At Edgbaston on 11 June 1975, West Indies — chasing 267 to beat Pakistan in the first World Cup — fell to 203/9 with sixteen overs left and were within one wicket of an exit from a tournament they would, ten days later, win. Deryck Murray (61 not out) and Andy Roberts (24 not out) added 64 for the unbroken last wicket; West Indies won by one wicket with two balls remaining. The match is the first acknowledged thriller in World Cup history and is the moment without which the 1975 tournament has no Caribbean ending.
Both sides were among the favourites for the inaugural World Cup. West Indies had Lloyd, Lloyd's brother-in-law Roy Fredericks, the young Vivian Richards, and the most fearsome attack in the world; Pakistan, captained by Asif Iqbal, contained Majid, Zaheer, the Mohammad brothers, and Sarfraz.
The Edgbaston pitch was helpful to the seamers in the morning and easier later. Pakistan's 266 was a defendable rather than overwhelming total, and the early West Indian wickets suggested the chase would not survive the middle overs.
Pakistan, batting first, made 266/7 in 60 overs. Majid Khan 60, Mushtaq Mohammad 55, and Wasim Raja 58 contributed; Andy Roberts conceded 47 in 12. West Indies' reply lost Greenidge for 4, Fredericks for 12, and a series of middle-order wickets. They were 203/9 with Sarfraz Nawaz, Asif Masood and Naseer Malik all bowling out for the day.
Murray and Roberts were unlikely partners. Murray, the wicketkeeper-batsman, had played 38 Tests; Roberts, a tail-end batsman of moderate ability, was a number eleven. Pakistan's spinners — Wasim Raja part-time, Pervez Mir occasional — were finishing their overs, and the pair found that quick singles and the occasional cut against the slower bowlers brought the target down. The winning single came when Roberts pushed Wasim Raja into the on side; West Indies won by one wicket, with two balls remaining.
Pakistan 266/7 in 60 overs (Majid 60, Wasim Raja 58)
West Indies 36/3 at one stage in early innings
Lloyd 53; Bernard Julien 18 — innings collapses
203/9: West Indies 64 short with one wicket left
Murray-Roberts add 64 for the last wicket
Roberts pushes Wasim Raja for the winning single
West Indies win by one wicket, two balls remaining
11 June 1975 (morning)
Pakistan bat first, make 266/7
11 June 1975 (afternoon)
West Indies 203/9, 64 short
11 June 1975 (late)
Murray-Roberts add 64; Roberts pushes single off Wasim Raja for the win
21 June 1975
West Indies win the final at Lord's by 17 runs
“I told him to bat for me. Just stay there. I would worry about the runs.”
West Indies completed the group stage, beat New Zealand in the semi-final at the Oval, and won the final against Australia at Lord's by 17 runs. Without the Edgbaston rescue, the chronology of West Indian dominance in the late 1970s would have begun differently.
Pakistan, despite the defeat, qualified comfortably for the next World Cup and remained, throughout the rest of the decade, one of the four or five strongest sides in the world.
West Indies won by one wicket. Murray and Roberts unbeaten on 61 and 24 in a stand of 64 — the highest tenth-wicket partnership in any World Cup match for many years.
The Murray-Roberts partnership is the inaugural example of a recurring genre: the lower-order rescue in a World Cup. Every subsequent edition has produced its descendants, but the Edgbaston original retains a particular standing because of the consequences. West Indies' 1975 victory created the institutional confidence and commercial revenue that under-pinned Lloyd's later side; Murray's 61 not out was the single innings without which that sequence does not begin.
Yorkshire v Essex
1932-06-16
On 15-16 June 1932 Herbert Sutcliffe (313) and Percy Holmes (224*) put on 555 for the first wicket against Essex at Leyton, breaking the world first-class record for any wicket and adding a layer of folklore — including a scoreboard that read 554 for several minutes and a hastily reversed declaration — that has clung to the partnership ever since.
Australia v England
1933-02-14
With the fate of the Bodyline series in the balance and England 216 for 6 chasing 340, Eddie Paynter checked himself out of a Brisbane hospital where he was being treated for acute tonsillitis, taxied to the Gabba in pyjamas and a dressing gown, and batted for nearly four hours to score 83. England drew level on first innings, won the Test by six wickets and the series 4-1.
Australia
1934-09-25
Days after the 1934 Oval Test, Bradman fell seriously ill with appendicitis that progressed to peritonitis. With antibiotics not yet available, he was given little chance of survival; his wife Jessie left Adelaide on a sea voyage to England prepared for the worst. He recovered after weeks of intensive nursing in a London nursing home and returned to first-class cricket the following Australian summer.