WACA: A Tale of Five Memorable Tests

With Perth’s WACA set to be near-scrapped as an important international venue, Arunabha Sengupta recalls some of the most memorable Test matches at the ground. READ: WACA to shift Test cricket to new Perth Stadium

1. Australia vs England, 1974-75

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During the first Test at The Gabba, England were beaten black and blue by the furious pace of Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson. And disconcertingly, the sentence could be taken in the literal sense. John Edrich broke his hand, Dennis Amiss suffered a fracture and Bob Willis strained his groin. READ: WACA: Youngest of Australia’s Big 5, but it will be missed

The end of the match provided scant relief. John Lever a pulled muscle, Mike Hendrick went down with throat infection. And during practice Keith Fletcher was hit on the same spot that had been bruised at The Gabba and lost all feeling in his arm.

Colin Cowdrey, on the brink of his 42nd birthday and enjoying the comfort of his fire-side armchair in retirement, was asked to abandon his family and his Christmas pudding on the very eve of Yuletide, and fly to the other side of the world, to face two of the fiercest fast bowlers in the world, on a pitch reputed to be the quickest in Australia. “I’d love to,” he responded.

So, after all the years of facing Ray Lindwall and Keith Miller, Peter Heine and Neil Adcock, Charlie Griffith and Wes Hall, Ian Meckiff and Gordon Rorke, Cowdrey flew in to face Lillee and Thomson. In response Thomson said, “He will cop it as quick as anyone.”

Four days after his arrival, Cowdrey was at the crease. Ian Chappell asked Mike Denness to bat first and the ageing maestro went in at No. 3. Brian Luckhurst had his hand jolted by a Thomson lifter, but fought hard before being caught at gully off Max Walker. 81 minutes into the morning, Cowdrey walked in.

Amidst electric atmosphere he got right behind the line to play the thunderbolts of the terror twins. Lillee struck him with a bouncer, but the rotund middle-aged man did not flinch. And when Thomson glared at him in his follow-through, Cowdrey offered him his hand, “Good morning, my name is Cowdrey.” A bemused Thomson could only shake hands.

Cowdrey scored only 22 before shuffling too far to Thomson and losing his leg stump. Before that he was dropped by Rod Marsh off Doug Walters. But the valour of the knock would become the stuff of legends.

England managed just 208, and the match was as good as over on the second evening when Walters launched into a furious assault during the final session.

It was scintillating batting as he creamed the bowling with a barrage of audacious shots, all struck from the middle of the bat. The only false stroke came during the last over of the day, with Walters eager to score hundred in a session. He was on 93 and Willis bounced. Walters gloved a hook over the keeper’s head for four. On 97, he faced the final ball of the day. Even before Willis bowled, he had second guessed another bouncer and gone back and across. The resulting hook bisected the two men in the deep square leg and sailed into the crowd. He had got his landmarkof a century in a session.

Walters did not add to his 103 the next day, but Ross Edwards reached a more sedate century and Australia led by 273. Luckhurst was in pain from the blow suffered in the first innings. And it was Cowdrey who walked out with David Lloyd. READ: WACA not to host important international matches: Reactions

He was dropped early, off Thomson, sent a ball over slips by fending it off the shoulder of the bat and another snick rocketed between Marsh and Ian Chappell.

At the other end, a short of a length delivery from Thomson seamed back into Lloyd and struck the left-hander in the lower abdomen in an excruciating blow. He bent down, his posture resembling a hairpin, and toppled forward, ending motionless. The beastly delivery had struck his abdomen guard, pushing it down on to his vital parts. Physio Bernard Thomas could just about help him walk off the ground.

An interesting side-story, as recollected by Richie Benaud: “Ah, there’s David Lloyd. I remember him telling me in 1974-75 how he could play Thommo with his c**k … and then he proceeded to do precisely that.” READ: The secret behind the WACA pitch at Perth

Next Thomson struck Cowdrey on the left forearm. The Kent legend survived vociferous appeal for a catch at the wicket when on 37. But at 41 his luck finally ran out. He fell, trapped leg-before to Thomson, in trying to turn a full ball to mid-wicket. It had been another valiant innings and he had batted 256 minutes in the match.

Thomson took five in the second innings and England lost by nine wickets. The scorecard tells us that it was one-sided. However, there were plenty of moments to remember.

2. Australia vs India, 1977-78

With the leading cricketers of the world joining the troupe in Kerry Packer’s circus, the future of the game was in jeopardy.

The stakes were sky-high as Bishan Bedi’s Indians visited to play traditional Tests, and simultaneously the top cricketers of Australia and West Indies engaged in World Series Super Tests.

Thus started the tale of another veteran master, brought back from retirement. Bobby Simpson was 41 and had not played Test cricket for nearly a decade. With a virtually third-string side at the disposal of the selectors, the former Australian opener was summoned back into the international fold to lead the motley group of men in their home series against the Indians. READ: WACA, Perth: Greatest performances, Part 1 of 2

In a way, it worked for the cause of cricket that the Australian team was represented by people like Paul Hibbert, Gary Cosier, David Ogilvie, Peter Toohey, Wayne Clark, Sam Gannon, and vice-captain Craig Serjeant. Only a post-operation Thomson and a loyal Kim Hughes would have made it to the real Australian side. But this depletion of talent ensured that the two sides were evenly matched.

Simpson’s comeback during the first Test at The Gabba was memorable. He batted at No. 5 and scored 89 in the second innings as the Australians clinched a tense 16-run win.

The WACA Test once again began while on the same day the Chappell brothers, Lillee, Walker, Len Pascoe and Rick McCosker locked horns with Viv Richards, Clive Lloyd, Andy Roberts, Joel Garner, Michael Holding and the others in the Royal Agricultural Society Ground at Sydney for the second World Series SuperTest. In the traditional contest, India batted and Chetan Chauhan’s 88 and Mohinder Amarnath’s 90 ensured a big first innings score of 402.

The long stint in the field in the Western Australian heat could not have been comfortable for the ageing Simpson. And he did not have much time for rest. Toohey jumped out to Bedi to be stumped for a duck to make it 65 for 3, and the captain came in to bat on the second afternoon. He stayed in for six hours 28 minutes, the eighth out at 388, after scoring a mammoth 176. Australia folded six runs later and the Indians led by 8.

By the middle of the fourth day, the visitors seemed to have all but wrapped the match up. Sunil Gavaskar and Amarnath struck centuries and at one stage India were at 240 for 1. But the fall of the second wicket triggered an inexplicable collapse and they were all out for 330. With debutant John Dyson falling early in the second innings, Australia ended the fourth day at a shaky 25 for 1, looking for an unlikely 339 for a win.

The final day saw the celebrated Indian spin attack struggling to get rid of the night watchman Tony Mann. After the quick removal of Serjeant, Bhagwat Chandrasekhar, Srinivas Venkataraghavan and Bedi toiled hard to dislodge the unheralded left-handed duo of Mann and Ogilvie. The two added 139 before Mann fell for a three-hour effort amounting to 105.

Simpson and Toohey then got together in another long partnership. When the final 15 overs of the last hour started, Australia needed just 58 with 6 wickets in hand. There was a spark of hope as Simpson was run out brilliantly by Madan Lal following through after his delivery. A run later, Madan Lal had brought one back to trap Hughes leg-before.

But Toohey held firm. The deficit was down to just 9, with six overs still to bowl, when he fell to a lofted drive off Bedi. His innings of 83 had almost clinched the issue. The Indian captain trapped wicketkeeper Steve Rixon leg before at the same score, but Clark and Thomson, with some sensible batting, carried Australia home by 2 wickets.

Bedi captured five wickets in each innings, but the slightly strange Indian tactics of persisting with three spinners on the quick Perth wicket did help the hosts. Chandra and Venkat toiled through 99.6 eight-ball overs in the game, picking up 3 for 422 runs as Karsan Ghavri sat out. Perhaps the result could have been different if the young left-arm pacer had got a game.

But the second successive close result in Australia’s favour went miles to ensure that the crowds continued to flock to the traditional Test matches in spite of the main stars being away in the Packer Circus.

3. Australia vs New Zealand, 1985-86

Before that series, New Zealand had played their trans-Tasman rivals in 15 Tests, and had lost 8 while winning 2. There had been six series between the sides, and Australia had won four of them, New Zealand managing to draw two home series 1-1 in 1973-74 and 1981-82. The Kiwis could never get rid of the nagging feeling that their neighbours, the grand cricketing nation of Australia, tended to treat them with the disdain reserved for a minor cricketing power.

But this time it was different. The Australians were still tottering from the loss of the big three, Greg Chappell, Marsh and Lillee. In contrast, New Zealand was full of spirit and zeal, a team of useful stalwarts, endowed with the gilded edge in the form of Richard Hadlee’s genius. And then there was the special talent in the young Martin Crowe.

So, as the teams clashed in the 1985 series, the New Zealanders dreamed big. They wanted to taste their first victory in Australia. And perhaps take the series as well.

They drew first blood at The Gabba in an incredible display of individual prowess that marks cricket apart from other team games. Hadlee dismissed 9 batsmen and caught the other as Australia were bowled out for 179 in the first innings. Crowe batted close to eight hours for 188, while Hadlee thrashed around for 54 from 45 balls in a huge score of 553 for 7. And then Hadlee picked 6 more in the second innings to finish with 15 for 123 in the match, the Kiwis winning their first ever Test in Australia.

But Australia had a surprise weapon at Sydney. 39-year-old Bob Holland spun his leg-breaks capturing nearly 30 per cent of his career Test wickets in that single match. Hadlee had another five-for, but Australia had drawn level.

With WACA renovated and boasting a new pitch for the decider, Jeremy Coney put the Australians in. It was Ewen Chatfield, Hadlee’s long-serving new-ball partner, who made the initial dents by dismissing the openers. And then Hadlee, with metronomic regularity, ran through the rest of the innings, picking up five as Australia folded for 203.

New Zealand approached their innings with discretion weighing in far heavier than valour. Bruce Edgar was the ideal limpet for such occasions, batting six and a half hours for 74. Martin Crowe was not far behind, spending 282 minutes for 71. Even Hadlee took his time, taking an hour and a half over 26, hitting just one boundary in 63 balls. The second day brought forth just 176 runs. The Kiwis painstakingly gained a 96-run lead and by the third evening, Hadlee and Chatfield had sent back the Australian openers. READ: WACA pitch is no longer a batsman’s nightmare

Skipper Allan Border and the new stocky moustachioed talent David Boon rallied things around, but then Hadlee was in the thick of things again. Boon and Border both had their stumps pegged back. By the end of the fourth day, he had also got rid of Greg Matthews as well and Australia were 238 for 7, David Hookes tragically falling to a shooter from John Bracewell.

On the final morning the tail hardly offered much resistance. Hadlee finished with 6 wickets, 11 for the match, as New Zealand were left 164 to win. Edgar, John Wright, John Reid, Coney — seasoned campaigners all — played their parts with utmost efficiency. Martin Crowe forced the issue with a steady unbeaten 42, taking New Zealand home with elder brother Jeff at the other end.

The first series win over their celebrated neighbours had been achieved. In an era when the Man of the Series seldom received the Man of the Match award for the final Test, no one could deny Hadlee both. 11 wickets in the match, and 33 in the three-Test series at 12.15, were hardly figures one could argue with.

4. Australia vs New Zealand 2001-02

Another tussle between the neighbours. Another humdinger of a match. Yet, this perhaps did the New Zealanders even more credit since it was played against the reigning champions of the cricket world.

The first Test at The Gabba had been threatened by weather, and skippers Steve Waugh and Stephen Fleming had responded with a number of sporting declarations which resulted in an edge of the seat stalemate. Australia dominated for most of the Test before Waugh declared their second innings at 84 for 2, setting a target of 284 in 57 overs. Fleming and Nathan Astle set the pace and during the final stages, a spectacular assault by Chris Cairns and Craig McMillan almost saw the visitors through. In the end they finished at 274 for 6.

The second Test had been marred by weather, and the scene was set for the decider at WACA.

The Kiwis batted, and on a fast, bouncy wicket against Glenn McGrath, Brett Lee and Jason Gillespie, debutant Lou Vincent stroked his way to a superb century. He became the first visiting player since Nawab of Pataudi Sr during the Bodyline series to score a century on debut in Australia.

His captain was graceful as ever, timing the ball with élan as he scored the second hundred of the innings. Yet, a spate of wickets towards the end of the day neutralised much of the Kiwi advantage to see them at a not-too-promising 293 for 7 at close.

But they got a fresh lease of life on the morrow as Astle, playing some of the best cricket of his career, blasted his way to 156 not out, and Adam Parore batted five hours to score a hundred from No. 9. They put on 253 and for the first time since Nottingham 1938, Australia conceded four hundreds in an innings. Fleming declared at 534 for 9, four men scoring hundreds and nobody else reaching 10.

On a fast track, it was surprisingly the left-arm spin of Daniel Vettori that had the hosts in trouble. Both Waughs fell to his guile; and when he sent back Adam Gilchrist for a duck to make it 192 for 6, follow-on was written on the wall in large characters. Yet, these were the Australians who had conquered the world. They fought hard and fought to the end. Shane Warne made his highest score in Test cricket, falling to Vettori tragically one short of what would have been a splendid and well-deserved century. Australia ended their innings at the stroke of stumps on the third day for 351.

It was the turn of Vincent to dazzle again, and he did so with a run-a-ball 54. Cairns, promoted up the order for quick runs, slammed two sixes, and Astle thrashed the bowling as both got 40s. Fleming declared nine-down with the target set at 440 from 107 overs. Shane Bond tore in to get rid of Justin Langer and Cairns castled Ricky Ponting. Australia ended at 69 for 2.

Yet, as Matthew Hayden and Mark Waugh struck half centuries on the final morning, Fleming spread his field wide and defensive. When the two batsmen were dismissed, the game was evenly poised. The script could have been entirely different when halfway through the day, with the score on 203 for 4, Ian Robinson had not turned down Vettori’s appeal for caught behind against Steve Waugh.

However, the Australian captain survived. Although Vettori castled Damien Martyn, the presence of Waugh at one end and Gilchrist at other with the score progressing beyond 300 brought forth hopes of an unlikely victory. When Gilchrist launched into a stupendous blitzkrieg, plundering 32 runs from just 9 balls during a spectacular phase of play, the Kiwis feared the worst. READ: Analytical perspective of WACA ground

But then he drove like a bullet, Vettori got a hand to it before it crashed into the stumps catching Steve Waugh out of his ground. Warne also looked for quick runs and was beaten by some agile fielding. Gilchrist downed the shutters, and Robinson refused the air-splitting appeal for a catch off Gillespie’s glove to the bowling of Cairns. The stubborn Gillespie batted through the 40 minutes to close of play and Australia finished on 381 for 7.

The series was tied 0-0, but the zero-sum was the result of some extraordinarily thrilling cricket.

5. Australia vs South Africa, 2008-09

A target of 414 on the WACA wicket, with Mitchell Johnson fresh from an 8-wicket haul in the first innings, looked distinctly unachievable.

But, then, the South African batting was spearheaded by Graeme Smith, perhaps the greatest fourth innings batter ever. And then there was the little matter of Hashim Amla, Jacques Kallis and AB de Villiers in the middle.

It was not that Australia had dominated much of the match. Their batsmen surely had not. Both innings of the hosts had seen some muscular contributions down the order, with Brad Haddin’s 46 and 94 showing the way and the couple of 30s by Jason Krejza helping things along. Johnson and Lee had also chipped in handsomely and so had Peter Siddle in the first innings.

In the first essay, these contributions had taken them from 166 for 5 and 303 for 8 to a grand total of 375 against Dale Steyn, Makhaya Ntini and Morne Morkel.

The Australian bowling looked quite toothless for much of the second day before a Johnson special turned things around. From 234 for 3 the Proteans stumbled to 243 for 8, the left-arm fast bowler claiming 5 for 2 in 21 balls. It was masterly use of reverse swing at scorching pace, the wickets quite appropriately picked up from the Lillee-Marsh end. There was brief resistance from Mark Boucher as the innings ended at 281 the following morning, Johnson’s figures 8 for 61.

The lead was substantial, but the Australian top order failed to consolidate, reduced to 88 for 4 and the 162 for 7. It was the heroics of Haddin, slamming four sixes on his way to 94, that enabled Australia to set a target of 414.

By the fourth afternoon, however, Smith had blasted his way to 100 off 138 balls and with an hour to go to stumps Amla was firmly entrenched as well, the score reading 163 for 1.

Johnson did account for Smith, and Lee sent back Amla for 53, but the great Kallis and promising de Villiers saw through till the end of the day with South Africa well in sight of victory at 227 for 3.

Yet, the rest of the batting lacked experience. After a solid start, when Kallis chased a wide delivery from Johnson in the second hour to be caught in the gully, things were starting to look shaky again. It was 303 for 4, the target still a fair distance away, and there were two 24-year-olds at the crease. De Villiers was joined by JP Duminy, playing the match only because of a broken thumb suffered by Ashwell Prince.

What followed was a lesson in ice-cool confidence and efficiency. Siddle and Krejza were hardly match-fit, Andrew Symonds was limping, and Lee off-colour. Johnson had picked up 11 of the 14 wickets to fall, but could not break through any more. The two young men milked the bowling expertly and took South Africa to a remarkable victory by six wickets with more than a session to spare. Duminy remained unbeaten on 50 and de Villiers on a splendid 106.

The Proteans had pulled off the second highest run-chase in history. READ: WACA — venue of some unusual cricketing records

(Arunabha Sengupta is a cricket historian and Chief Cricket Writer at CricketCountry. He writes about the history of cricket, with occasional statistical pieces and reflections on the modern game. He is also the author of four novels, the most recent being Sherlock Holmes and the Birth of The Ashes. He tweets here.)