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Cricket forfeits

• In the final Test at Centurion Park, England became the first team in the history of Test cricket to forfeit an innings. Interestingly, the laws of cricket do not provide for such closure in the first innings. As per Law 14 only declarations are allowed in the first innings.

• Just for the record, the first such forfeiture almost occurred in 1900 when Derbyshire against Essex at Leyton wanted to declare its second innings closed without even commencing it. However when the umpires objected to this, Derbyshire were made to bat. Derbyshire declared the innings after the second ball when its opening batsman was dismissed.

• The first example of a complete forfeiting of an innings in first-class cricket occurred when Yorkshire forfeited its second innings against Lancashire at Manchester in 1966. The scores were: Yorkshire 146-7 dec and 0-0 dec and Lancashire 1-0 dec and 133 - as Yorkshire won by 12 runs.

• The match in 1983 at Bristol provided the first instance of a team forfeiting the first innings, as done by England in this Test. Gloucestershire batting first made 281-9 dec. Leicestershire closed its innings without even coming out to bat. Then Gloucestershire also forfeited its innings leaving Leicestershire needing 282 to win in the fourth innings. They replied with 177 for 7 wickets. Since then there has been many such cases that has occurred in English County Championship.

• In Indian domestic cricket, this has occurred on one occasion when Andhra's captain V Chamundeswarnath forfeited the second innings to gain some extra bowling points against Kerala at Visakhapatnam in November, 1990. He set Kerala to make 75 runs in 13 overs. Kerala made 76-1 in 11.2 overs to win by nine wickets. Later in the season, Chamundeswarnath lost his captaincy and a place in the side when the selectors took a strong view of his decision and dropped him on disciplinary grounds.

• The most 'notorious' (sporting, to some) declaration in Test cricket was made by West Indian Gary Sobers against England at Port of Spain in 1967-68. Sobers declared the innings at 92-2 leaving the visitors to score 215 runs to win in 165 minutes - or be bowled out. England won by 7 wickets with three minutes to spare. Sobers was harshly criticised by those who felt he had handed the game away.

• With three declarations in the match, it provided the only second such instance in Test history, where a match has gone into the fourth innings. The only other instance occurred at Faisalabad in October, 1978 in the Test between Pakistan and India, which also saw the resumption of Tests between the two sides after 26 years. This match was drawn.