OTD| New Zealand registered lowest score of 26 all out in Test Cricket in 1955

The era of Test Cricket goes back a long way since the colonial era. To this day, the importance of Test cricket still holds a huge place in every cricketer’s heart. The history of the longest format has been something we have admired for a long time, with batters making big runs and the bowlers taking big wickets. We have seen some iconic Test matches even during the current generation.

Even though we enjoy seeing batters and teams score huge 500+ totals, there have also been days where the teams have not been able to get half of these runs. There are even moments like the first Test in the 2020-21 Border Gavaskar Trophy, where the Indians had an embarrassing second innings where they were all out for just 36 runs. However, this is not the only instance where the batting has collapsed since, on this day, there was a collapse which already set records.

The New Zealand collapse that surprised everyone

The year was 1955 when the England team were still one of the strongest teams in the game. The New Zealand team, who were relatively new at the time, was hosting the poms on their home turf. England managed to get the better of the home team at Dunedin, beating them by eight wickets. The second Test match at Auckland is where disaster struck for them. The Kiwis batted first and managed to get to 200 on a tricky pitch. Things were looking bad for England as well, but the half-century from skipper Leonard Hutton made sure they got a lead of 46.

The black caps still had a chance to get back in the game, but what followed at the start of their second innings was forgettable. The New Zealand batters completely choked on the 4th day, where they had one of the most shocking batting collapses in cricket history. There was only one batter in the team that got to double figures in the innings, and there were five batters dismissed on ducks. This led to New Zealand getting bundled out for just 26 runs and losing the game by an innings and 20 runs. This is still the lowest-ever score in the history of Test cricket.

This was probably one of the most disastrous Test matches for New Zealand, which goes back nearly 70 years. Unfortunately, they still hold this unwanted record, which is a stain on their incredible achievements in cricket right now. The New Zealand team are now one of the top teams in international cricket and is the winner of the Inaugural World Test Championship (WTC). It is great to see the transition of the team from how it was back then and what they have achieved right now. This might be a forgettable day for the black caps, but this still cannot take away their great achievements in the game right now.