Finished in the dark

England won the Karachi Test of December 2000 by six wickets, chasing 176 in 41.3 overs on the last evening. The card gives the overs, the minutes, 204, and the result. The card’s own coverage list gives the rest in two headlines: a win in the dark, and dancers in the dark. What the light was like when Graham Thorpe hit the winning runs is not a thing a scorecard can hold.

Four days of it

Pakistan batted first and made 405, Inzamam-ul-Haq 142 and Mohammad Yousuf 117, both reaching their hundreds on the first day, when Pakistan closed on 292 for three. Ashley Giles took four for 94 in 35 overs. England replied with 388 in 179.1 overs and 758 minutes, which is more than twelve and a half hours of batting for a deficit of 17.

Mike Atherton made 125 from 430 balls, his hundred coming from the 317th in the 414th minute, and Nasser Hussain 51 from 209. The innings ran into the fourth afternoon, and the card notes that tea was delayed with nine wickets down. Ian Salisbury was 20 not out from 82 balls at the end of it.

Full scorecard: Pakistan v England, 3rd Test, Karachi, 7–11 December 2000 →

One hundred and fifty-eight

Pakistan were 71 for three at the close of the fourth day, 88 ahead. On the fifth morning Ashley Giles took three for 38 in 27 overs, twelve of them maidens, Darren Gough three for 30, Craig White two for 30, and Pakistan were all out for 158 in 70 overs. England needed 176. The card does not say how many overs were left in the day. The innings that followed says it was not many.

Forty-one overs and three balls

England’s fifty came from 61 balls. Atherton was caught for 26 at 38, Marcus Trescothick for 24 at 51, Alec Stewart for 5 at 65, all to Saqlain Mushtaq. Thorpe and Graeme Hick put on 91. Hick was bowled by Waqar Younis for 40 at 156. Thorpe finished 64 not out from 98 balls, Hussain 6 not out, and the total was 176 for four at 4.24 an over.

The card carries one more note: a five-ball over, Waqar’s fifth and the innings’ 39th, called by umpire Steve Bucknor. It is the only sign on the card of the conditions the over was bowled in. Saqlain bowled 17.3 of the 41.3 overs and took the three wickets; Waqar, Abdul Razzaq, Danish Kaneria and Shahid Afridi bowled the other 24 between them for one.

What the card cannot show

The headlines on the card’s own coverage list say the match finished in the dark, and the card’s arithmetic says why it could. Forty-one overs and three balls took 204 minutes, which is a rate of just over twelve overs an hour from the fielding side, and 4.24 runs an over from the batting side. One of those numbers is slow and the other is fast, and the card leaves the reader to work out which was which, and why.

It was England’s first Test win in Pakistan since 1961-62, and the first Test Pakistan had lost at Karachi in 35 there. The card’s series line reads England won the three-match series 1-0, after two draws.

What the card holds

A first-innings hundred that took 579 minutes and a match award. A 405 and a 388, and then a 158. A chase of 176 at a run a ball and more. A five-ball over. Two headlines with the word dark in them. And a result line that reads like any other six-wicket win, in a match whose last hour was not like any other.

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No. 7 in The Rain Rule, a series of 9.

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