January 29, 1998.

The third ball of the Test match, bowled by Courtney Walsh, whooshed dangerously past Michael Atherton’s nose.

At 4 for 2, when Nasser Hussain walked in to join Alec Stewart, he was greeted by his partner with the words, “it’s Saturday, it’s 8 o’clock, its the National Lottery.”

With the score on 9, Hussain was caught in the slip off a Curtly Ambrose delivery that behaved normally … because by then the batsman was expecting everything to rear up and decapitate him.
At 17 for 3, after the first ball of the 11th over had struck Graham Thorpe on the elbow, this Test match at Kingston was abandoned.

It remains the shortest Test match ever contested.

Text: Arunabha Sengupta
Illustration: Maha