At the end of the first over of the Christchurch Test you could have obtained generous odds on England setting a massive victory target of 550 for New Zealand. Because after five balls of the match, from Chris Cairns, England were floundering at 0 for 2, with Marcus Trescothick and Mark Butcher both gone for ducks. It was a scoreline that England had only visited five times in Tests, and they had never before won a match from that position – although they had only lost one of the previous five, with four draws.

The first time was at Lord's in 1902, when KS Ranjitsinhji followed his great chum Charles Fry back to the pavilion for another duck. The unlikely destroyer was Australia's Bert Hopkins, a purveyor of slowish offcutters. It didn't matter much: England recovered to 102 for 2 by the end of a weather-shortened first day, then it rained so much that no further play was possible.

On another rain-affected pitch, at Melbourne in 1903-04, England – replying to Australia's 247 – lost Tom Hayward and Ted Arnold to Monty Noble, Australia's dentist-turned-captain, before there was a run on the board. This time it didn't get much better: England were soon 5 for 4, and were all out for 61. They eventually lost by 218 runs.

It was almost 64 years before it happened again. At Kingston in 1967-68 England (376) made West Indies (143) follow on. After a crowd disturbance the sides agreed to make up the 75 minutes lost on an extra (sixth) day. Garry Sobers then scored a century, and he was eventually able to declare to set England a teasing target of 159 in quick time. They made a horrendous start, losing Geoff Boycott and Colin Cowdrey for ducks. By the close of the fifth day England were 19 for 4, and just hung on in that period of extra time, finishing up with 68 for 8.

At Hyderabad in 1972-73 Pakistan replied to England's 487 with 569 for 9, still their highest score against England in a home Test. The early stages of the final day were enlivened when openers Mike Denness and Dennis Amiss fell for ducks (Amiss had scored 158 in the first innings), but England recovered to force a draw.

Fast-forward to 1986, and England made a terrible start against India at Edgbaston. Both Graham Gooch and Bill Athey fell to Kapil Dev for ducks, but 0 for 2 became 390 all out – Mike Gatting pummelled 183 not out – and England escaped with a draw. That was an improvement on the first two Tests, which India had won.

Steven Lynch is database director of Wisden.com.

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