It's been a good week for Number Elevens. First it was Monty Panesar's four fours and a six in Sussex's first innings against Surrey, and now Tino Best's remarkable 95 for the Windies. I half expect any West Indian bowler to have the potential for the occasional late-order blitz but Tino Best?
Maybe it was the knowledge that with the dismal weather, the game required something better than endless rain by which to be remembered. Yes, it ended as an inevitable draw, having lost days 1, 2 and 5 to the Edgbaston elements, and - yes - there was the controversy of Denesh Ramdin's disrespectful handwritten note to Sir Viv Richards on reaching his century. However, I do hope the truncated Third Test to be more fondly recalled for the record-breaking effort from Tino Best.
He swept past his previous highest score quite early on, passed first the Windies record for a number eleven before overtaking Zaheer Khan's Test world record of 75 and, to almost everyone's disappointment, falling for 95 with a mistimed slog in an attempt to reach one of the most implausible hundreds in cricketing history! At the other end, Ramdin played an excellent innings, holding it all together while Tino wielded the willow with carefree abandon. They weren't all slogs, either. Crisp drives, cuts and pulls sent the scoreboard spinning, all played with a smile on the face that is all too rare to see these days.
Best's score off 112 balls formed the majority of a tenth-wicket partnership of 143, the third highest in history and only eight short of the record. The previous peak for the final Windies Test wicket was 106, featuring Carl Hooper and one of the most famous 'rabbits' of all, Courtney Walsh. Then the great fast bowler contributed only 30, but this time it was the supposed bunny who dominated the stand.
The compact Bajan proceeded to grab the wickets of Strauss and Bairstow but, given Best's terrible career Test bowling average of 47, perhaps he ought to practise his batting a bit more and let the bowling take a back seat. I remember watching him bowl a few overs for Yorkshire a few seasons ago. His windmill delivery action is a delight to behold. He runs and bowls like a clockwork machine wound up to maximum and then released.
His Test career stats may make dreadful reading, with a paltry 30 wickets spread over 15 matches and nine years but in all first-class cricket, he has 271 scalps to his name, at fewer than 28 apiece. That's not bad going at all. He may have been given this chance, after a three-year gap, only because of injuries to most other pacemen and I think it's fair to say he has shrugged off Flintoff's infamous sarcastic 'Mind the windows, Tino' sledge and given us something more positive to remember him by.
So what next? I can see it now. Against South Africa, England 200-9, still 150 short of saving the game, and in strides Monty.... Well, you can dream!
