What have been the best Test matches ever?
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By Jason Cave, 10 Dec 2009 The Crowd is a Roar Pro
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- Australian Cricket, Cricket, Test cricket
Seeing as we had a good, but not great, Test match in Adelaide between Australia and the West Indies, it made me wonder: what were the best Test matches I’ve seen in my time watching cricket?
Here are my selections:
1. Centenary Test 1977 Australia v England (Melbourne)
2. 3rd Test 1981 England v Australia (Headingley)
3. 4th Test 1982 Australia v England (Melbourne)
4. 2nd Test 1994 Australia v South Africa (Sydney)
5. 4th Test 1993 Australia v West Indies (Adelaide)
6. 2nd Test 2005 England v Australia (Birmingham)
7. 2nd Test 2006 Australia v England (Adelaide)
8. 3rd Test 1987 Australia v New Zealand (Melbourne)
9. 2nd Test 2001 India v Australia (Kolkata)
10. 3rd Test 2005 England v Australia (Nottingham)
Which Test matches are the best you’ve seen, either live or on TV?
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Fisher Price said | December 10th 2009 @ 8:16am | Report comment
The 1994 Sydney Test. Australia bundled out chasing a handful. Damien Martyn sent to purgatory.
Brett McKay said | December 10th 2009 @ 8:29am | Report comment
wow, where to start…
Michael C said | December 10th 2009 @ 8:39am | Report comment
purely on a personal basis, text match number 3 in the authors list is number 1. However, that was a factor of time/place/age/opportunity etc.
i.e. in 1981 I wasn’t allowed to sit up all night following the games (on ABC radio).
there’s an obvious generational issue here, I’m waiting for someone to nominate the tied test Aust v Windies from 60/61.
Brian said | December 10th 2009 @ 8:54am | Report comment
3rd Test 1999 West Indies v Australia, Lara scored 150* in the 4th Innings and they won by 1 wicket.
vinay verma said | December 10th 2009 @ 9:15am | Report comment
7th Test SCG February 1971..My First Test at the SCG..8 ball overs in vogue and two great fast bowlers. The enigmatic and brooding John Snow and the young tearaway Lillee. England won by 62 on the 6th Day (rest days then) and there was drama and intrigue from the moment Snow felled Jenner with a vicious bouncer..Australia 7 for 195 and Jenner retire hurt on 8. Came back after the fall of the 8th wicket and scored a gutsy 30 being last man out.
Illingworth led his team off after a barrage of beercans from the Hill.Greg Chappell batted at 6 and Australia played two leg spinners in O’Keefe and Jenner. Lillee was yet to be united with Thommo and his opening partners were Dell and Walters.This was Test Cricket with no holds barrd. Like bare knuckle boxing. The crowd was baying like at a bull fight. This was christians being thrown to the Lions.
sheek said | December 10th 2009 @ 1:23pm | Report comment
Vinay,
I always like to tell the story I was about 50m from the drunken guy on the fence who grabbed John Snow’s shirt soon after felling terry jenner, which led to beer cans raining onto the field, & Illingworth leading his players off.
I don’t know, I was 14 then (1970/71), but as I get older the distance away seems to be contracting. However, I do recall having a very clear view of the incident, so perhaps I really was about that close!
vinay verma said | December 10th 2009 @ 2:25pm | Report comment
There you go,Sheek, I was below the scoreboard in the middle of the Hill so we must have been about a 100 meters away. I probably threw one of the cans and you probably threw a soft drink can.
sheek said | December 10th 2009 @ 6:58pm | Report comment
Vinay,
I was probably a little further away from you than that. I was in I think the Bill O’Reilly stand as it was known, before becoming the Pat Hills stand. This is the stand on the Eastern side, near the main entrance from Moore Park Road. I wasn’t far from the entrance thoroughfare.
The scuffle occurred at the base on the small hill area adjoining to the north-east, which later became the Doug Walters stand (I think).
No, I didn’t throw any soft drink cans either. I was more fascinated than anything else – I hadn’t seen anything like this in my short life up to that point!
M1tch said | December 10th 2009 @ 9:21am | Report comment
2nd test Aus v India @ SCG 2008 – all the drama that went with the match
3rd test Aus v India @ Perth 2008 – the fightback from India
4th test Aus v England @Adel 1995 – england bowled aussies out on final day
Brett McKay said | December 10th 2009 @ 9:31am | Report comment
I’ll throw up the 3rd Test v South Africa in 2001/02 at the SCG – South Africa were on the verge of an innings defeat inside three days, but an unbeaten 150 from Gary Kirsten in the second dig meant that Australia had a decent target to chase, and more importantly, it also meant the fourth day tickets that my mates and I held nervously on day 3 were suddenly usable…
M1tch said | December 10th 2009 @ 9:33am | Report comment
1st test Aus v RSA @ WACA 2008 – Johnson 8 wickets, Smith 100 and Duminy unbeaten 50 on debut
Ian Whitchurch said | December 10th 2009 @ 9:54am | Report comment
Australia vs Bangladesh, at Fatullah, April 2006.
This match had it all. A brilliant first-day century by Sharihar Nafees, who treated Shane Warne like a club bowler on his way to a first-day century. Warne 0-112 and early shower from a “sore shoulder”, his worst figures since Ravi Shastri and the boys took him behind the woodshed at the SCG at the start of his career. Tigers finally dismissed for 427, with 50s from Saleh and Bashar, with MacGill getting 8 wickets for 108.
Australia put on the rack at 6-93, before a rescue job by Gilchrist with 144 (fifteen fours, six sixes) of the total 269, with slow left armer Rafique getting five. Without Gilchrist, Australia would be forced to follow on.
Bangladesh collapse in the second innings for 148, with Gillespie 3-18, and Warne getting some of the allegedly cheap Bangladeshi wickets with 3-28 (match figures, an unspectacular 3-140)..
Australia chasing 308 in the fourth innings on a slow and turning track, against the old stager Rafique and the kid SLA, Enamul Haque Junior.
173 runs, going along smoothly, then Hayden falls, and then Martyn, then Clarke, then Gilchrist with the score 225. 80 to get, 5 wickets in hand, Ponting still there the last of the recognised batsmen.
Warne goes at 231. Six down, 70 runs or four wickets to get.
Lee goes at 277. Seven down, 30 runs needed.
Ponting is dropped by Mortaza off Shahadat at 284, and brings his side home with an unbeaten century. Australia by three wickets.
One of the absolute, all time best Test matches, won by two magnificent performances by two of the best there ever was, in Gilchrist and Ponting.
Carn the Tigers.
Ian Whitchurch
Jameswm said | December 10th 2009 @ 9:54am | Report comment
Unfortunately, three that spring to mind are ones we lost!
There’s no.6 on your list, when Kasper was wrongly given out by Billy Birmingham for England to win by 2. A test that decided the Ashes series, as there’s no way England would have come back from 2 down. I don’t blame Billy for giving Kasper out, as it did look out on first viewing from front on, but it just adds to the drama and memory of the test that he wasn’t out (hand was off the bat)!
Then there’s no.5 on your list, when Billy the Kid McDermott was given out caught off the grill of his helmet, for the Windies to win in Adelaide by 1 solitary run.
And of course the one where Border nearly saved us (no.3 on the list), when Thommo was caught off the rebound by Geoff Miller at slip (I think Both fumbled it first).
It’s not just the closeness of the results, but the incredibly dramatic finishes. Two were proven wrong decisions, and the other was a fumble then catch.