1999
Four hundred and twenty-five minutes
Hobart 1999 is Adam Gilchrist’s 149 not out, in his second Test, chasing 369. The card gives the player of the match to Justin Langer, for 127 in 425 minutes, and records the slowest hundred an Australian has made.
Australia needed 369 at Hobart in November 1999 and were 126 for five. They won by four wickets. Adam Gilchrist, in his second Test, made 149 not out from 163 balls. The card’s player of the match is Justin Langer, 59 and 127, and the 127 took 295 balls and 425 minutes.
The first three innings
Australia put Pakistan in and bowled them out for 222 on the first day, Mohammad Wasim 91 and nobody else past 29. Australia made 246, Michael Slater 97 and Langer 59, with Saqlain Mushtaq taking six for 46 and the last five wickets falling for 10. Pakistan then made 392: Inzamam-ul-Haq 118, Ijaz Ahmed 82, Saeed Anwar 78, and Shane Warne five for 110 from 45.5 overs. The target was 369.
Full scorecard: Australia v Pakistan, 2nd Test, Hobart, 18–22 November 1999 →
One hundred and twenty-six for five
Slater was caught for 27 at 39. Greg Blewett caught behind for 29 at 81, and Mark Waugh leg before first ball, 81 for three. Langer and Steve Waugh took it to 125, where Waugh was caught and bowled by Saqlain for 28. Ricky Ponting was leg before to Wasim Akram for 0 at 126, his second nought of the match.
Gilchrist came in at 126 for five on the fourth afternoon. Australia closed on 188 for five, Langer 52, Gilchrist 45.
The fifth day
The card’s notes give the stand’s hundred at 175 balls. Lunch was taken at 277 for five, Langer 80 and Gilchrist 104, with 92 still needed. At 364 Langer was caught by Inzamam off Saqlain for 127, with five needed. Gilchrist finished on 149 not out and Warne on 0 not out from no balls faced. The partnership was 238.
The other guy
Gilchrist’s 149 came from 163 balls with 13 fours and a six. Langer’s 127 came from 295 balls with twelve fours and took 425 minutes, and his hundred, at 388 minutes, is the slowest by an Australian in Tests. The two innings were made at the same time against the same bowling, one at a run a ball and the other at half that, and the stand needed both.
The card gives the award to Langer. He had also made 59 in the first innings, which was the second-highest score in it, and in the match he batted 575 minutes for 186 runs. Gilchrist had made 6 in the first innings, stumped. On the card’s own arithmetic the choice is defensible, and it is not the one memory makes.
The pace of it
The card’s session notes measure the chase. At tea on the fourth day Australia were 98 for three after 39 overs. At the close they were 188 for five after 70. On the fifth morning the second new ball was taken after 80.4 overs, and 250 came up in 385 minutes. The 369 took 113.5 overs and 503 minutes, and Langer was there for 425 of them.
What else is recorded
Saqlain bowled 44.5 overs in the fourth innings for two for 130, and 68.5 in the match for eight. Warne’s five-for and Scott Muller’s three for 68 on the first day are on the card too. So are the umpires, Peter Parker and Peter Willey, and the series line, Australia led 2-0.
What the card holds
A chase of 369 from 126 for five. A stand of 238 in which one man scored at twice the other’s rate. A 149 not out that is the innings everybody names, and a 127 that has the award. Two noughts in one match for the number six. And a batter with 0 not out from no balls, who was there for the last five runs and is on the card because he was.
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No. 17 in The Other Guy, a series of 24.
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