Almanac Cricket: The top 10 great Boxing Day Tests – Part 1   

 

THE TOP 10 GREAT BOXING DAY TESTS – PART 1

 

As teased earlier, it is now time for this Footy Almanac debutant to put the kahunas out there and name my Top 10 Great MCG Boxing Day Tests to mark the 50^th anniversary of the beginning of this Modern Tradition in 1974.

 

As mentioned in the teaser, this is NOT THE defining list – just this Footy Almanac Debutant’s list.

 

The ratings are based on many factors – quality of the match, memorable moments, quality of the players, historical records being set, and historical context are a few variables factored in.

 

And like any list – it is ALWAYS open to criticism or debate and opinion.  That is what the Footy Almanac is all about, isn’t it?

 

This Part 1 will count down the Top 10 backwards from Numbers 10 to 6.

 

So without further ado, we start at Number 10…..

 

 

10 – AUSTRALIA V WEST INDIES – DECEMBER 26-30, 1975 – THOMMO’S TEST

 

The anticipation going into the Boxing Day Test of 1975 was palpable.  The appetite of a genuine unofficial ‘World Championship’ of Test Cricket was only whetted by a Series locked at 1-all heading to the MCG.

 

Especially after the West Indies blew Australia away by an Innings at the WACA to level the series – on the back of remarkable tons by (the late) Roy Fredericks and skipper Clive Lloyd, plus devastating fast bowling from Andy Roberts.

 

Cricket Australia officials were confident that not only would the then World Record single day Test Crowd of 90,800 set 14 years earlier be broken – but that the World’s first ever 100,000 Single Day Test crowd would be set.

 

Warmer weather than expected ensured neither happened – but the 85,661 that did turn up on Boxing Day, 1975 is still the second largest Non-Ashes Test Crowd in MCG history (set to be finally passed by this year’s Boxing Day Day 1 against India having been already sold out).

 

The ineffectiveness of one Jeffrey Robert Thomson in the Aussie pace attack was highlighted in the lead-up – indeed there were some pundits questioning his place in the Australian side.

 

Bowling with fire and scorching pace, ‘Thommo’ answered the critics on the opening morning with a match winning spell – taking the first 5 wickets to fall as he ran through the Windies’ top order.

 

Thomson finished with 5/62 as the visitors were bowled out for 224 just after tea on Boxing Day.  His great sparring partner Dennis Lillee took 4/56 at the other end.

 

Centuries from (the recently departed) Ian Redpath and Gary Cosier on debut saw Australia reply with 485.

 

The Windies – facing a massive deficit – could only make 312 in their 2^nd dig despite Clive Lloyd’s 2^nd century in successive Tests.

 

Australia knocked off the 52 runs required comfortably by 8 wickets on New Year’s Eve to take a series lead that finished in a 5-1 drubbing and retention of the Frank Worrell Trophy.

 

Lloyd never forgot that spell from Thommo – nor his effect on the series with 29 wickets.

 

Those memories drove Lloyd and the West Indies to dominate World Test Cricket for nearly the next 20 years.

 

Indeed, it would be 19 years after that 75/76 summer until Australia beat the West Indies again in a Test Series.

 

 

9 – AUSTRALIA V ENGLAND – DECEMBER 26-30, 2013 – JOHNSON’S FIRE IN FRONT OF RECORD CROWD

 

Even though the Ashes had been turned around and regained inside 3 Tests by the time the Ashes combatants reached Melbourne for the 2013 Boxing Day Test, Australian followers could smell blood in the water.

 

So much so that the 1961 MCG record crowd of 90,800 was finally broken on Boxing Day – with a final crowd of 91,112 being posted.

 

For enigmatic Aussie quick Mitchell Johnson in the form of his career, Boxing Day 2013 would be the continuation of his mental and physical dominance of a shellshocked English top order.

 

Johnson’s battle with the equally enigmatic English batting star Kevin Pietersen reached its peak in the middle of the “G” – their verbal clash late on that Boxing Day lives in the memory.

 

Johnson took Pietersen’s scalp for 67 on his way to 5/63 – his 3^rd ‘Michelle’ of the series as England were rolled for 255.  The great English new ball pair of Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad fired for one of their few times in Australia as the hosts were dismissed for 204 in reply.

 

A young Nathan Lyon took 5/50 in the 2^nd innings to bowl England out a second time for just 179 – leaving Australia 231 to win.

 

A Chris Rogers ton on his home ground steered the home side to an 8 wicket win inside 4 days to go 4-nil up in the series.

 

Johnson’s fireworks won him his 3^rd Man of the Match award for the summer on his way to 37 wickets for the series – the lynchpin of Australia’s memorable 5-0 series sweep. 271,000 people over the 4 days set a MCG Boxing Day Test total Crowd Record that still stands – until maybe this year’s Boxing Day showdown against India if pre match sales are any guide.

 

 

8 – AUSTRALIA V ENGLAND – DECEMBER 26-30, 1998 – HEADLEY & GOUGH’S TRIUMPH

 

Australia had already retained the Ashes by the time the MCG Boxing Day Test of 1998 came around – having won in Adelaide and Perth without the injured Shane Warne.

 

Torrential rain on the last day in Brisbane in the First Test of the 1998/99 summer saved a draw for England – still at least keeping the series alive heading into the Fourth Test of that series.

 

Warne’s perpetual leg spinning shadow Stuart MacGill led the way when play eventually got underway on Day 2 after Boxing Day was washed out – taking 4/61 as England were bowled out for 270 after losing their last 7 wickets for 70 runs.  English skipper Alec Stewart made 107 before his dismissal by MacGill triggered the batting collapse.

 

The tireless Darren Gough – easily the Poms’ best Test Bowler in the 1990’s – gave a sign of things to come later in the match when he took 5/96 to restrict Australia’s lead to just 70.

 

Steve Waugh’s 122 underpinned Australia’s First innings of 340 – ably supported by MacGill’s highest Test Score of 43 batting at Number 10.

 

It appeared to be ‘business as usual’ for Australia as another moderate English display with the bat saw them knocked over for 244 in their 2^nd dig.  MacGill (3/81) sharing the lead wicket taking with young WA quick Matthew Nicholson – who took 3/56 in what turned out to be his only Test Match for Australia.

 

This gave Australia what seemed a straight forward victory target of 175.

 

And that still looked the case when Australia reached 2/103 at the start of the last session of that 4^th day – with Justin Langer and Mark Waugh seemingly well set.

 

But Mark Taylor’s men didn’t count on Gough – or maligned (to that stage) new ball partner Dean Headley.

 

In what turned to be one of the the longest sessions of play ever staged in Test Cricket in Australia – just on 3 hours and 10 minutes thanks to various nuances to the playing conditions in that series – Gough and Headley literally dragged England off the floor in an inspired session of sustained pace bowling.

 

In what turned out to be the last session of the match, Headley ripped through the Australian batting on his way to a Man Of the Match performance.

 

Headley took 6/60 from 17 overs – his last wicket being that of Nicholson – to have Steve Waugh stuck with the tail as Australia still needed 14 runs to win.

 

Enter Gough.  In the next over the Yorkshireman bowled after Nicholson was dismissed, Waugh took a single to expose (or trust in) MacGill to repeat his first innings runs.

 

An inspired Gough then yorked MacGill, before trapping Glenn McGrath lbw two balls later at 7:12pm local time to secure a miracle 12 run win for England.  Waugh was left stranded on 30 not out.

 

The sight of Gough standing in the middle of the MCG clutching a stump with both arms raised in triumph while the fledgling Barmy Army were pouring on to the ground to celebrate the miracle they just witnessed remains one of the searing memories of Boxing Day folklore.

 

Australia, with Warne joining MacGill and Colin Miller as a spin trio on a Sydney ‘bunsen burner’, won the last Test a week later to clinch the series 3-1 – but not before Gough took a spectacular opening day hat-trick.

 

For his part, Headley never quite reached the same heights again as a Test Bowler as he did that December evening at the MCG.

 

 

7 – AUSTRALIA V WEST INDIES – DECEMBER 26-30, 1992 – A LEGEND IS BORN

 

The Boxing Day Test of 1992 saw Australia and the West Indies at different stages of their respective Test Cricket histories.

 

The two powerhouses of World Test Cricket at the time – on the field at least – were as closely matched as at any time in the previous 12 years.

 

The 0-0 scoreline after the opening test in Brisbane of the Frank Worrell Trophy series that summer – thanks to some desperate Windies batting from their tail led by Ian Bishop on the last day – also suggested that Australia were close enough to topple the Caribbean kings.

 

The injection of young leg spinner Shane Keith Warne for the Boxing Day Test – his first in his home town after emerging from the Series in Sri Lanka just before the Windies Tour – set the stage for a possible exploitation of the Windies’ historical issues with spin.

 

There was also a changing of the guard in the Windies lineup.  Viv Richards had just retired.  He had followed Gordon Greenidge and Malcolm Marshall into the ranks of the recently retired.  The four pronged pace attack was down to three for this Test – even though the three were greats (Bishop, Curtly Ambrose, Courtney Walsh).

 

The sense of something brewing started with Australia batting first and posting an excellent first innings of 395 – thanks to centuries from skipper Allan Border (110) and Mark Waugh (112).

 

The tried pace duo of Craig McDermott (4/66) and Merv Hughes (3/51) led the way as the Windies were bowled out for 233 in reply – with Warne being tidy for his 1/65 off 24 overs.

 

Even though Australia were knocked over in the face of the Windies pacemen for 196 in their 2^nd dig, a young Damien Martyn with his unbeaten 67 gave a glimpse of the class batsman he was to become in later years.

 

The victory target of 359 for the Windies was formidable – even more so when veteran opener Dessie Haynes went caught behind off Hughes late on the 4^th day.

 

Come in spinner on the last day.  Come in Warne.

 

Bowling with the flight, accuracy, guile and quality he was to show for the next 14 years, Warne single handedly bamboozled the Windies batsmen on the last day.

 

His flipper to clean bowl Windies skipper Richie Richardson started a remarkable collapse – and remains one of MCG Boxing Day’s iconic moments.

 

The visitors lost their last 9 wickets for 76 – started by Richardson’s wicket.

 

Phil Simmons stood alone at the other end as Warne wreaked the first of many batting havocs in his career – and eventually fell to the Victorian for 110.

 

Walsh was the last man out, skying a catch to Hughes off Warne to give Australia a famous 139 run win,

 

Warne finished with 7/52 – earning his first of many Man of the Match awards in his career,

 

It was Australia’s first live Test win over the West Indies since the corresponding MCG Boxing Day Test 11 years earlier.

 

There was to be pain for Australia later in the series as the Windies won iconic victories in Adelaide and Perth.

 

But on that December afternoon in 1992 at the MCG, Australian Sport witnessed the birth of the S.K.Warne legend.

 

 

6 – AUSTRALIA V SRI LANKA – DECEMBER 26-30, 1995 – MURALI, DARRELL HAIR AND ‘NO BALL’!!

 

There is no question that the 1995 Boxing Day Test match is amongst the most controversial cricket matches ever played in Australia.

 

It sits alongside the Bodyline Test in Adelaide, Ian Meckiff no-balled for throwing in Brisbane in 1963, the Ray Illingworth led walk off by England at the SCG in 1971, the  ‘Underarm’ ball delived by Trevor Chappell at the MCG in 1981, and the Symonds/Harbhajan ‘MonkeyGate’ at the SCG in 2008 in Australian cricket infamy.

 

For the record, Sri Lankan spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan was called 7 times by umpire Darrell Hair for throwing – arguably the greatest stain that can be placed on a bowler – during the 38 overs he sent down in Australia’s 1^st Innings.

 

While it’s ranking in this list may upset and rankle some, what happened at the MCG on Boxing Day 1995 (30 years ago next year) has had a profound effect on the way the Throwing Law has been re-defined, interpreted and policed ever since.

 

Indeed, ‘Murali’ became unwittingly – for better or worse – the one bowler that forced a change in the Throwing Law in the chain of events that followed since.

 

Like being called again three years later by Ross Emerson on two separate occasions in One Day Internationals.

 

The ‘bend in the arm’ amendment to the Law that eventually settled the issue certainly allowed ‘Murali’ (amongst others) to stay in cricket.

 

Millions of words have been written in the debate that has ensued at the time – and which has continued since that Boxing Day.

 

Apart from the above quick summary, this Roar Rookie will not add to that now – there will be plenty who will add to it upon its 30^th anniversary in a year’s time.

 

As for the actual Test match itself, the Australians did not allow the seven times ‘Murali’ was called to distract them from piling on 6/500 declared – with Steve Waugh (131 not out) and David Boon (110 in his last Test Series) making centuries.

 

Distracted by the storm engulfing their prime spinner off the field, Sri Lanka were bowled out for 233 in reply thanks to 5/40 from eventual Man Of The Match Glenn McGrath.

 

Forced to follow on, Sri Lanka at least made Australia bat again – thanks to a fighting 143 from now long time Melbourne resident Asanka Gurusinha in their 2^nd Innings of 307.

 

The 41 runs that Australia knocked off on the last day to secure a unbeatable 2-0 series lead was almost an afterthought to the controversy that erupted during the contest.

 

Australia went on to clinch a 3-0 Series win, before Sri Lanka secured the ultimate reply with their World Cup Final win 2 months after the Test Series ended in Adelaide.

 

The bitter aftertaste of the ‘Murali’ controversy still lingers today.

 

There are millions of cricket fans around the world that marvel at the genius that Muttiah Muralitharan showed in becoming the greatest wicket taker Test Cricket has ever seen.

 

However, there are also many who believe that even though he took 800 Test Wickets, ‘Murali’ never bowled out a single man in his cricket career.

 

 

COMING UP IN PART 2 – THE TOP 5 GREAT MCG BOXING DAY TESTS

 

More from Tony Dosen can be read Here

 

 

 

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