Shortest completed Test match in history: Shortest Test match by days with result

The first Test match of the ongoing South Africa’s tour of Australia in Brisbane has ended in a couple of days. A grand total of 34 wickets fell across six sessions as Australia gained a 1-0 series lead in a three-match series.

The fact that Australia were propelled by 19 extras and lost four wickets chasing a 34-run target on Day 2 sums up the lively nature of the green and grassy pitch at the Gabba.

With a total of eight skilled fast bowlers picking 31 wickets between them in the 90.2 overs they bowled out of the total 106.2 overs bowled in the match, batters found themselves in trouble from the word go. Pretty much a thankless job, slip fielders from both the teams put on a spectacle to assist bowlers throughout the carnage yesterday and today.

Not that the pitch wasn’t expected to behave in this manner but no one would’ve thought or even wanted for a five-day match to finish approximately an hour before Stumps, Day 2.

One of the two half-centurions in the match, Australia batter Travis Head was adjudged the Player of the Match for scoring a game-changing 92 (96) with the help of 13 fours and a six in the first innings. An attacking approach which could’ve gone entirely wrong anytime out of the 16 overs he faced in the middle, Head reaped fruits for keeping at it with respect to scoring boundaries at regular intervals during a match-winning 138-ball 117-run fourth-wicket partnership alongside vice-captain Steve Smith.

Shortest Completed Test Match In History (Table Has Been Updated)

First Australia-South Africa Test match has become the 24th match in the history of cricket to finish on Day 2. Below is a list of the shortest completed Test match by number of ball bowled:

NOTE: Only Test matches with outright results have been considered in the aforementioned table.

About the author

Dixit Bhargav

Born and brought up in Pathankot, Dixit Bhargav is an engineering and sports management graduate who works as a Cricket Editor at The SportsRush. Having written more than 10,000 articles across more than five years at TSR, his first cricketing memory dates back to 2002 when former India captain Sourav Ganguly had waved his jersey at the historic Lord’s balcony. What followed for an 8-year-old was an instant adulation for both Ganguly and the sport. The optimist in him is waiting for the day when Punjab Kings will win their maiden Indian Premier League title. When not watching cricket, he is mostly found in a cinema hall watching a Punjabi movie.

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