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Five memorable Boxing Day Tests at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG)

Boxing Day Tests in Melbourne have produced quite a few fascinating encounters.

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England team celebrate their win over Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in December 1998 © Getty Images
England team celebrate their win over Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in December 1998 © Getty Images

As India start their series opener against Australia at Melbourne, Arunabha Sengupta looks back at some of the Boxing Day encounters of the past. Quickly averting his eyes after a glance at India’s horrendous record in these Tests, he recounts five of the most interesting ones.

The thought of a Boxing Day morning evokes in us pictures of a colourful crowd basking on the stands, sometimes almost spilling out onto the sun-soaked MCG, taking long pulls from amber-coloured tumblers while keeping an eye trained on the action in the middle, now and again glancing up to check the facts on the giant electronic scoreboard. The tradition of the Australian summer has become a steadfast part of our winters as well.

It was way back in 1968 that the first Boxing Day Test match was played in Melbourne, in which Bill Lawry’s Australians routed the Garry Sobers led West Indians by an innings and 30 runs.

Tests continued to be played at the venue, starting on other days as well, until from 1990 an MCG Test became strictly synonymous with Boxing Day.

There is perhaps a good reason for this. The record of the home team in tests starting on December 26 at Melbourne looks pretty formidable. In all, they have played 30 such Tests, won 17 of them and lost just 6.

Of the five Boxing Day Tests India have played, they have managed to draw one — way back in 1985 — and have ended up on the losing side in each of the other four.

They have had their magic moments – a fantastic counterattacking 116 against all odds in 1999 by the one-man army in Sachin Tendulkar, a pulse-racing, breath-stopping 195 by Virender Sehwag in 2003. But overall the results have been negative.

In their first outing, India had come tantalisingly close to winning. In the final two sessions just 120 runs had been required, but in spite of the warning of approaching rain, the batsmen had crawled to 59 for 2 in 25 overs. When the skies opened up to swallow the chances of a memorable victory, Sunil Gavaskar had just fallen for 8 from 54 balls and Mohinder Amarnath was unbeaten on 3 from 27. Since that close brush with success they have regularly been at the receiving end in 1991, 1999, 2003 and 2008.

Down the years, in spite of the Australian dominance, Boxing Day Tests in Melbourne have produced quite a few fascinating encounters. Here are five of the most memorable ones:

1. Third Test 1974, versus England

Twenty-seven years before his obstinacy as a match referee got him into a spat with millions of Indians, Mike Denness had led the English side in this nail-biting encounter.

England batted first on a dicey wicket, and struggled to a painstaking 242. The effort exemplified by Colin Cowdrey’s near-four-hour stagnation for 39. The reasonably respectable score was thanks to a brave 52 by Alan Knott against an attack boasting Denis Lillee, Jeff Thomson, Max Walker and Ashley Mallet.

The Australians, 2-0 up in the series, crept along even slower and ended up one run behind in the first innings. Bob Willis bowled with metronomic precision, but an injury to Mike Hendrick reduced the attack to four men.

In the second innings, Dennis Amiss put his head down on the fourth day for a well-compiled 90, and Tony Greig hit Mallet for the only six of the match during his 60. Strangely, England finished with a score almost identical to the first two innings of the match. The final total of 244 meant that Australia needed 246 in the last innings in a little more than a day.

It had never been done before in Ashes history, but with Hendrick indisposed and Fred Titmus hobbling after being struck by an express Jeff Thomson delivery on the knee, the home side looked all set to go 3-0 up in the series.

The winds of fate blew in ever-changing directions on the final day. Opener Wally Edwards and skipper Ian Chappell fell without scoring. Ian Redpath and Greg Chappell added 101 to build a superb platform. Titmus, limping his way to bowl, removed the younger Chappell and Ross Edwards, while Redpath was run out.

Doug Walters kept Australia in course for victory with a steady innings, and when Tony Greig removed him for 32, 75 runs were needed from the final hour and forty-five minutes, which included 15 mandatory overs.

When the last hour began with just 55 runs to get, Rodney Marsh and Max Walker, who had played sensibly so far, baffled one and all by adding just 7 runs off the first 7 overs from Titmus and Derek Underwood.

Denness and the spectators had just started to assume that the batsmen were for some weird reason playing for a draw, when the tactics changed again. Marsh lofted Willis hard and high for four and the two men suddenly showed a rush of enterprise. When the wicketkeeper was caught behind off Greig with 38 remaining, Lillee and Walker attacked the bowling with a lot of assurance. The crowd warmed up to cheer them home.

And then, with 3 overs to go and 16 to get, the approach intriguingly changed again. A Greig over produced just two and then Underwood bowled a maiden.

When Lillee was out to the second ball of the last over, it was left to Thomson to play out the final four deliveries for a draw, with Australia still requiring 8 with 2 wickets in hand.

2. First Test 1981, versus West Indies

It was a battle of the four of the fastest men in business against one who had once been as fast and was now a wily operator at scarcely reduced speed and skill.

When the Windies had played the Boxing Day Test of 1975, Lillee and Thomson had decimated them with some of the most hostile fast bowling ever witnessed on a cricket pitch. However six years later, the equation had changed dramatically.

Lillee had remained as dangerous as ever, but his partner in prime, Thommo, was no longer in the side — making way for Geoff Lawson. The reins of pace dominance had changed hands and now rested in the secure grasps of Andy Roberts, Michael Holding, Joel Garner and Colin Croft.

The watered pitch produced one of the most dramatic first day ever. Holding, with his chilling and silent mode of lightning fast annihilation, soon had the batsmen hopping. Bruce Laird and Greg Chappell were dismissed off successive balls in the fifth over and Alan Border also left for a single digit score. The middle and lower order surrendered to the four barrelled weaponry dealing in thunderbolts, but Kim Hughes hung on. He cut, hooked and pulled the intimidating bowling in what probably stands as his best ever innings in international cricket as wickets continued to tumble. When the ninth wicket fell at 155, Hughes was on 71, but a stubborn Terry Alderman batted for nearly an hour. The middle-order batsman had scored exactly 100 when the No. 11 edged one from Croft.

It left 35 minutes for West Indies to bat out the day with Lillee needing 5 wickets to go past the world record of 309 held by Lance Gibbs.

It was Alderman who got Faoud Bacchus caught in the slips to kick-start the pandemonium. Lillee followed it up by getting Haynes to slash one to the slips and then trapping night watchman Croft leg before. With the last ball of the day, he won his bout with the great Viv Richards, bowling him off an inside edge and celebrated it with a war dance down the wicket. The visitors ended the day at a wobbly 10 for 4.

The next day, Larry Gomes (55) and Jeff Dujon (41) fought back, aided by some support from David Murray (32). Gomes eventually edged to Chappell in the slips to become Lillee’s record breaking victim, but the innings ended with the West Indians managing to sneak ahead by 3 runs. The great fast bowler finished with 7 for 83.

When Australia batted again, solid approach of Graeme Wood, Bruce Laird and Allan Border provided a faint glimpse of a large total with the scoreboard showing 139 for 2 at one stage. But, then the wicket started getting awkward and Holding and Garner bowled in tandem to flatten the lower order without much resistance. Early on the fourth morning, Australia lost their three final wickets to Holding for just 5 runs, “Whispering Death” ending with 11 in the match.

The target for West Indies was just 220, but Alderman removed Bacchus and Richards for ducks. With Lillee at his lethal best and the off-spin of Bruce Yardley getting a lot of purchase from the wearing track, they did not look likely to get there. Jeff Dujon, playing as a specialist batsman, did resist with a patient 43, but the visitors folded for 161.

This was the last match at the venue with the fantastic manual scoreboard in operation.

3. Fourth Test 1982, versus England

Excitement in Boxing Day Tests probably reached the zenith during this fascinating match, one of the best ever played.

Greg Chappell won the toss, and detecting dampness in the wicket, elected to field.

The English innings, lasting exactly one day, was largely dominated by a 161-run partnership between Alan Lamb, who biffed his way to 83 off 113 deliveries, and a surprisingly rollicking Chris Tavare, who scored his 89 in 165 balls — a rate approaching Mach1 by his dour standards.

Once these two fell within ten runs of each other, the rest of the batting did not amount to much, the innings winding up at 284.

Australia fared just three runs better, with fifties by Kim Hughes, David Hookes and Rod Marsh taking them inches ahead of the English total as skipper Bob Willis, Ian Botham, Derek Pringle, Norman Cowans and Geoff Miller chipped away at the wickets. Their innings ended during with the second day.

Surprisingly, the third day saw yet another complete innings. Opener Graeme Fowler top-scored with 65 and Ian Botham struck a brisk 46, as Geoff  Lawson picked up 4 wickets and an ageing Jeff Thomson, bowling second change in both innings, accounted for 3. Stubborn lower order resistance from Pringle and Bob Taylor ensured a score of 294, leaving the hosts 292 to win.

The odd ball was keeping low, but the target looked very achievable when play began on the fourth day. But, Kepler Wessels was bowled off his pads and a brilliant low catch by substitute Ian Gould sent back Greg Chappell cheaply. With the score on 71, John Dyson was taken superbly in the slips by Tavare off Botham.

Fortunes swayed after that. Hughes and Hookes added 100, and for a moment Australia looked the favourites. When both of them fell within two runs of each other, the momentum was back with England. And when Marsh and Yardley departed at 190, both to Cowans, it was almost over. Alan Border battled on at the other end, but the English bowlers stuck to their task. Then first Lawson pulled Pringle down the throat of fine-leg, and Hogg trudged slowly back to the pavilion, trapped in front by Cowans. The score read 218 for nine. Seventy six were still required when Thomson walked out to join Border.

Willis now adopted the much-criticised tactics of widespread fields for Border, who had till then was struggling for form. Now, as the fielders disappeared to distant corners of the ground whenever he took strike, he pushed for runs and played himself back into confidence. Even during the last two overs of the fourth day, with rain halts having messed around with the batsman’s concentration, fielders were not brought in close enough to harass him.

Australia ended the fourth day at 255 for 9.

The following morning, although the match could get over at any moment, 18,000 spectators were allowed in free of charge. The new ball was taken, but the tactics against Border remained the same. With Thomson slowly growing in confidence, occasionally piercing the offside field for invaluable runs, the hosts got closer and closer. Every run was now cheered, and the bowling was proving increasingly ineffective.

With Australia just a stroke away from victory, Botham began the 18th over of the morning. The first ball was short and wide outside the off stump. Thomson, who had shown splendid application since the previous evening, tried to push it for a single. The edge flew to Chris Tavare at second slip at an eminently catchable height, but he stuck out his left hand and parried the ball. Geoff Miller, standing deep in the first slip, saw the ball dipping – and taking a couple of hasty steps forward clutched the shiny red cherry as if his life depended on it. The crowd let out a spontaneous groan. The home side lost by the wafer thin margin of 3 runs.

4. Third Test 1987, versus New Zealand

The Kiwis of the 1980s had one supreme bowler, and one fantastic batsman. However, as a team, it was always spirited but limited. Yet, when most of the supporting cast played their roles well, Richard Hadlee and Martin Crowe could lift them to challenge any side in the world.

Thus, when they met their neighbours from across the Tasman Sea in 1987, the contest left the spectators at the edge of their seats.

Border won the toss and put the opposition in. After Phil Horne had done his bit to repel Test Match crowds with an 81-minute limp for 7, John Wright and Andrew Jones stitched together a partnership which left Border doubting the wisdom of his decision.

At 119, Jones snicked one from Craig McDermott and wicketkeeper Greg Dyer dived, rolled over and raised his glove indicating a clean catch. Umpire Tony Crafter was not so sure, but once Dick French from square leg had assured him that the ball had carried, he gave the batsman out. Replays, however, showed that it had popped out and Dyer had grasped it back on the bounce.

Joined by a fluent Martin Crowe, Wright batted on, sticking around for more than five hours before flashing at a McDermott delivery outside the off stump just one short of his hundred. Skipper Jeff Crowe and Dipak Patel did not last long, and the Kiwis ended the day on 242 for 5.

The next day, Martin Crowe became the fifth victim of McDermott for a classy 82. It was left to wicketkeeper Ian Smith to hit a few lusty blows to lift the total to 317.

When the home team batted, Richard Hadlee ran his customary rhythmic 22 steps and made the ball perform magic. He trapped Boon leg before with one that swung in, got Geoff Marsh and Dean Jones caught with balls that left them. After John Bracewell had removed a fast settling Alan Border, the champion all-rounder got Mike Veletta lbw. A youthful Steve Waugh moved fluently to a half century and, along with Peter Sleep, batted till close of the second day, but at 170 for 5, the hosts looked far from comfortable.

Australia lost Waugh immediately on resumption, but Sleep played the innings of his short career, making a solid 90. Tony Dodemaide, on his debut, applied himself well for a valuable 50. Hadlee ended up with 5 wickets, but the home team led by 40.

When New Zealand batted again, the openers put on 73, but after that, while everyone got starts, only Martin Crowe batted reasonably long in making a decent 79. Tony Dodemaide, his 50 having marked the start of a dream debut, picked up six second innings wickets, and when Ian Smith edged the third ball of the final day to Dyer to mark the end of the innings, a total of 286 meant that Australia needed 247 for a win from a minimum of 92 overs.

Given the state of the wicket, it should have been a reasonably comfortable chase, but for the fact that a third of those overs would be bowled by Richard Hadlee.

This engineer of many a Kiwi dream removed Marsh at 45, Ewen Chatfield got Jones at 59. Boon compiled a steady 54 before being snapped up by Morrison. At 147, Hadlee got one to nip back and catch the great Alan Border plumb for 47.

But, with Waugh and Valetta looking confident and the score reading 176 for 4 with 28 overs in which to make 71 more, the odds were stacked heavily in favour of the home team.

Steve Waugh then was caught off Chatfield. Veletta was joined by the first innings hero, Sleep, and the two pushed the score along.

With one and a half hours to go, Hadlee came on with the score reading 199 for 5. For the next 92 minutes he continued unchanged from one end. Spectators remained glued to their seats and the match went on and on. Television channels cancelled shows with high TRP as the great warrior kept running in and delivering wicked balls that darted all over the place. At 209, he accounted for Sleep and at the same score, Bracewell got Veletta for 39.

Hadlee bowled on. At 216, he got the outside edge of Dyer. At 227, Dodemaide was the 9th out, trapped in front, giving Hadlee his record 8th ten-wicket haul and his world-record-equalling 373rd scalp.

Twenty runs remained in 4.5 overs, McDermott was joined by Whitney. It was beyond them to hit those runs off the 29 balls, 17 of which were to be bowled by Hadlee himself. A huge shout for lbw against Whitney was turned down.

At 6.42 p.m. with the score at 230 for nine, Whitney, making a comeback after six years, dug out the last lethal ball from the New Zealand great. Hadlee walked down the pitch and enfolded the batsman in an embrace. The enthralling match ended in a draw.

An emotionally exhausted crowd cheered lustily when Hadlee was declared the Man of the Match and Series. 

5. Fourth Test 1998, versus England

The reason why England appears thrice on this list seems to be that they are the only team who have given the Aussies a run for their money in Boxing Day encounters.

However, this time around, it did not look likely that the match would be anything but a one-sided rout. Already two down in the series, England started disastrously after the first day was washed out, losing Mike Atherton and Mark Butcher, both to Glenn McGrath, for ducks.

However, Alec Stewart, back at the top of the order having handed over his wicket keeping gloves to debutant Warren Hegg, scrapped his way to a hundred and Mark Ramprakash played one of the better innings in a career full of unfulfilled promises. McGill spun out the tail and England ended with 270.

When the home team batted, Darren Gough almost replicated what McGrath had done, removing Mark Taylor and Michael Slater cheaply. Australia ended the second day at 59 for 2.

The following day witnessed some exciting sessions as Gough, supported by Angus Fraser, had the hosts in a spot of bother. Mark Waugh, Justin Langer, Darren Lehmann and Ian Healy did not get reasonable scores, and when Damien Fleming and Matthew Nicholson were out cheaply enough, England looked like getting a thin lead.

However, Steve Waugh, as on many other occasions, batted with exceptional calm with the tail, taking occasional breaks from the chanceless game by walking down the wicket or playing aerial, yet controlled, hook shots. With Stuart McGill proving to be a worthy ally, he proceeded undeterred to a compact century – his 17th. By the time Alan Mullally had managed to get rid of the tail, he had amassed an unbeaten 122. Australia finished with 340, thus gaining a sizeable lead of 70.

England’s start was equally atrocious once again. Atherton bagged the first pair of his career, this time bowled by Fleming. Butcher, looking reasonably comfortable, was dismissed in strange circumstances, his full blooded sweep off McGill getting stuck under the armpit of Slater at forward short leg.

The next day, Stewart batted well for a fifty to go with his first innings hundred, and Hussain and Hick hit half centuries. But the Australians kept the pressure on and by the time McGrath had Mullally caught and bowled to bring up the end of the innings, the target set was just 175.

The Australian start was not too good. Slater was leg before and Taylor hooked Mullally straight to the long-leg with just 41 on the board. But, Mark Waugh and Langer looked confident, adding 62. With the score reading 103 for 2, the end was very much in sight. The pitch was still playing true.

It was now that an extraordinary piece of fielding suddenly changed it all. Langer’s ferocious pull off Mullally was somehow plucked out of the air by Ramprakash standing just in front of the square leg umpire. This was followed by a superb 13-ball spell by Dean Headley, with excellent reverse swing, which produced 4 for 4. Mark Waugh and Healy edged to the slips and were superbly taken by Graeme Hick. Lehmann edged a drive to the keeper and Fleming was leg before. Steve Waugh stood at the other end, but the score read a dangerous 140 for 7.

Nicholson, showing unusual maturity for a debutant caught in a precarious situation, hung in stubbornly. At 7.22 PM, with the score reading 161 for seven, 14 required for a win, Steve Waugh claimed the extra half an hour for a possible victory on that day itself.

Charging in at the fag end of a long, long day, Headley got Nicholson to edge one — his 6th wicket of the innings. Eight down, and 14 to get, McGill walked out, hoping to carry on the willow work of the first innings.

When Gough started the next over, with the field spread out for Steve Waugh, the batsman took a single off the first ball, leaving the tail-ender to negotiate with the Yorkshire paceman. Gough ran in and produced his famed inswinging yorker and rattled McGill’s stumps. Glenn McGrath survived the first ball, but the one that followed was a toe crusher. Up went the dreaded finger of Daryl Harper and England won by 12 runs.

(Arunabha Sengupta is trained from Indian Statistical Institute as a Statistician. He works as a Process Consultant, but cleanses the soul through writing and cricket, often mixing the two. His author site is athttp://www.senantix.com and his cricket blogs at http:/senantixtwentytwoyards.blogspot.com)

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