An Item from “LankanLions” … & Hiran Hewavisenti perhaps? …in FACEBOOK, May 2025
60 years ago, on this day in Bridgetown, Barbados, the highest opening stand in Test cricket for Australia.
It was the 4th Test between the touring Australia and West Indies, and batting first, Australia put on 650/6 before declaring the innings. Australia’s three top-order batsmen have gone on to score centuries, and by doing so, the opening pair of captain Bob Simpson and Bill Lawry, put on an Australian record of 382 runs for the first wicket. Both batsmen went on to score double centuries, and Bob Simpson was the first to be dismissed for 201. Bill Lawry was dismissed for 210, and that’s after he was able to put on another 140-run stand with Bob Cowper, who also made 102.
During the West Indies 1st innings, Seymour Nurse also made a double century, and Rohan Kanhai made 129 runs, with whom Nurse put on a 200-run partnership for the 3rd wicket. Captain Garry Sobers and Charlie Griffith also made half-centuries.
However, the game ended in a draw. Yet it wasn’t a dull draw since the West Indies were just 11 runs short of the target of 253 with 5 wickets left in the innings. Still, such a high-scoring game almost ended with a result, mainly due to a brave or what someone might consider a foolish decision to declare Australia’s 2nd inning at a score of 175/4 when the pitch was still good for batting.
From Australia’s point of view, a draw wasn’t good enough to save the series, as they were trailing 2-0 in the series and needed to win both remaining games. So when winning was the only option, that decision was very much justified. Despite already losing the series, Australia went on to win the last game by 10 wickets to finish the series on a winning note.
