Flashback: The timeless Test which went on for ten days
The advent of T20 cricket has catapulted cricket to a fast-paced dimension where the teams engage in riveting contests for a few hours, and the inception of franchise cricket also meant that the teams are engaged in these contests every few days in a jam-packed schedule. But there was a time when red-ball cricket ruled the roost, and Test matches were played until it yielded a result.
The Timeless Test were played to make sure that the cricket was free flowing and the teams played for a result rather than playing defensively for a draw. Although the format, technically, ruled out the possibility of a draw, there were instances of the matches finishing as a draw. One such instance was the fifth Test between England and South Africa at Durban in 1939.
Between 1877 and 1939, there were 99 timeless Tests and until World War II all Tests in Australia were timeless. The fifth Test match between South Africa and England, went down in the history books, not only because it lasted for an astonishing ten days, but also because it was the last Test match of that kind.
South Africa won the toss and batted first in the match, which was largely affected by rain during its course. Alan Melville’s side posted a handsome 530 runs on the board on the back of centuries from Pieter van der Bijl and Dudley Nourse. England in their reply folded for 316 runs, handing the hosts a healthy lead in the first innings.
The Proteas made a commanding start to their second innings after a 191-run stand for the first wicket between Bruce Mitchell and van der Bijl with the former missing out on a second century in the match by just three runs. Melville then played a captain’s knock of 103 runs, pushing the South African total to 481 runs.
England were sent a daunting target of 696 runs to chase in the fourth innings of the memorable Test match. The visitors made a terrific start to the record chase and finished with 253/1 on the board after the end of play on Day 7. The following day saw no play as rain poured in Durban. But after the end of play on day 9, England were in the driver’s seat with the scoreboard reading 496/3.
Unfortunately for Wally Hammond’s English side, the match ended in a draw after rain spoiled their plans of a victory on the tenth day and they had to leave the venue to catch the ferry back home as England finished with 654 for 5 before the game was abandoned. The game has been remembered by fans from time to time as it was the longest Test match ever played with 43 hours and 16 minutes of play spread across 12 days with an aggregate of 1,981 runs.
