Memories of SCG Tests past

Sitting in the Noble Stand on the first day of the New Year’s Test match, my meandering mind wandered to SCG glories past.

With an under-strength – and under-performing – Kiwi side bowling, my ramblings were understandable. This summer of Australian cricket has followed a pleasing but predictable pattern.

I remember my first SCG experience. It was during the divided summer of 1978-79 and my elder brother and I were sitting with a family friend under the Bob Stand watching the Ashes. Over 40 years have passed, but I can still remember unexpected hero Rodney Hogg sprinting in for the first ball of the English innings – his back at 45 degrees to his pumping legs and his arms pistoning sideways – hurling it down and trapping a shuffling Geoffrey Boycott leg before wicket.

Suddenly the Sheridan Stand was alive! Thousands of arms were flung into the furious air as Aussie supporters roared with rapturous delight. It was almost as though, to my young eyes, the Sheridan Stand were a living beast, advancing towards the celebrating players on the field.

That same summer, my grandfather took my brothers and I to a day-night World Series Cricket clash between the Australians and the Rest of the World. Two memories still resonate: the night gathering beyond the light towers like an impending storm and Chappelli playing an untamed hook shot, which sent the white ball sailing through the night air, into the Brewongle construction zone, for six.

My SCG experience has been replete with highlights between the romantic then and the prosaic now.

(Steve Christo/Corbis via Getty Images)

Some are common to many: Steve Waugh satisfying a nation’s wishes by cover-driving the last ball of the day to post an epic century; Dean Jones chasing a teenage Sachin Tendulkar as he walked from the playing arena to shake his hand following a sublime, youthful ton; Allan Border scoring twin eighties against the Poms in ‘83; Kim Hughes skipping down the wicket in the same Test to launch the ball thrice into a lovely sub-orbital, parabolic arc onto the Sheridan concourse; the crowd roaring with glorious anticipation every time Warnie wrist-released the ball while bowling to Daryll Cullinan in ‘94; and Michael Clarke taking three wickets in the second last over to defeat the Indians in 2008.

Other memories are more wistful: the rain intervening when I felt sure a record 440-run chase in the final innings was within Australia’s gallant grasp in the Ashes series of ‘95; Tendulkar batting the Aussie bowlers into the sunbaked dust in ‘04; Brian Lara’s divine double century in ‘93; Damien Martyn trudging mournfully from the field after failing to see Australia home against the South Africans in ‘94; and Glenn McGrath popping up a terminal return catch to Fanie de Villiers moments later.

Other memories still make me laugh, like the time I was sitting atop the Doug Walters Stand with some uni mates in the late 1980s, watching an ODI against the Windies. While people threw various items of detritus in the air, as the Mexican Wave chased itself around the ground, I had the brilliant idea of erecting the umbrella I had with me to protect myself. Suddenly I was a target! With my umbrella up, I was fine, but I can still see my mates yelling at me to put it down as they ducked everything from beer cups (not all empty), tennis balls, chicken bones and partially eaten meat pies!

Many such memories of SCG Tests are personal to me, like spending time with family and friends, discussing the battle unfolding – sometimes pulsatingly, but often periodically – out on the field.

My most poignant memory of the SCG, however, is the five days I spent by my grandfather’s side as a 15-year-old in 1984, watching every ball of the Test against Imran Khan’s Pakistanis.

I remember being surprised when Grandpa pointed to an interview unfolding in front of the Members’ Stand and telling me that Greg Chappell was retiring. I’m not sure why I didn’t see that coming. Dennis Lillee and Rod Marsh would, of course, soon follow Chappell’s example and the stark realisation that I’d never see these heroes I had grown up with ever play again hit me hard.

But, for me, the retirement of Chappell, Lillee and Marsh in that January Test in 1984 was the end of a utopian cricketing era for other reasons.

Firstly, my true boyhood hero was Kim Hughes and, although nobody could have fathomed it at the time, this would be his last SCG Test too. His first innings knock would mark the last time he passed 50 in a Test.

Another event I could not have foreseen was my father’s job taking him – and, therefore, me – to Japan for several years. A little research revealed that Test cricket was not broadcast in Tokyo. I recall, at the time, finding that surprising.

So that Test against Pakistan in ‘84 would be my last visit to the SCG for three summers. I missed the spin-twinning victory against the mighty Windies in ‘85 and the thrilling triumphs against New Zealand in ‘86 and England in ‘87 (albeit all in series Australia lost).

Most tragically, when I strolled through the Members’ Gates to leave the SCG that January evening in 1984 – a joyful spring in my youthful step, following Australia’s victory over Pakistan – it simply never occurred to me that this might be the last time I would walk this way with my revered grandfather, who passed away later that year.

Had I known, I may have said something.

I would have told Grandpa how much I adored sitting with him in his customary seats, behind the bowler’s arm, in the old MA Noble Stand at his beloved Sydney Cricket Ground. And I would have thanked him for patiently teaching me about the game’s nuances – lessons that would enhance my passion for the game forever.

To this day, as I did this morning, I think of Grandpa when I enter the SCG and climb the stairs to find my seat in the new Noble Stand. And then I focus my attention on the events on the field and wonder what adventures will unfold.