Three of the SCG's most memorable Test moments

The new year starts with a Sydney Test. I have not missed watching a Test at the SCG from 1970. Below is my personal choice of the three most memorable January Ashes Tests in Sydney.

1987: When Peter ‘Who?’ became Peter ‘Wow!’
England had retained the Ashes in 1986-87 by the time the final Test started in Sydney. 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, so in came little-known off-spinner Peter Taylor in the side. “Peter Who?” headlined the daily newspapers.

Peter Taylor entered the SCG gates determined to justify his selection and was not amused by a big banner in the former Hill area: “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. The new ball had just been 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, but 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 (73), and the visitors were challenged to make 320 in 114 overs.

They lost 5/102, with man of the match Peter 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 5/233.

With 87 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.

Australia won by 55 runs to end their barren run of 14 matches.

1999: The MacGill magic
England’s shock 12-run victory in the previous Melbourne Test had 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 had done in 1953.

The Test fluctuated wildly. Australia was on top at 5/319 (Mark Waugh scored 121 and Steve Waugh 96, adding 190 for the fourth wicket) minutes before stumps on the opening day, but they lost their last five wickets in 15 minutes as fast-medium bowler Darren Gough took the hat-trick. Gough became the first and only Englishman to perform a hat-trick in an Ashes Test in the 20th century.

Stuart MacGill outshone Shane Warne as he usually does when the two master leg spinners perform in tandem. MacGill grabbed 5/57 against Warne’s 1/67 and England was bowled out for 220, a deficit of 102.

The adventurous opening batsman Michael Slater slammed 123 runs out of Australia’s 184 in the second innings. This 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.

There were four milestones in this exciting Test. Playing his farewell Test, Mark Taylor took his 157th catch to eclipse Allan Border’s record, Mark Waugh held his 100th catch in Test cricket and Glenn McGrath captured his 200th Test wicket.

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

There was another twist on the third day when Australia collapsed for 184 despite Slater’s defiant century, Dean Headley (4/40) and Peter Such (5/81) being the destroyers.

Needing 287 to win, England was cruising at 2/104 at stumps on Day 4. 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 as the MacGill magic captured 7/50. Australia won by 98 runs and their sixth successive Ashes series 3-1.

2003: Steve’s century stops a nation
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 stopped the nation for a few tantalising minutes.

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, but the final over of the second day was right out of a soap opera when Steve needed five runs for his century off Richard Dawson.

The first three were dot balls, but Steve took three runs off the fourth. Adam Gilchrist engineered a single from the next ball. Ultimately it came down to this: two runs needed for Steve’s ton off the last ball of the day.

England made him wait, making psychological field changes. In a blur Steve drove the final ball of the day to the off for a four and reached his hundred as fans screamed in ecstasy.

This moment has gone down in folklore. It produced a roar cricket historian David Frith had not heard in Sydney in his 52 years of cricket reporting. Patrons in pubs were chanting Steve’s name hours after his epic hundred.