Alex Tudor scores game-changing 99 as night-watchman

On July 3, 1999, Alex Tudor played a defining knock of 99 not out which helped England beat New Zealand by seven wickets in Birmingham. Sarang Bhalerao revisits this historic day in Test cricket.

Alex Tudor slams high over the cordon behind to the third man fence © Getty Images

On July 3, 1999, Alex Tudor played a defining knock of 99 not out which helped England beat New Zealand by seven wickets in Birmingham. Sarang Bhalerao revisits this historic day in Test cricket.

After securing a 100-run lead in the first innings, New Zealand would have fancied their chances of winning the game. The New Zealand second innings, however, lasted  only 37.1 overs in which they could score only 107.

New Zealand picked up English opener Alec Stewart in the closing stages of Day Two — a day on which 21 wickets crashed. Batting for long periods at the Edgbaston wicket needed high reservoirs of concentration and confidence. England sent in nightwatchman Alex Tudor, who survived the few anxious moments.

On Day Three, Tudor came with the intention of going for his shots. Geoff Allott, New Zealand strike bowler, pitched the ball up to Tudor. But the England No 3 went for a delectable square drive which certainly had a lot of Caribbean flair to it. Allott’s short delivery was cut past backward point for a four. New Zealand were patient. Simon Doull ran in fast and strayed in his length which was again short. Tudor was in no mood to let the freebies go. Attack was the best form of defence.

Skipper Stephen Fleming got his left-arm spinner Daniel Vettori to bowl. Although Vettori beat Tudor in flight, the latter was going for his shots. He got a fortuitous boundary just past Vettori. The next boundary was a proper cover drive which would have made any batsman proud.  Chris Cairns continued with the poor trend of bowling short and wide to Tudor — who was making merry as a batsman. Another vintage cut made Ian Botham wonder if he was watching Learie Constantine. In an hour New Zealand leaked 65 runs. For the first time in the Test match the frowns and anxiety were seen on the faces of the bowlers.

Tudor lost his partner Mark Butcher (33) after the duo had put on 73 for the second wicket. Immediately after Butcher’s dismissal, Tudor under-edged Cairns and was safely pouched by wicket-keeper Adam Parore only to discover that the bowler had overstepped. Eighty-one for three, it could have been had Cairns been behind the bowling crease by a few inches.

Dion Nash ran in hard but bowled a succour length to Tudor — short and wide of off-stump. The result was inevitable. The full deliveries outside off-stump were hit forcefully and often they flew over the head of the slip-fielders. There were talks of him being Lawrence Rowe in the way he played some of the backfoot drives — effortless, elegant and effective.

When Tudor cover-drove Vettori’s arm-ball it raced away to the fence for a four. That 10th boundary brought his maiden half-century. He took the helmet off and celebrated joyously. Nasser Hussain, who was captaining the England for the first time, congratulated the young lad and egged him on to continue.

Allott coming back to bowl after lunch interval almost went through the defence of Tudor, who appreciated the quality of delivery. The next ball was another attempted yorker which didn’t come out right. It was a friendly half-volley on the pads which Tudor flicked past square-leg for a boundary.

Tudor was not comfortable pulling the ball in front of square. Doull bore the brunt of Tudor’s aggression. Doull was flicked nonchalantly, pulled with utter disdain and even the edges carried to the boundary.

Tudor was closing-in on becoming first Englishman to score a century as a nightwatchman. The moment was spoiled only by Thorpe, who failed to pick up the mood of a rapturous crowd willing Tudor to a century, and was jeered. With the scores level, Tudor hit the winning boundary which was his 21st off the innings. He remained unbeaten on 99 and England won the Test by seven wickets. Tudor broke Harold Larwood’s record of 98 scored as a nightwatchman against Australia in Sydney in 1932.

Alex Tudor at the post-match media conference, content that he had won the Test for England than missing a Test match hundred © Getty Images

In the post- match presentation, Tudor said he was not disappointed on missing out on a ton. He said “All I was worried about was to win the game; that was the most important thing.”

“I might not get the chance of 100 again but I just wanted to win the game with it being Nasser’s first as captain,” said the man-of-the-match Tudor.

Tudor was disappointing as a bowler, picking up the solitary wicket in the first innings, but his 131 runs without getting dismissed were real gems. It was a solid display of batting on a track where the ball dominated that is until Tudor played a colossal knock of 99.

Brief scores:

New Zealand 226 (Adam Parore 73; Phil Tufnell 3 for 22) and 107 (Andrew Caddick 5 for 32) lost to England 126 (Andrew Caddick 33, Alex Tudor 32*) and 211 for 3 (Alex Tudor 99*) by 7 wickets.

Man of the Match: Alex Tudor

(Sarang Bhalerao hails from a family of doctors, but did his engineering. He then dumped a career in IT with Infosys to follow his heart and passion and became a writer with CricketCountry. A voracious reader, Sarang aspires to beat Google with his knowledge of the game! You can follow him on Twitter here)