Riding high at the Oval

Sri Lanka’s Pathum Nissanka kisses his helmet as he celebrates his century on Day Four of the third cricket Test match against England at the Oval in London on September 9. Pic/AFP

If a sterling show at Lord's provides special recall value, fine performances at the Oval are also well remembered by connoisseurs of cricket.
Pathum Nissanka, who fashioned Sri Lanka's recent eight-wicket win at the south London venue with his 64 and 127 not out in the Test, will be long remembered for a brilliant show which coincides with the 40th anniversary of Sri Lanka's first Test visit to England in 1984. Opener Sidath Wettimuny lit up Lord's with 190, followed by centuries from Duleep Mendis and Amal Silva. Mendis fell six short of scoring a hundred in both innings in the drawn Test.

Back to Monday's result. England may have claimed 2-1 series honours, but the visitors were the happier team at the end of the Oval Test. And while we doff our hats to the boy from Galle, a Test debut centurion in 2021, England's capitulation for 156 in the second innings provided Bazball slammers a sharper tool.

Sri Lanka last won a Test at the Oval in 1998, when Muttiah Muralitharan claimed 9-65 in England's second innings for Sri Lanka to chase a mere 36 for victory. Openers Sanath Jayasuriya and Marvan Atapattu did so with ease. Jayasuriya, now the interim coach, had smashed a double century in
the first innings and put on 243 with senior pro Aravinda de Silva (152) for the third wicket. As expected, he remembered Oval 1998 during his post-match utterances.

The Lankans now have a 100 per cent win percentage record at the Oval in Test cricket. Following them are Pakistan, who have won five (1954, 1992, 1996, 2010, 2016) of their 10 Tests at the venue.

Fazal Mahmood started it all in 1954; the first time Pakistan figured in an Oval Test. His 12 wickets in the game helped Pakistan achieve their first win in England - against a team that had batsmen of the ilk of skipper Len Hutton, Peter May, Denis Compton and Tom Graveney in its line-up.

The celebration at the ground was memorable for Fazal and he dwelled quite a bit on it in his book, From Dusk to Dawn. He had seen images of Hutton waving to the crowd from the balcony after the 1953 Ashes were won by England in the fifth and final Test of the series. Now, one year later, he was celebrating from the same place as Hutton. And at a party after the match hosted by the Pakistan high commission, an English girl kissed him on his cheek - which the press photographers captured. Requests from the star bowler not to wire the pictures for Pakistani newspapers to use, fell on deaf ears. Zaheer Abbas (1974) and Javed Miandad (1987) smashed double centuries in drawn Tests, while Younis Khan's 218 contributed to Pakistan's 10-wicket win in 2016.

Australia, with all their firepower over the years, should have had more than just seven victories in 39 battles, while South Africa can claim to only winning the 2012 game in 16 Test visits to the Oval. New Zealand is the other team to have registered only one win at the Surrey venue - in 1999, when Stephen Fleming's side forced Nasser Hussain's team to fall short by 83 runs while chasing a 246-run target.

India, meanwhile, had only the famous 1971 victory to show before winning the fourth Test of the 2021 series. For Indian enthusiasts, the deeds that stand out are BS Chandrasekhar's 6-38 in 1971, Sunil Gavaskar's 221 in 1979, to a lesser extent Ravi Shastri's 187 and Kapil Dev's 110 in 1990, Rahul Dravid's 217 in 2002 and Anil Kumble's century in the drawn Test of 2007. Rohit Sharma's second innings 127 and the success of Virat Kohli's four-pronged pace attack in what was oddly the penultimate Test of the series in 2021, ought to find a significant place in the history of India v England Oval Tests. They sent back four Englishmen for only six runs on the final day in India's 157-run win.

The triumph in 1971 will be cherished for ever. India played four unsuccessful Tests at the Oval before Chandrasekhar spun Ajit Wadekar & Co to victory. Eknath Solkar held on to everything there was to catch at close-in, apart from scoring 44 in the first innings, while Dilip Sardesai and Farokh Engineer were heroes with the bat.

England lost their Oval Tests in 1972 (to Australia) and 1973 (to West Indies) followed by draws against Pakistan in 1974 and Australia in 1975. In 1976, Michael Holding claimed 14 wickets in the match while Viv Richards cracked 291 to make it on the honours board. Richie Benaud felt it was a super knock and Richards ridiculed suggestions by well-wishers during breaks of going for Sir Garfield Sobers's 365. "Never once during my knock I was thinking about any kind of record," he told reporters after the epic innings.

Gavaskar's 221 was also an epic effort which unfortunately didn't eventuate in victory; India falling nine short. Mihir Bose, the Indian-born journalist based in London had some interesting tidbits in his report for Sportsweek magazine. Bose revealed that at tea time on the final day, the owner of London's Krishna Curry House, handed him a cheque of £100 to be given to Gavaskar. The Indian master also received a man of the match cheque of £300.

When the match was heading towards an exciting finish, Bose wrote that, "the BBC cancelled its scheduled programme to carry on with cricket, correspondents ordered large scotches to calm their nerves and rival bands of England and Indian supporters convinced themselves that victory was theirs."

Queen's Park Oval will hold special significance for Gavaskar fans, but the Oval for the 221 can't be too far away.

As for 26-year-old Nissanka, he is primed for more visits to the Oval, but none will be as special as 2024.

mid-day's group sports editor Clayton Murzello is a purist with an open stance. He tweets @ClaytonMurzello

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