How I ended up just metres from the WACA for Glenn McGrath's hat-trick

It was a moment of pure mixed emotions. The roar that rolled out of the WACA ground and washed over me prompted simultaneous senses of elation and regret. Something extraordinary had just happened.

But I had missed it.

I thrust my fist upwards in celebration and then high fived a mate with a grin. Yet, as I passed through the WACA security and into the ground I started to feel ill.

I could not believe that, just minutes earlier, one of Australia’s all-time great cricketers had achieved a once-in-a-career feat while I had been rushing towards the ground, late for the start of play.

There was no one else to blame, it was my fault. I had woken late on that Friday morning, far from fresh after a night of revelry in Fremantle, my favourite haunt as an 18-year-old.

My mate was livid when I arrived at Kelmscott train station just as a service left for Perth. Back in 2000, it was a long while before the next train departed. Now we were going to arrive at Claisebrook station in East Perth just after the start of play on Day 1 of the second Test between Australia and the West Indies.

I was just as incensed as my friend. A true cricket geek, I couldn’t stomach missing even an over of the only day of Test cricket I would witness live that year.

We were going to be elsewhere as legendary Windies quick Courtney Walsh pinged a new ball at the heads of two of my favourite batsmen Matthew Hayden and Michael Slater. Alternatively, we would not get to see Aussie pace heroes Glenn McGrath and Brett Lee open the bowling.

Which of those two scenarios would unfold in our absence all depended on the toss. We listened to my mate’s mini radio on the train as the coin hit the turf. Australia would bowl. “Ahh for god’s sake,” was roughly what I muttered, albeit not quite that politely.

I was particularly excited at the prospect of Lee breaking the 160kmh barrier on what was, back then, still the world’s quickest pitch – before a change of soil and encroaching corporate interests turned it into a surface as interesting as my late-night banter in Fremantle.

Our train was only halfway to Perth when McGrath sent the first delivery of the Test skimming off the rock-hard deck. Somehow, Windies opener Sherwin Campbell survived that opening over.

Campbell was the single biggest bunny McGrath ever owned. The Barbadian was dismissed a whopping 11 times by the Australian in his 52-Test career.

Another mismatch occurred in the next over as Lee was pitted against journeyman batsman Darren Ganga. Across 48 Tests, Ganga struggled horrendously against good fast bowling. He averaged just 17 from his 25 Tests against Australia, South Africa and England. The Trinidadian was especially vulnerable to express pace.

That was a fatal weakness to possess given Lee, at this point, was consistently bowling at speeds rarely seen in the history of cricket. He had just bowled the fastest ball of his career – 161.8km/h – in the first Test at the Gabba.

As Lee unleashed at the WACA, Ganga looked clueless, the radio informed us. He was so far off the pace, so to speak, that he was out plumb LBW from Lee’s fifth delivery, very late on a ball which was only 142.8kmh, slow by the New South Welshman’s standards.

Campbell was then joined by Wavell Hinds. The pugnacious left-hander from Jamaica was one of the only West Indian batsmen to show fight in this 5-0 slaughter of a series. He batted for well over two hours on this day in Perth. Long enough to see a stream of teammates arrive and depart.

Hinds had one of the best views in the stadium to witness what I’ve always regretted missing. As my mate and I speed-walked from the station towards the WACA, we listened on the radio to the forlorn resistance being put up by Campbell and Hinds.

They were like firefighters trying to hold back a bush blaze with a garden hose. At least that’s how it sounded on the radio.

Then, just like that, Campbell was engulfed by McGrath’s flames, caught at first slip after being squared up in defence, as he so often was by the Australian star.

“They’re going to be all out by lunch,” I remarked to my mate as we trotted down a quiet East Perth street. “They won’t get Lara though, he’ll still be there”.

I made that second remark with great confidence. Even though the Australians of this era – the best Test team of all time – routinely scythed through opposition batting lineups, they always found an equal opponent in Lara.

He was, and still is, my favourite batsman of all time. Despite playing almost his entire Test career against McGrath and Shane Warne, the sorcerer from Santa Cruz dominated Australia, churning out 2856 runs at 51 with an incredible nine tons from just 31 Tests.

The very next ball after dismissing Campbell, McGrath landed a delivery on a perfect in-between length in line with Lara’s leg stump. The ball seamed away from the champion left-hander.

It was the type of delivery the Australian continually tried to produce against Lara across their many battles in the hope it would square him up. It did just that. The ball kissed the outside edge and flew to third slip where Stuart MacGill juggled the catch.

I swore, not for the first time that day. Not only were we late, not only had my batting idol just been dismissed, not only had we just missed McGrath’s 300th Test wicket, but we were not going to see his attempt at a hat-trick.

We started to run, which caused my backpack to bounce and the lunchbox inside to burst open, scattering my sandwiches. More profanity followed.

When Jimmy Adams took guard to face the hat-trick ball I was half-hoping McGrath wouldn’t roll him. Pure selfishness meant I didn’t want to be so near yet so distant from watching a Test hat-trick live. Then, as I was metres from the WACA entrance, the crowd detonated and those mixed emotions appeared.

I tried my best to enjoy the rest of the day’s play, yet I couldn’t rid myself of a fan’s remorse. McGrath took a hat-trick while I ran with an annoyed mate and a messy backpack defiled by broken sandwiches.

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