Last over heroics - Part I

In the third ODI between Australia and Pakistan at Abu Dhabi last month, we saw Glenn Maxwell bowling a double wicket maiden when 2 runs were required off the 50^th over for Pakistan to win. One would have thought that it was a minor aberration from the usual norm of batsmen smacking bowlers out of the ground in the final overs. After all the familiarity of facing similar situations in tournaments like IPL, BBL etc. would have made the batsmen across the world accustomed to these pressures. But if you dig deeper at the numbers in ODIs, out of the 1746 wins which came from while chasing only in 32 did the teams score 10 or more runs in the final over to win. 16 of those 32 came since August 2006 which shows the trend is the steadily on the increase.   In this first of this two part article Last over heroics, we see the most runs scored in the final over of ODI wins and ties. In part II we will see how the bowlers tied down the batsmen in the tense last over chases.

PREMISE: The details are included of all the ODIs for which the last over details are available from the free public domains.

Talking about last ball wins, the two most common images which will be etched in the minds of cricket fans across the world would be Javed Miandad’s war cry after smashing Chetan Sharma to the cow corner of Sharjah stadium and that of Allan Donald failing to reach the batsman’s end in the heart breaking tied semi-final of 1999 World Cup. It is of little surprise when we see names like Lance Klusener, MS Dhoni and Javed Miandad in the list of players who were out there in the middle the most times in the chases where 10 or more runs were scored in the final over. But one name that will surprise most is that of Shivnarine Chanderpaul. Against NZ in 2002, he hit four successive deliveries from Daryl Tuffey to the fence when 16 were required off the final 4 balls of the match. Again in 2008, he hit Chaminda Vaas for a 4 and 6 off the final 2 deliveries of the match when 10 runs were required.

One name missing from the list which could surprise many is Michael Bevan who was one of the best ever finishers the game has ever seen. This is probably because of the fact that he never let the game to drift till the very end and match was sealed well within the 49^th over – a completely opposite way of doing things when compared with another great modern day finisher MS Dhoni.   

    

The only occasion in which a requirement of 20 or more runs scored in the last over of an ODI win came last year when Nathan McCullum and James Neesham hit 25 off Rangana Herath including a 6  of the last ball to seal the victory. Talking about defending runs in the last over, one name worth mentioning here is Kyle Mills. Bowling the last over in a match curtailed by rain against SA at Wellington in the year 2004, Mills was taken for 21 runs by a rampant Shaun Pollock when the actual requirement was 27. 9 days later in another rain curtailed ODI, Stephen Fleming entrusted the job of bowling the final over once again to Mills with 28 required.  Kallis and Boucher took 25 off the over and fell short by 2 runs. Lightning does at times strike at the same place twice!!! Along with the above 2 instances, the only other time 20-odd runs taken in the last over of a losing cause came when Stuart Broad took 20 off Munaf Patel’s  final over in the 2^nd ODI at Bristol and lost by 9 runs.

Miandad after the famous victory, Sharjah, 1986 

Most runs scored off the final over in successful chases in ODIs

Runs Scored	Team	Vs	Venue	Date	Balls left	Batsmen	Bowlers
25	NZ	SL	Hamabantota	12-Nov-13	0	Nathan McCullum, James Neesham	Rangana Herath
18	Zimb	Bang	Harare	02-Aug-06	0	Brendan Taylor, Tawanda Mupariwa, Blessing Mahwire	Mashrafe Mortaza
18	WI	NZ	St Vincent	16-Jun-02	0	Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Wavell Hinds	Daryl Tuffey
18	Eng	Aus	Sydney	22-Jan-87	1	Allan Lamb, Philip DeFreitas	Bruce Reid
17	Scot	Ire	Nairobi	30-Jan-07	0	Colin Smith, Craig Wright	Kevin O'Brein
17	Pak	WI	Abu Dhabi	12-Nov-08	1	Kamran Akmal, Fawad Alam	Jerome Taylor
16	SA	WI	Colombo(SSC)	13-Sep-02	0	Shaun Pollock, Lance Klusener, Nicky Boje, Alan Dawson	Mervyn Dillon
16	Pak	SA	Abu Dhabi	31-Oct-10	1	Abdul Razzaq, Shoaib Akhtar	Albie Morkel
16	Ind	SL	Port of Spain	11-Jul-13	2	MS Dhoni, Ishant Sharma	Shaminda Eranga
16	SA	Ind	Nagpur	12-Mar-11	2	Robin Peterson, Faf du Plesis	Ashish Nehra
15	SL	Ind	Jalandhar	20-Feb-94	1	Aravinda de Silva, Pubudu Dassanayake	Javagal Srinath
15	SL	Pak	Colombo(RPS)	18-Jun-12	2	Angelo Mathews, Nuwan Kulasekhara	Mohammed Sami
15	Eng	WI	Gujranwala	09-Oct-87	3	Allan Lamb, Neil Foster	Courtney Walsh
14	Pak	WI	Lahore	16-Oct-87	0	Abdul Qadir, Saleem Jaffar	Courtney Walsh
13+	NZ	Pak	Christchurch	17-Dec-95	1	Gavin Larsen, Danny Morrison	Wasim Akram
13	Eng	Pak	Sahiwal	23-Dec-77	0	Ian Botham, Phil Edmonds, Goeff Miller
13	NZ	Zimb	Dhaka	24-Oct-88	0	Chris Harris, Alex Tait	Niel Johnson
13	WI	SL	Port of Spain	10-Apr-08	0	Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Fidel Edwards	Chaminda Vaas
13	Ire	Scot	Belfast	06-Sep-13	1	Tim Murtagh, George Dockrell	Rob Taylor
13	Ind	Aus	Adelaide	12-Feb-12	2	MS Dhoni, R Ashwin	Clint McKay
13	Pak	Ind	Mirpur	02-Mar-14	2	Shahid Afridi, Saed Ajmal, Junaid Khan	R Ashwin
12+	SA	NZ	Napier	26-Mar-99	0	Lance Klusener, Mark Boucher, Steve Elworthy	Dion Nash
13	Pak	Ind	Sharjah	18-Apr-86	0	Javed Miandad, Zulqarnain, Tauseef Ahmed	Chetan Sharma
12	SA	WI	Johannesburg	22-Jan-99	0	Lance Klusener, Mark Boucher, Pat Symcox	Neil McGarrell
12	Zimb	Ind	Faridabad	07-Mar-02	2	Douglas Marillier, Gary Brent	Anil Kumble
12	Aus	Eng	Brisbane	17-Jan-14	3	James Faulkner, Clint McKay	Tim Bresnan
12	Pak	Ind	Jamshedpur	26-Mar-87	4	Javed Miandad, Wasim Akram	Gopal Sharma
11+	SA	NZ	Cape Town	04-Nov-00	0	Lance Klusener, Shafeik Abrahams	Shane O'Connor
11	SA	NZ	Durban	25-Nov-07	0	Andre Nel, Mark Boucher	Mark Gillespie
11	Aus	Ind	Sydney	22-Jan-04	1	Brett Lee, Andy Bichel	L Balaji
11	Ind	WI	St Lucia	03-Jul-09	1	MS Dhoni, Yusuf Pathan	Jerome Taylor
10	Ind	Eng	Kennington Oval	05-Sep-07	2	Robin Uthappa, Zaheer Khan, Ramesh Powar	Stuart Broad

N McCullum & J Neeshan after the last over onslaught against Sri Lanka

Most runs scored off the final over in tied ODIs

Runs Required	Team 1	Team 2	Venue	Date	Batsmen	Bowler
18	NZ	Ind	Auckland	25-Jan-13	Ravindra Jadeja, Varun Aaron	Corey Anderson
17	Aus	Pak	Hobart	10-Dec-92	Mushtaq Ahmed, Asif Mujtaba, Aaquib Javed	Steve Waugh
15	Zimb	NZ	Bulawayo	01-Oct-97	Chris Harris, Gavin Larsen
15	Pak	Ire	Dublin	23-May- 13	Kevin O'Brein, Trent Johnston	Saed Ajmal
15	Pak	WI	St Lucia	19-Jul-13	Jason Holder, Kemar Roach	Wahab Riaz
14	Ind	Eng	Bangalore	27-Feb-11	Graeme Swann, Ajmal Shahzad	Munaf Patel
13	SA	Aus	Melbourne (Docklands)	18-Aug-00	Shane Warne, Jason Gillespie, Glenn McGrath	Shaun Pollock
13	Ire	Neth	Amstelveen	09-Jul-13	Edgar Schiferli, Ahsan Malik, Michael Rippon	John Mooney
11	Pak	WI	George town	03-Apr-93	Carl Hooper, Ian Bishop	Wasim Akram
11	SA	Aus	Potchefstroom	27-Mar-02	Jimmy Maher, Nathan Hauritz	Jacques Kallis
10	WI	Pak	Lahore	22-Nov-91	Waqar Younis, Moin Khan, Mushtaq Ahmed	Curtly Ambrose
10	Ind	Zimb	Indore	18-Nov-93	Heath Streak, John Rennie	Manoj Prabhakar
10	Aus	Eng	Lord's	02-Jul-05	Darren Gough, Ashley Giles, Steve Harmison	Glenn McGrath
10	WI	Aus	Melbourne	11-Feb-84	Goeff Lawson, Rodney Hogg, Carl Rackemann	Joel Garner

* Team 1 batted first & Team 2 chased in the respective ODIs.

* The 2 tables above lists all known instances where 10 or more runs were required off the last over to win.

* There have been 32 occasions of a team scoring over 10 runs or more in the last over of an ODI to win while on 14 occasions the match ended in a tie.

* Lance Klusener batted in the last over of most such matches – 5 times with 4 ending in wins and one in a tie and he faced the last ball of the match on 4 of those occasions.   

* Two Jamaicans - Courtney Walsh & Jerome Taylor had the misfortune of bowling the last over on 2 occasions each and losing both. Walsh’s 2 instances came in the 1987 World Cup within a gap of 7 days between the two.

* In the tied ODI bw Pakistan & WI at Georgetown on 03-Apr-1993, match referee intervened to declare a tie, because a crowd invasion impeded the fielding side while the last ball was still in play. Another pitch invasion off the last ball in the match bw Australia & WI, again at Georgetown on 21-Apr-1999 and a tie was declared yet again by the match referee. Raman Subba Row was the match referee on both occasions.

* The match bw NZ & Zimbabwe at Dhaka on 24-Oct-98 was the very first match of the ICC Knockout later renamed as ICC Champions Trophy.

* In the world cup match bw WI & Pakistan at Lahore on 16-Oct-87, Walsh had the opportunity to Mankade the non-striker Salim Jaffer which he refused; a gesture that cost WI the match and a place in the semi-final.

 Now that we have seen the close encounters, let us see who all where the batsmen who ended the game in style.

Players hitting the last ball of the last over for a six to win the ODI

Player	Runs needed	Team	Bowler	Team	Venue	Date	Score
Javed Miandad	4	Pak	C Sharma	Ind	Sharjah	18-Apr-86	116*
Lance Klusener	4	SA	Dion Nash	NZ	Napier	26-Mar-99	35*
Brendan Taylor	5	Zimb	M Mortaza	Bang	Harare	02-Aug-06	79*
S Chanderpaul	6	WI	C Vaas	SL	Port of Spain	10-Apr-08	62*
Ed Rainsford	1	Zimb	K O'Brein	Ire	Harare	26-Sep-10	9*
Ryan MacLaren	3	SA	J Franklin	NZ	Potchefstroom	25-Jan-13	25*
N McCullum	1	NZ	R Herath	SL	Hambantota	12-Nov-13	32*

Lance Klusener - the man who instilled fear in the opposition's mind during run chases

Players hitting a six in the last over to win the ODI

Player	Runs needed	Team	Bowler	Team	Venue	Date	Score	Balls Left
Aravinda de Silva	3	SL	C McDermott	Aus	Melbourne	19-Jan-85	46*	4
Javed Miandad	6	Pak	Gopal Sharma	Ind	Jamshedpur	26-Mar-87	78*	4
W Akram	3	Pak	Viv Richards	WI	Kolkata	01-Nov-89	6*	1
H Cronje	6	SA	M Prabhakar	Ind	Cape Town	07-Dec-92	12*	3
S Pollock	1	SA	C Gayle	WI	Johannesburg	04-Feb-04	12*	2
C Wright	6	Scot	Tim de Leede	Neth	Ayr	06-Aug-06	15*	1
S Styris	1	NZ	D Bollinger	Aus	Napier	03-Mar-10	49*	4
Harbhajan Singh	3	Ind	Mohammed Amir	Pak	Dambulla	19-Jun-10	15*	1
S Watson	4	Aus	Ajmal Shahzad	Eng	Melbourne	16-Jan-11	161*	5
Sachitra Senanayake	5	SL	Robin Peterson	SA	Johannesburg	22-Jan-12	6*	1
MS Dhoni	5	Ind	S Eranga	SL	Port of Spain	11-Jul-13	45*	2
S Afridi	3	Pak	R Ashwin	Ind	Mirpur	02-Mar-14	34*	2
Dawlat Zadran	4	Afg	Shingi Masakadza	Zimb	Bulawayo	22-Jul-14	24*	2

* The six hit by Wasim Akram off Vivian Richards was off the only ball he faced in that innings. It was the final of the Nehru Cup 1989.

* Sachitra Senanayake’s 6 off Robin Peterson were his very first runs in ODI cricket off the 2^nd ball he faced.

* Asif Mujtaba of Pakistan (vs Aus, Hobart, 10-Dec-1992) and Michael Ripponof Netherlands (vs Ire, Amstelveen, 9-Jul-2013) are the only players to tie an ODI with a 6 off the last ball.

* In the match between India & Pakistan at Jamshedpur on 26-Mar-1987, Alamnack report says Miandad his first 2 balls of the last over from Gopal Sharma for sixes. But scorecard has only one 6 against his name.

* Javed Miandad & Shane Watson are the only 2 players who scored centuries from the above list.

* Shahid Afridi finished the match with 2 successive sixes off R Ashwin in the last over.

Players hitting the last ball of the last over for a four to win the ODI

Player	Runs needed	Team	Bowler	Team	Venue	Date	Score
Ian Botham	1	Eng		Pak	Sahiwal	23-Dec-77	15*
Chris Harris	3	NZ	Niel Johnson	Zimb	Dhaka	24-Oct-98	37*
Ian Bishop	3	WI	Angus Fraser	Eng	Kingston	03-Mar-90	6*
Michael Bevan	4	Aus	Roger Harper	WI	Sydney	01-Jan-96	78*
Lance Klusener	3	SA	Dion Nash	NZ	Cape Town	04-Nov-00	59*
Ridley Jacobs	3	WI	Allan Donald	SA	Kingston	28-Apr-01	17*
S Chanderpaul	4	WI	Daryl Tuffey	NZ	St Vincent	16-Jun-02	28*
Alan Dawson	1	SA	Mervyn Dillon	WI	Colombo(SSC)	13-Sep-02	4*
R Sarwan	3	WI	Ajt Agarkar	Ind	Jamshedpur	07-Nov-02	83*
Inzamam	1	Pak	S Tendulkar	Ind	Ahmedabad	12-Apr-05	60*
Michael Mason	1	NZ	S Jayasuriya	SL	Queenstown	31-Dec-06	4*
Craig Wright	1	Scot	Kevin O'Brein	Ire	Nairobi	30-Jan-07	23*

* There are nearly 100 occasions of batsmen ending the ODI in the last over with a boundary. Michael Bevan has did it on most occasion – 4, followed by Chris Harris (3).

* Chanderpaul struck consecutive fours from the final four deliveries of the match. The last ball was scored as a single as the batsmen had completed the run before it reached the boundary (in fact it was fielded well inside the boundary by a crowd member invading the ground at the conclusion of the match).

* In the ODI bw SL & NZ at Queenstown on 31-Dec-2006, Michael Mason hit the last ball of   Sanath Jayasuriya for a 4 after the first 5 balls were dots.

* Kevin O’Brein is the only batsmen to tie an ODI with a boundary. He did it against Saed Ajmal of Pakistan at Dublin on 23-May- 2013.

* Justin Kemp of SA (vs NZ, Port Elizabeth, 30-Oct-2005) & Jekon Edness of Bermuda (vs Canada, King City, 28-Jun-2008) finished off the match with a 4 and a 6 off successive deliveries.

* Aus beat WI at Port of Spain on 14-Mar-1984 with an overthrow 4 off the last ball.

Micheal Bevan - rarely left it till the very end. Here after the winning boundary against WI on New Year's Day 1996