Collapse
The anatomy of a batting side falling apart.
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2020
The innings without a double figure
India were bowled out for 36 at Adelaide and nobody reached ten. It had never happened in a Test before.
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2015
All out before lunch
Australia lost five wickets inside 4.1 overs at Trent Bridge. Extras top-scored.
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1955
Twenty-six
The lowest total in Test history, and a bowler who conceded nothing at all while it happened.
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1887
Forty-five, and they won
England were five down for 13 at Sydney in 1887. They won the Test by 13 runs.
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1974
Nine wickets, not ten
India’s 42 at Lord’s is the innings people remember. The scorecard cannot even record how it ended.
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1955
Five collapses, one line
The five lowest totals on this site are 26, 36, 42, 45 and 60. Read by the fall of wickets rather than the total, they finish in a different order, and the lowest is not the worst.
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1993
Seven for one
Australia were 85 for two at Perth in the 1993 series decider and 104 for nine within the hour. Curtly Ambrose took all seven wickets and conceded one run while doing it, and the card can show the wickets but not the spell.
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2011
Twenty-one for nine
Australia were 21 for nine at Newlands in November 2011, in a Test they had led by 188 on first innings. The last wicket more than doubled the total, and twenty-three wickets fell in the day.
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1997
Fifty-four for eight, and then 477
Australia chose to bat at Edgbaston in June 1997 and were 54 for eight on the first day. They lost the Test by nine wickets, made 477 in their second innings, and won the series.
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1896
Thirty, in ninety-four balls
South Africa were bowled out for 30 at Port Elizabeth in 1896, the lowest Test total for fifty-nine years. George Lohmann took eight for 7, finished the match with a hat-trick, and had made a pair with the bat.
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1882
Eighty-five to win
England needed 85 at The Oval in 1882 and were 51 for two. Spofforth took seven for 44, the last eight wickets fell for 26, and a newspaper printed an obituary. The card is Test number 9.
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1924
Eleven extras in thirty
South Africa were bowled out for 30 in 12.3 overs at Edgbaston in 1924. Eleven of the runs were extras, the top score was 7, and one of the two bowlers who did it was playing his first Test.
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2000
Four innings in a day
On the second day of the Lord’s Test of 2000 the card records the last ball of one innings, the whole of two more, and the first seven balls of a fourth. West Indies made 54 in the middle of it, and the match was still lost and won a day later by two wickets.
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2004
Ninety-three, chasing 107
Australia needed 107 to win at Mumbai in November 2004, in a Test that had already lost most of a day to rain, and were bowled out for 93 in 30.5 overs. The card has a part-time spinner with six for 9, three debutants, and a match that ended on the third afternoon of five.
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1902
Thirty-six, then rain
Australia were bowled out for 36 at Edgbaston in May 1902, Wilfred Rhodes seven for 17, and followed on 340 behind with a day and a half left. Rain fell for twelve hours that night. The card’s result line reads Match drawn.
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1981
Five for one in 28 balls
Australia needed 151 at Edgbaston in August 1981 and were 105 for four. Ian Botham then took five wickets for one run in 28 balls, which the card notes in one line, and Australia were all out for 121. Nobody in the match made fifty.