The drama and trauma of a batting collapse

England’s dramatic loss to India at the Oval by six runs, when well set for victory on Aug. 4, prompted thoughts about where that failure sits in the pantheon of batting collapses.

There is a general understanding that a collapse occurs when, from a healthy position, wickets fall suddenly in quick succession. They can occur in any format of cricket and in any innings and are usually dramatic. Some are recovered from, others are terminal.

How many wickets need to fall in what space of time and for how many runs to constitute a collapse is a matter of conjecture. Yet, everyone involved will know that they have experienced one.

At the Oval, England reached 301 for the loss of three wickets in pursuit of a target of 374 runs. Thereafter, seven wickets fell for the addition of 66 runs. The collapse became even more pronounced after the fifth wicket fell at 332, the remaining five wickets falling for only 35 runs.

What was unusual about this collapse was that it occurred over three sessions of play. It began before the tea interval and into the next day as rain and bad light caused play to be stopped toward the end of the evening session.

As highlighted in last week’s column, the drama was heightened by England’s last batter arriving at the wicket with a strapped-up dislocated shoulder. There was already enough drama.

It was the fifth and last test of the series, the last innings of the series that would decide if England would win the series 3-1 or India would level it at 2-2. A case could be made that the truest of batting collapses occur in the final innings of a Test match.

One example of this took place at Old Trafford, Manchester, in 1961. Australia had set England 256 runs to win in 234 minutes. The series stood