Mods: you will want to move this to the cricket page, but as everyone here recently has been depressed by T&T football, I thought they may get a lift from a superb West Indian performance!
Tino Best stunned England by smashing the world record for the highest ever Test score by a number 11 on the fourth morning of the third Test at Edgbaston.
Yet the West Indies bowler was left kicking himself after falling five runs short of his century, ending on 95 as he misjudged a slower ball from Graham Onions and scooped the ball high into the air for England skipper Andrew Strauss to catch.
Nonetheless, his record innings had propelled his team to a total of 426, and improved his Test batting average from a humble 9.80 to 13.85 in a single knock.
The previous record score by a number 11 in Test cricket across 135 years and 2045 matches had been 75, set by India's Zaheer Khan against Bangladesh in 2004.
The amazing innings saw Best become the first number 11 batsman to make a half-century against England for more than 100 years, with the home side having no answer to Best's much-improved batting as West Indies rattled on from 280 for eight to 355 for nine in one hour.
Best was back in Test cricket with a point to prove after a three-year absence, and did so in style as he hammered England morale with what was his maiden 50 in a damaging last-wicket partnership of 143 alongside Denesh Ramdin (107no).
Best's carefree approach brought him and his team 14 fours and a six in his 112-ball innings, and he dominated the partnership with Ramdin.
Best drove especially well against Steven Finn and Onions. But his defence was sound too, and two back-foot forces for four off Graeme Swann required impressive footwork and were especially memorable.
England's prospects of pushing for an unlikely victory had receded from slim to barely alive, and it seemed the West Indies were the only team who could feasibly still win this rain-ravaged dead rubber.
When Finn made short work of Ravi Rampaul, caught-behind in the first over of the morning from only the second ball he faced, it seemed England would surely wrap up the West Indies innings quickly.
But Best had other ideas - and England came close to the final wicket only once, when Kevin Pietersen failed to hang on to a difficult chance at gully after Ramdin climbed into a short ball from Finn on 69.
