By Oliver Brett
BBC Sport |
A successful 10th-wicket partnership is always wonderfully entertaining for spectators, and for the batting side.
 Murali has been so difficult to dismiss in Galle |
For the fielding side, however, it is always a period of total torture. In what was generally a low-scoring first Test in Galle, England twice suffered at the hands of Sri Lanka's final pair.
And the heroic number 11 on both occasions was the man who regularly torments England quite enough with the ball, Muttiah Muralitharan.
Ironically, England ultimately salvaged a draw thanks to their own final-wicket pair digging in on the final evening. But that does not excuse their failings earlier in the match.
Muralitharan has the sort of batting technique that would make a primary school coach wince with horror.
Backing away to leg and lofting over the off-side he hit 38 in the first innings and 13 in the second innings in partnerships of 40 and 46 respectively.
Over the last few years, England have proved less adept than most sides at finishing off other teams.
On a truly desperate day for England fans in Leeds earlier this year South Africa's Andrew Hall clobbered 99 not out with the assistance of Dewald Pretorius in a 54-run final-wicket partnership. Any hope that England might salvage a positive result from a faltering performance in that Test went up in the smoke in eight overs of mayhem from Hall.
A year before that, in the Lord's Test against India, England registered a thumping win.
But they had to wait long and hard before taking the final wicket.
Ajit Agarkar (Test average 15) hit 109 not out and in company with Ashish Nehra he put on 63 for the final wicket before Craig White ended proceedings.
But you think that's embarrassing?
 Astle hit 222 to embarrass England but the Kiwis still lost |
How about Nathan Astle and Chris Cairns in March 2002 at Christchurch? Cairns was batting last due to an injury but the pair slammed 118 in nine overs and one ball of remarkable hitting.
England ultimately won by 98 runs but there were times when they feared the worst.
Final mention should go to a partnership which more or less decided the fate of the 2001 Ashes series.
At 513-9, leading by more than 200 in the first Test, would the Aussies put England out of their misery by giving away one cheap wicket or declaring?
No way. Adam Gilchrist smashed 63 in partnership with Glenn McGrath (one not out) off just 48 balls.
 | LAST WICKET STANDS v ENGLAND 63: Gilchrist & McGrath (Aus) 63: Agarkar & Nehra (Ind) 54: Hall & Pretorius (SA) |
England coach Duncan Fletcher says he is "concerned" about the problem his side has but says it's part of the changing face of cricket. "Everybody's got a job to do and they bat down to number 11," he said.
"It's the way people are working at their games. Bowlers are becoming better batsmen and making better decisions.
"We've done it at home before with Matthew Hoggard batting to get Graham Thorpe to a century [in a home Test against Sri Lanka 18 months ago."
But England fans will want more than isolated examples of England's own tail wagging before they concur with Fletcher.
MMIX
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Bowlers are becoming better batsmen and making better decisions 
