Cricket's Ultimate Power Move: Declaring at 0/0

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The year was 1977. Middlesex was taking on Surrey at the Lord's in a must-win County game. The rain-truncated encounter had set the suspense rolling. Almost two days had been washed out. Was the result still possible? Brearley thought so.

Those were the days when the pitches were left uncovered. Surrey were bundled for 49 in the first innings. This motivated Brearley to think out of the box. lan Gould and John Emburey took their guards to open for Middlesex. They were not their routine openers. Surrey sensed something wasn't right. And then Brearley made his move. Just after one ball was bowled, he declared the Middlesex innings. On Zero.

Brearley later stated that he wanted to forfeit the first innings and save time. But he was bound by the rules, as this could only be done in a side's second innings. So they had to play that one ball.

Before Surrey could even wrap their head around the declaration, the Middlesex bowlers wrecked havoc again. Save for a 24-run partnership between Geoff Arnold and Jack Richards, the Surrey batters struggled to make an impact on the scorecard.

Their innings ended at 89. Middlesex required 139 to win in 27 minutes and 20 mandatory overs. The pitch had considerably improved and became more conducive to batting as the game passed. Middlesex's routine openers, Brearley and Smith, were back and set off the thrilling chase.

The openers stitched a 101-run partnership before Smith departed for a fighting 51. Clive Radley joined his skipper to take the team across the finish line. Middlesex had chased the target with II balls to spare.

Brearley starred with the bat and finished with an incredible 66. The declaration ploy had worked. The win ensured that Middlesex caught up with Kent in the County Championship table, eventually ending as joint winners. Brearley's act of tactical brilliance was a sign of what was to come as he led England to landmark Ashes series victories in the years to come.

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