Fourth Innings Double Centuries In Tests

DOULE CENTURY IN FOURTH INNINGS:
There have been five instances of a double century in the fourth innings of a test match:

George Headley  223 for West Indies   vs England at Kingston  Jamaica in 1930
Bill Edrich  219 for England  vs South Africa at Durban in 1939
Sunil Gavaskar 221 for India  vs England at the Oval London in 1979
Gordon Greenidge 214 not out for West Indies   vs England at Lords London in 1984
Nathan Astle 222 for New Zealand  vs England at Christchurch in 2002

Four of these feats were achieved against England, and the only time it was not, it was done by an Englishman himself!

The first three of these matches ended in draws:

George Headley in 1930  single-handedly battled to save the West Indies after they had been set a target of 826. The match lasted seven days,  and became the first test to be drawn by mutual agreement, with the West Indies ending at 408/5. The English had to catch their boat for home! Headley's 223 remains the highest ever fourth innings score in a test.

Bill Edrich's performance in 1939  came in the 'timeless test' which was abandoned as a draw after nine days of play, otherwise the England team would again have missed the boat for home! This was the longest Test cricket match on record. South Africa had set a target of 696 for England to win. By the time England had to leave to catch their boat home, they  had reached 654 for 5 (the highest ever first-class fourth innings score).

Sunil Gavaskar's innings at the Oval  took India very close to victory in 1979 - at one point they were 389/2 chasing a target of 438. But Gavaskar got out at that point. The rest of the batting crumbled and India just about managed to hold on for a draw, ending at 429/8.

Gordon Greenidge spectacularly took Weat Indies to victory in 1984 after David Gower declared and set West Indies a target of 342. Greenidge's  unbeaten innings of 214 took only 242 balls and West Indies won by 9 wickets!

Nathan Astle was the only fourth innings double-centurion to end up on the losing side. He scored the fastest double century in Test cricket in 2002  while New Zealand were chasing a mammoth 550 to win, but they fell 98 runs short. Astle scored his  222 runs in the fourth innings in only 168 balls!



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