Dominic Cork v West Indies, 33 not out - 10 Great Innings

Sometimes a run is worth more than a run. Okay, that's bollocks, a run is always worth exactly one run. But sometimes it's a low-scoring game and what might seem a small target can become monstrously oversized.

The England v West Indies series of 2000 was a cracker. England won some games, which felt quite refreshing at the time, but mostly all was chaos. Wickets fell with abandon. You never quite knew where you were. It was excellent. It's not allowed any more, because these phenomenally brief Tests cost the ECB a fortune, so now wickets are prepared that make pancakes look like hillside minefields.

This Test also featured in our 10 Great Bowling performances series, for Andy Caddick's four wickets in an over. That was in the third innings when the West Indies were bowled out for just 54 - only Ridley Jacobs making it into double figures. The Windies had batted first and made, in hindsight, a whopping 267. In reply, England were skittled for 134. Then came Caddick's heroics. England needed 188 to win.

188 to win sounds easy nowadays. It really wasn't and it didn't seem it at the time. It was only the second day when England started their innings and the previous two innings combined had only added up to 188 - 134 and 54.

Cork arrived at 140-6. Soon enough it was 160-8. It had all become a sanity-shredding, slow-motion trudge up a sand dune, into a force eight gale, in lead boots, towing a caravan. Nick Knight had just scored two in 46 balls. That's TWO over the course of about fifteen overs and more than an hour. That's how rare runs felt. England still needed about 50 of them.

Dominic Cork absolutely loved it. He came out to bat and you could immediately tell that he had every intention of winning this match and wallowing in all the glory. So he did.

33 off 49 balls doesn't sound much, but on that day it was a willow-painted masterpiece. He looked all at sea at first, but that was part of the charm. At times it was an innings that should have been put out of its misery, then Cork would hit a huge six. It wasn't predictable. It WAS enjoyable.

10 Great Innings