Out of 44 test matches completed this year, only 4 have been decided by a margin of less than 40 runs or less than 4 wickets. 4/44 is less than one in ten.

Even the above is a little misleading, as most decided matches have been decided by huge margins, where there has been only one team having any chance of win.

Here are the above 4 matches:

New Zealand v West Indies - 1st Test
Eden Park (09/03/2006) - New Zealand Won by 27 Runs

South Africa v Australia - 3rd Test
New Wanderers Stadium (31/03/2006) - Australia Won by 2 Wickets

Surprise Entry Bangladesh v Australia - 1st Test Narayanganj Osmani Stadium (09/04/2006) - Australia Won by 3 Wickets

Sri Lanka v South Africa - 2nd Test
P Saravanamuttu Stadium (04/08/2006) - Sri Lanka Won by 1 Wicket

Interesting to see South Africa involved in two close matches and losing both! They remain consistent in choking

That 3rd test at The Wanderers between the Safies and Aussies was really 1 wicket though wasn't it?
Langer couldn't bat?

quote:

Originally posted by MarcM:
That 3rd test at The Wanderers between the Safies and Aussies was really 1 wicket though wasn't it?
Langer couldn't bat?

Yes, but technically, it goes down as a 2 wicket win. In reality, it was a one wicket win