That’s what it will be when a plan to mark 150 years of the traditional form of the game with a pink-ball Test comes to fruition in March 2027; Centenary Test of 1977 is worth emulating
Man of the match Derek Randall of England enjoys a joke during the Centenary Test presentation at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on March 17, 1977. Pic/Getty Images
Last week, Test cricket turned 148 and Cricket Australia (CA) have given themselves a good two years to prepare for a day-night pink ball Test match (March 11-15, 2027) to mark 150 years of the traditional form of the game.
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In 1977, the establishment, which was called the Australian Cricket Board (ACB) then, successfully conducted the Centenary Test, held around the same time as the very first Test played in 1877 between Australia and England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).
The Centenary Test turned out to be a big hit with Greg Chappell’s Australia winning by 45 runs, the same margin as Dave Gregory’s team did a hundred years ago.
The very idea to conduct the 1977 Centenary Test was a great one. But whose brainchild was it? Australian journalist Rod Nicholson put it interestingly in his article that appeared in Australian Cricket magazine in March 1977: “Hans Christian Andersen is the king of fairy tales, and although Melbourne’s Hans Ebeling confesses he was not named after the legendary character, that surely must have been an oversight.”
In 1973, former Australia Test player Ebeling, a vice-president of the Melbourne Cricket Club, was going through some books and discovered that Test cricket was four years away from a century. “I decided then that something should be done—and done if possible by the Melbourne Cricket Club as the First Test was played here. I believed that it would have been an asset—if not an essential one—to have a Test to commemorate it and past players gathered to witness it. So I put the idea to the Melbourne Cricket Club.”
The rest was historic. By March 1977, Melbourne was the hub of cricket nostalgia interspersed with some highly competitive cricket at the MCG, where Greg Chappell’s hosts tackled Tony Greig’s Englishmen, fresh from their victorious 1976-77 series win in India.
Frank Tyson, the England pace terror-turned-commentator and coach, did justice to his realisation of the event’s significance. In the Prologue to a publication on the Centenary Test, the late Tyson wrote: “A hundred years is only a drop in the ocean of time, but in human terms, it is worthy of celebration. The centenarian deserves his party; he looks forward to the usual royal telegram recognising his feat of longevity. Test cricket held its hundredth birthday party at its birthplace on 12th March, 1977. It was perhaps the biggest party of all time with hundreds of thousands of guests. Personal royal recognition of the notable anniversary came in the shape of the visit of the Queen to the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 17th March.”
The who’s who of Anglo-Australian Test cricket came along. Every living player who had played for Australia was invited. Seventy-nine England cricketers landed in Melbourne like Len Hutton, Denis Compton, Godfrey Evans, Peter May and Brian Statham, who reunited with his Australia-based bowling partner Tyson.
The oldest of them all, Percy Fender, 84, arrived at Melbourne’s Tullamarine airport arrival lounge in a wheelchair accompanied by his grandson Nicholas.
Special flights from various states brought cricketers from respective regions across Australia. Sir Donald Bradman and spin stalwart Clarrie Grimmett arrived from Adelaide while the Queensland flight had the likes of then Australia captain Greg Chappell, pace great Ray Lindwall and all-rounder Ken ‘Slasher’ Mackay.
The contingent of former players from New South Wales included 1948 Invincible Neil Harvey, then a national selector. Day One of the Test was nothing short of dramatic. Greig decided to send Australia in and bowled them out for 138 not long after John Lever bowled the first ball to Ian Davis. Rick McCosker, the other Australia opener, was hit on the jaw by Bob Willis while attempting a hook shot and the ball deflected on to his stumps. England didn’t do better than their traditional rivals as Dennis Lillee (6-26) and Max Walker (4-54) dismantled the visitors for 95.
Australia got their batting act together in the second innings, buoyed by half-centuries from the blades of opener Davis, Doug Walters and Test debutant David Hookes. Hookes went from 36 to a memorable half century in five balls from Greig via four boundaries. If that was dramatic, there was an act of courage in store. McCosker came out to bat with his broken jaw bandaged as Rod Marsh approached his century—the first by an Australian wicketkeeper against the old enemy. The brave McCosker scored 25 before being dismissed by Chris Old. Chappell declared at 419-9, setting England a 463-run target. They were primed to get there, thanks to Derek Randall’s 174 which earned him the man of the match award. Undoubtedly, the fidgety Nottinghamshire batsman played the innings of his life against an attack led by a rampaging Lillee, who finally broke England’s back for Australia to win a memorable Test. Lillee bowled almost 59 overs in the game for his 11 wickets. No wonder he looked knackered as he made his way back to the pavilion.
The Test did full justice to its billing. Chappell admitted in his book, The 100th Summer that he thought the Test would end in three days but it was open till the fifth day. “I will always remember this particular Test. With all the nostalgia, champion cricket, the excitement, the organization, how could I forget it? Had someone sat down and devised a dramatic script, a more thrilling and dramatic match couldn’t have been contrived. Both sides were in it right to the death and when play ended, within the last hour on the final day, we had achieved victory by just forty-five runs—the exact margin that had applied when the same two teams met on the same ground exactly one century ago. It was almost like a fairy tale,” wrote Chappell.
Test cricket lovers will be hoping that the 2027 Melbourne Test will evoke similar emotions. We can’t wait, can we?
mid-day’s group sports editor Clayton Murzello is a purist with an open stance. He tweets @ClaytonMurzello
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