And here's another astonishing Test match... the third between India and the West Indies in Mumbai.

The Indians had already won the series 2-0, so the Windies were no doubt eager to avoid a whitewash.

And it looked like they would do just that when they made 590 in their first innings. All of their top six hit at least 61, Darren Bravo leading the way with his 166 and adding 164 for the third wicket with Kirk Edwards (86) and 160 for the fourth with Kieran Powell (81), while Adrian Barath (62) and Kraigg Brathwaite (68) put on 137 for the opening wicket, and Marlon Samuels also chipped in.

However, they lost their last six wickets for 72 runs, Ravichandran Ashwin finishing with 5-156.

India's first innings began with Virender Sehwag hitting a breezy 37, Gautam Gambhir making 55, and Rahul Dravid (82) becoming just the second player after Sachin Tendulkar to reach 13,000 Test runs, before the Little Master himself reached 94. Surely he would get that hundredth international century?

But then he sliced Ravi Rampaul to Darren Sammy...

Ashwin, however, did make a ton - his 103 coming off only 118 balls, with 15 fours and two sixes. Virat Kohli didn't bat quite as well, but still made 52.

It meant that the Windies only led by 108 as they started their second innings. By then, though, it was late on day four, and when they finished it on 81-2, it looked like they had indeed done enough to avoid the whitewash.

But on day five, the fall of Bravo (48) triggered a shocking collapse, their last seven wickets falling for just 22 runs. Pragyan Ojha (6-47) and Ashwin (4-34) accounted for all the damage.

India thus needed 243 to win, and they looked well on course when Sehwag's fast 60 took them to 101-1.

Then he, Tendulkar (who no doubt didn't expect to be batting again in this Test) and Dravid fell in quick succession.

VVS Laxman (31) steadied the ship before Kohli (63) left them needing only 19 from the last five overs with four wickets intact, only to slice Devendra Bishoo to Sammy.

Ishant Sharma eased Indian nerves with a four off his first ball, but was bowled by Rampaul for 10.

That left India still four runs short with seven balls left.

Varun Aaron hit a single to keep the strike for the start of the final over, bowled by Fidel Edwards.

The first three balls of this over were dots, before a scampered single put man-of-the-match Ashwin on strike.

His decision to defend the penultimate ball, and then attack the last ball, seemed reasonable enough - if he had attacked the former, he would have run the risk of losing his wicket and giving the Windies the chance to win by one run.

And even if he had completed a single off this ball, it would have meant that Aaron would have had the task of trying to hit the winning run off the last ball - and not only is Aaron not yet renowned for any batting abilities, but he was also making his Test debut...

Sure enough, Ashwin defended that penultimate ball, and then went for it on the last.

But - at least from his point of view - by the time he'd completed the first run, the ball was well on its way from long-on to Carlton Baugh, who had plenty of time to remove the bails...

And so, for just the second time in history, a Test match ended in a draw with the scores level - the first being the controversial first Test between Zimbabwe and England in Bulawayo in December 1996:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/20 ... sfeed=true

Not quite a tie, though, as India had that one wicket left.

But defeat would have been very hard on the Windies - not only would it have meant the whitewash, but their 590 would have become the highest first-innings score in a lost Test...

I see this is a bit of an inactive thread at the moment but given that England are playing their first test of 2012 why not recussitate it a bit? See that Pakistan are well on top at the end of day one!

I think England are going to have to really skittle them tomorrow to stand a chance of winning this one. Ajmal is going to be a real handful on days three and four. Why o why didn't we pick Monty. Still, can't blame that on the failings of our batters.

OH DEAR... OH DEAR... OH DEAR...

England have made a mockery of their number 1 Test status.

They only needed 145 to beat Pakistan and what happened?

They didn't even get halfway... and thus they've lost the series.

Picking Monty Panesar ought to have been a good move - and, sure enough, his 6-62 in Pakistan's second innings helped in setting that low target.

And then they went and allowed Abdur Rehman to take 6-25, with only Strauss and Prior reaching double figures, and neither looking comfortable.

On top of that, they achieved their lowest Test total against the Pakistanis.

Such is the way that the ICC Test rankings work, though, that the only way number 2 side South Africa can depose England is if the third Test in Dubai finishes in another defeat or a draw, and the Proteas then win all three of their Tests in New Zealand in March...