Double Headers

132 A final batch of near misses Dates of play Match Venue Type Result January 1979 12, 13, 14, 16 12, 13, 14, 15 India v West Indies WSC Australia v WSC West Indies Madras Melbourne Official Test WSC SuperTest L D 24, 25, 27, 28, 29 21, 22, 23, 24 India v West Indies WSC Australia v WSC West Indies Delhi Sydney Official Test WSC SuperTest D L February 1979 22, 23, 24 23, 24, 25, 26 Sri Lanka v West Indies WSC West Indies v WSC Australia Colombo Kingston First-class match WSC SuperTest D W 1978/79 was the last season of the Great Packer Rift, and so there could be no further near-misses under his auspices. And with the seemingly- increasing preference around the world for shorter forms of the game ahead of three-, four-, or five-day fixtures, it seems unlikely that any individual entrepreneur, or other unofficial body, will want to stage such ‘quasi-first-class’ matches in future. So that, surely, is the end of such potential double-headers. The name’s the same I have defined double-headers as matches involving two sides representing the same entity, or teams with the same name from the same country. Matches involving two sides with the same name, but representing different entities in different countries, therefore fall outside this definition. But for completeness I record here, without further comment, the identically- named teams that have played in different countries over the years. Team Country Seasons as a first-class side No. of simultaneous matches Army England India 1912-1939 1934/35 only None Central Zone India Bangladesh 1951/52 to date 2012/13 None Combined Services England Pakistan 1920 – 1964 1953/54 – 1978/79† None East Zone (also North Zone and South Zone) India Bangladesh 1945/46 to date 2012/13 None Easterns South Africa Zimbabwe 1995/96 to date 2006/07 to 2008/09 None Hyderabad India Pakistan 1930/31 to date 1958/59 to date† 44 (1962/63 to 2012/13) Northerns South Africa Zimbabwe 1997/98 to date 2006/07 to 2008/09 None Punjab India Pakistan 1968/69 to date 1953/54 - 2011/12† 6 (1974/75 to 2011/12)