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5 Best Blockathon
Match-Saving Knocks
Introduction
No format of Cricket tests the skills of a cricketer more than Test cricket
The longest format of cricket pushes cricketers to show amount of determination and patience too
Test cricket has witnessed some highly patient yet heroic knocks
Which helped their team secure a hard-fought stalemate
Mike Atherton (England)185* (492 Balls) vs. South Africa at Johannesburg,
1995
Mike Atherton produced one of the most memorable match-saving knocks in the history of cricket
He scored a marathon 185 not out off 492 balls to pull a draw against South Africa
England was chasing a mammoth target of 479 when skipper Mike Atherton took up the mantle of saving the match
Atherton put on an unbelievable display of Test match batting against world class bowlers like Allan Donald and Shaun Pollock
To be precise, he spent 10 hours and 43 minutes at the crease
Mark Greatbatch (New Zealand)146* (485 Balls) vs. Australia at Perth, 1989
Being asked to follow on, New Zealand were tottering at 107 for 4 at one stage
Mark Greatbatch remained steady at the crease and built a couple of match-saving partnerships
His 82 runs stand with Jeff Crowe was one of these
Burly Kiwi scored an unbeaten 146 facing as many as 485 deliveries
Which resulted in saving his team from a heavy loss
Andy Flower (Zimbabwe)232* (444 Balls) vs. India at Nagpur, 2000
You can place this inning at the top of Andy Flower's many single-handed rescue efforts
Zimbabwe had followed on 227 runs behind, and were 61 for 3
Flower dug in against handy Indian attack including Javagal Srinath and Zaheer Khan
He spent nearly 544 minutes at the crease facing 444 balls
His 232 not out remains the highest Test score by a wicket-keeper
Faf du Plessis (South Africa)110* (376 Balls) vs. Australia at Adelaide, 2012
In his debut game, Faf du Plessis gave batsmen all over the world a crash course on saving a Test match
Chasing 430, the Proteas were already 4 wickets down for 77
First session of the last day saw Faf du Plessis repairing the inning with AB de Villiers without losing a wicket till lunch
Soon after the beginning of the post-tea session, the young South African reached a memorable century
Faf du Plessis showed extreme determination to pull a historic draw for South Africa
Jacques Kallis (South Africa)109* (346 Balls) vs. West Indies at Guyana, 2005
Jacques Kallis is one of the few players who made a career out of saving Tests
South Africans were enforced to follow on after getting all out for 188 in response of West Indies 543
The Proteas 2nd innings was all about a dogged resistance from Jacques Kallis
He scored unbeaten 109 from 346 balls and batted almost 7 hours
He make sure that his team left the match unscathed, avoiding an embarrassing loss