WHEN INDIA’S vaunted crickters arrived in England, a tight Test series was expected. But – to misquote one famous Norwegian football commentator – Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Sunil Gavaskar, Vijay Amritraj, Shilpa Shetty, your boys took one hell of a beating!
As Andrew Strauss and co. revel in the blistering batting ’n’ bowling that produced a 4-0 whitewash – and secured the World Number One ranking – we handpick a few of history’s great, unexpected sporting stuffings.
England 3 Hungary 6
You’d have bet your house (value at the time: two shillings and sixpence) on England thrashing Hungary at Wembley in 1953. Led by the legendary Stanley Matthews, the English had never lost to foreign opposition on home soil, and, to be fair, they’d only invented the game. But while England played football GCSE style, Hungary came with the PhD version – a 4-2-4 formation, and a ball-juggling wizard called Ferenc Puskas.
Watch Bulgaria v England, live 6.30pm, 2 September, Sky Sports 1
Mike Tyson v Buster Douglas
Take one ‘Baddest Man on the Planet’, add one gentlemanly boxer, and the result would seem obvious. But in February 1990, James ‘Buster’ Douglas not only dumped Tyson to his first ring defeat in 38 fights, he blitzed him before unleashing a fearful battering that ended with ‘Iron’ Mike horizontal in round 10.
Savour some big-hitting boxing action.
1983 Cricket World Cup Final
The West Indies swaggered into the final against India boasting a batting line-up that could force the world’s best bowlers to produce notes from their mums asking to be excused. However, Viv Richards, Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haynes crumbled as the Windies were blown away for a frankly embarrassing 140, to give India a 43-run victory.
Unwrap the real Viv Richards.
Stephen Hendry 0 Marcus Campbell 9
Peerless cue-smith Stephen Hendry could have popped off for a cuppa as unseeded Marcus Campbell dismantled him at the 1998 UK Championships. Hendry later said it was the worst moment of his career as Campbell went potty on the baize.
Relive Hendry’s epic 1995 tussle with Jimmy White.
Australia 28 New Zealand 7
Just as dog years are worth seven human years, points against the All Blacks have a value far beyond those against mere mortal rugby sides. Which puts New Zealand’s 21-point defeat by Australia in 1999 into the thrashing category. Having already clinched the Tri Nations, a New Zealand side containing Jonah Lomu, Andrew Mehrtens and Christian Cullen, suddenly turned into a squad of mishap-prone Keystone Kops, suffering their worst ever test defeat.
See New Zealand blown away by the Baa-Baas
What are your all-time favourite sporting slaughters? When was the last time a tight affair turned to a trashing? Let us know by leaving a comment. And for sport, film and TV chit-chat, follow @tvfrombt on Twitter/tvfrom
