I’m just so drained in that famous dressing-room picture – it had been such a long, long day. The scenes were incredible. That is why you play, for moments like that."

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