My favourite SCG Tests: Part 2

In Part 1 I described two of my favourite Sydney Tests, the controversial ‘No rain, more Snow’ tussle of 1971 and the Brian Lara classic of 1993. Below are three more Sydney Tests etched in my memory.

When Peter ‘Who’ became Peter ‘Wow’ (January 1987)
England had retained the Ashes in 1986-87 by the time the final Test started.

Australia’s ultimate humiliation was losing the fourth Test in Melbourne by an innings in three days. Heads had to roll and new blood infused.

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So in came little-known off-spinner Peter Taylor. ‘Peter Who?’ wondered the daily newspapers.

Taylor entered the SCG gates determined to justify his selection and was not amused by a big banner in the former hill area, reading: “Aussie selectors couldn’t pick Bill Lawry’s nose”!

Australia was struggling at 7-232 with only three minutes to go on the opening day and the new ball just taken, when in came Taylor to bat. He survived and added 39 runs with Dean Jones (184 not out) the next morning, as Australia totalled 343.

England replied with 275, Taylor silencing his critics with a 6-78 haul – including the prize scalps of Alan Lamb, David Gower and Ian Botham.

In the second innings, Taylor (42) added 98 runs with Steve Waugh and the visitors were challenged to make 320 in 114 overs. They lost 5-102, man of the match Taylor dismissing Lamb and Botham off successive deliveries.

The hat-trick was averted, but the Test came alive as skipper Mike Gatting played aggressively and England was 5-230. With 90 runs needed in 20 overs Waugh affected a breakthrough by dismissing Gatting for 96.

Then the spinning Peters (Sleep and Taylor) combined to grab the last four wickets for seven runs in 11 spine-tingling minutes, with only one over to spare.

MacGill magic (January 1999)
England’s shock, 12-run victory in the December 1998 Melbourne Test set the Ashes ablaze and galvanised spectator interest.

Mark ‘Tubby’ Taylor became the first Australian captain to win all tosses in a five-Test series since Lindsay Hassett in 1953.

Fast-medium bowler Darren Gough became the first and only Englishman to claim a hat-trick in an Ashes Test in the 20th century.

Adventurous opening batsman Michael Slater slammed 123 runs out of Australia’s 184, which was 66.84 per cent of the team total, only fractionally behind Charles Bannerman’s 67.34 per cent domination in the inaugural Test in Melbourne, in March 1877.

Playing his farewell Test, Taylor took his 157th catch to eclipse Allan Border’s record in 52 fewer Tests. Mark Waugh claimed his 100th catch in Test cricket and Glenn McGrath his 200th Test wicket.

And the much underrated Stuart MacGill captured 12-107, the best Test figures on the SCG since Australian Charlie Turner’s 12-87 against England in February 1888.

The Test fluctuated wildly. Australia was on top at 5-319 (Mark Waugh 121, Steve Waugh 96) minutes before stumps on the opening day, but they lost their last five wickets in 15 minutes as Gough took his hat-trick.

MacGill outshone Shane Warne – as he usually does when the two master leg-spinners performed in pair – the former grabbing 5-57 against the latter’s 1-67, and England was bowled out for 220, a deficit of 102.

There was another twist on the third day as Australia collapsed for 184 despite Slater’s defiant century, Dean Headley and Peter Such being the destroyers.

Needing 287 to win, England was cruising at 2-104. To make 183 more runs in two days with eight wickets in hand was an achievable target. But man of the match MacGill had different ideas.

The visitors lost their last seven wickets for 84 measly runs, MacGill taking 7-50.

Australia won by 98 runs and retained the Ashes 3-1.

Steve Waugh’s century stops a nation (January 2003)
Many had predicted the Sydney Ashes Test of January 2003 to be Steve Waugh’s swan song. But his epic last-ball century on the second day not only prolonged his career by a year but also stopped the nation. It was a moment of drama when strong men shed tears of joy.

The final Test was not a thriller, as England won comfortably after losing the Ashes 0-4. However, the final over of the second day was right out of a soap opera, when Steve needed five runs for his century from off-spinner Richard Dawson.

The first three were dot balls but ‘Tugga’ took three runs off the fourth, and Adam Gilchrist engineered a single from the next.

Ultimately it came down to this, two runs needed for Waugh’s ton off the last ball of the day. England made him wait and sweat, engineering psychological field changes. In a blur, Steve drove the ball to the off for a four and reached his hundred as fans screamed in ecstasy.

This moment has gone down in folklore, producing a roar that cricket historian David Frith had not heard in Sydney in his 52 years of cricket reporting.