It’s January 2003 and the entire cricketing nation is focused on the outcome of a single delivery at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
The members have left the bars and the coffee stands. They crowd around the windows and cram into the stairwells, facing the playing arena. Tens of thousands at the ground strain forward in their plastic seats.
Around the country, families gather, in tense silence, around their television sets. The nightly news can wait.
Northwest of Cobar, a farmer listens intently to the Grandstand coverage on his transistor radio as his tractor turns and heads north, ploughing the sun-baked Earth.
A couple at Avoca Beach have left the surf and sit on the sand, still dripping wet, with their radio turned up to top volume. A small group gathers around them.
Finally, Richard Dawson prances to the crease and, with a twirl of his arms, sends the parabolic ball towards the waiting batsman.
Everybody holds their breath. Every spectator at the ground. Every cricket lover watching their TV. The leather-faced farmer northwest of Cobar. The young couple on Avoca Beach. And their new mates.
Whether a distinguished career continues, or ends now, remains in the tantalising balance.
But Steven Waugh – in a moment approaching mythic destiny – takes a step forward before shifting his weight onto his back foot. With his eyes focused fiercely on the twirling seam, Waugh smacks the ball crisply through the offside field to the boundary
A nation erupts in celebration as Waugh raises his arms in triumph.
The moment is iconic. It’s a moment deeply cherished by many Australian cricket fans. So cherished that I had friends berate me for excluding if from my list of top ten SCG Test moments. I feared I might get cancelled.
But it makes me wonder whether one shot can define a career.
What if Waugh had blocked that last ball of the day back to Dawson and walked from the field, self-satisfied on 98 overnight? How would he, then, be defined?
What if Waugh threw away his shot? What if he attempted a rash slog sweep only to see his stumps scattered in all directions? Would that have heralded the end of his career? Would we remember that dismissal with the same wistful nostalgia as Bradman being bowled four short of a 100 career average?
What if Michael Bevan muffed that winning straight drive against the Windies from the final ball of that one-dayer in 1996?
Conversely, what if Damien Martyn had hammered that cover drive to the boundary – rather than get caught – against the South Africans in January 1994 with just a handful of runs to win?
Can one shot define a career?
I reckon it can.
Peter Hunt
Roar Guru
All true DaveJ. That's one reason why I decided to omit Waugh's ton from my top 10 SCG test moments. It was a terrific innings and memorable moment (clearly) but of more personal, than team, significance....in a test Australia ultimately lost.
Peter Hunt
Roar Guru
Kerry: C'mon Steven!
Peter Hunt
Roar Guru
No worries, DaveJ. I'll cop that on the chin. I remember making the same point - with some vigour - in the 80s when Australia would get pummelled by the Windies. My mates complained that the Aussies weren't fighting hard enough and lacked spirit, but I argued the they were fighting hard but they were playing one of the best bowling attacks of all time.
Peter Hunt
Roar Guru
Some terrific cricketers playing for Queensland and NSW in that match. :happy:
Curmudgeon1961
Roar Rookie
If you don't remember Waugh's multiple smashed square cuts that got the boundary as fast as possible and then his nonchalant reaction you may need to have a better diet for your memory ????
Targa
Roar Rookie
Grant Elliot for hitting Dale Steyn back over his head for 6 to put NZ into the 2015 CWC final.
All day Roseville all day
Roar Guru
http://static.espncricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1980S/1984-85/AUS_LOCAL/SS/NSW_QLD_SS-FINAL_15-19MAR1985.html Queensland had never won the trophy. It had NSW nine down, with 11 runs still to get. Number eleven Gilbert cover-drove a boundary to extend the visitors' pain for one more season.
DaveJ
Roar Rookie
Averages 102 with bat and 21 with ball in 1894-95 but didn’t get picked for the 1896 tour to England, captained by his brother Harry! So tried his luck with Middlesex. I wonder what the actual distance of his Lords six was. I refuse to believe anyone in the 1890s could hit the ball as far as the 125-30 metres assessed as most likely the longest hits in recent times, using the toothpick bats of those days. Likely candidates discussed here: https://www.theroar.com.au/2021/11/19/cricket-and-baseball-by-the-numbers/
DaveJ
Roar Rookie
These were very memorable (though please, not “iconic”) moments, though not so much career defining. What was the Dave Gilbert moment.
DaveJ
Roar Rookie
Sorry Peter but getting edges repeatedly to leg cutters has got little to do with fighting spirit. Maybe their bowling at times has been lacklustre, lacking in purpose etc, and the catching has been poor, but it’s wrong for us spectators to conflate low batting scores in cricket with lack of spirit, guts or backbone, etc. Sometimes it might be technique or concentration, other times just very good balls - and Australia has bowled a lot of them - but it only takes one ball to get out.
DaveJ
Roar Rookie
Such 90s are much more impressive than 100s against the 2003 Poms.
DaveJ
Roar Rookie
Just to be a party pooper - personal milestones are all very well and his 100 was great for the crowd but ultimately the only relevance is contribution to the team score - except just possibly that getting a century can boost team morale and confidence. But there b*gger all difference between 98 and 103, just as we rarely say X did better than Y because he scored 117 as opposed to 105, or 141 vs 128. It’s the order of magnitude of the score that counts, judged in the context of the match and the conditions, how well it was played, including whether it was chanceless. But Damien Martyn’s shot certainly was career defining.
All day Roseville all day
Roar Guru
38no, 72no and 8-43 on debut. A better one than Scott Boland ! From Wisden's obituary after he took his own life aged 41- "One fact in Trott's career must not be forgotten. He was the only batsman who ever hit a ball over the present pavilion at Lord's. The great hit was made off Noble's bowling in a match between the M. C. C. and the Australians in 1899." From Wikipedia- "Trott's penchant for the spectacular did not fail him: having already landed the ball on the pavilion balcony at Lord's in the match, he became the only batsman to hit a ball over the current Lord's pavilion, bludgeoning Monty Noble out of the ground on 31 July 1899. The ball hit a chimney and fell into the garden outside the house of Philip Need, the Lord's dressing room attendant. Only two months earlier, playing for Middlesex against Sussex, Trott had hit a lofted drive from Fred Tate into the ironwork at the top of one of the pavilion towers."
JGK
Roar Guru
Batting wise, Ian Healy's 6 to win this test (after Mark Waugh's masterpiece) was pretty cool: http://howstat.com/cricket/Statistics/Matches/MatchScorecard.asp?MatchCode=1370
JGK
Roar Guru
Kerry: I think he’s going to run down the pitch. Agnew: But he could come back tomorrow… Pick off a loosener for two… Kerry: Stuff the silver, we’ve come here for gold! Poms’d come back tomorrow, we want it now. Aussies are instant people!
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
Albert Trott was an all rounder who also did astonishing feats with the ball, he did have some condition that led to a physical decline, maybe that whats sapped his hitting power. Trott was first to take two hat tricks in an innings , and he did that much later in his career.
Peter Hunt
Roar Guru
Is that true? Fascinating! Thanks All Day! Given the height of the Members' Pavilion at Lord's, that's a good hit!
All day Roseville all day
Roar Guru
Lord's in 1899, from Monty Noble's bowling, Albert Trott is still the only batsman to have completely cleared the Members' Pavilion. Apparently it ruined the rest of his career, as he regularly tried to repeat the feat.
Paul
Roar Guru
he certainly looked in the zone, especially in the last 50 of that knock.
Peter Hunt
Roar Guru
Yep, the demise of the West Indies as a super power is a real shame. Thankfully, the void is somewhat filled by the rise of India. Agree re England too. This series hasn't really nourished the cricketing soul, has it...? Perhaps we will see a more fighting, resilient England when Rooty is replaced as skipper. But by whom? That said, the cricket series I look forward to the most is watching the Ashes in England. Bring on 2023!