a match you've attended, and a memory from that match

I'll start with WI v Australia, 6th Test, February 1976 (link) ... in the days when there was a still a rest day! With my brother I attended all days bar the last, travelling from Frankston to Melbourne daily by train. We sat in Bay 13, surrounded by older yobs, on each day, and thought we were surely in paradise. At 16 and 14 we clearly were not of drinking age but somehow we managed to procure a few beers, not too many, but we enjoyed them; along with the inevitable pies at every break.

Of the game, I remember Redpath's stoic batting (thought at the time it might have been his last Test), Gilmour's ferocious bowling to a by now totally demoralised Windian side (he really did look huge and fairly formidable to us when he came down to field on the fine leg fence), McCosker's vindication in the second innings after what had been a terrible series for him, some elegant batting by the young Windian opener Viv Richards, and (for some reason, I don't know why I recall this) some fairly crabby batting by Len Baichan. We were disappointed not to see more of Rowe, who I think was the only scorer of a Test 300 going around at that time, and who had made a very fine 100 in Brisbane earlier in the series. Of the rest I cannot recall much, even after studying the scoreboard. Maybe we drank more than I remember. I do recall that we both got in at U14 prices before heading straight for Bay 13 and the bar ...

I remember attending a couple of days of the Headingly Test in 1977. Aust were getting a caning (we did'nt know about the Packer Circus negotiations at the time that were obviously undermining the team). My mate & i were sitting in the outer next to a huge Scotsman who was going for Australia because he hated the "unglish".
After stumps we retired to an interesting pub that had once been a Bank & got into a round with a couple of friendly locals. At time one of the guys said his dad owned a pub & would we like to 'kick on'. He apologised that it was just a working mans pub but the beer was ok.
We arrived at this quintessential traditional English pub that sold real ale from hand pulled pumps & were welcomed by the guys dad & his grandfather & proceeded to have a ripper session in the cellar. I had never pulled a pint before so i asked if i could have a go. I'd been watching how they did it & pulled the perfect pint to which granddad stated i was a natural & would get a job in any pub in the land.
My crowning achievement in the Olde Country.

Not as prestigious, but my mates and I went to a Norths v Notts OD in 2003. It was near the start of the season and we'd all been itching for a match. Got on the session early and watched Notts tonk the shite out of us. They got nearly 300. During that innings we saw a bloke ponce out of the way of catching a six in the crowd and laughed that we'd be catching the ball if it came our way. Hussey got out early but Jacques and David Sex Sales started tearing it up. As ever, if Sales got in, he went on the tonk. He smote a six, travelling towards us, we all stood and, being pissed, I nearly fell off the balcony. When I ducked to save myself the fall, the ball travelled over my head and smacked some dude behind me right in the nose. Blood everywhere. Anyway the portly gent classed his way to bringing us victory with 130odd*

Was at Wanderers to see Lara's 28 run over.

This match.

The Genius Little Aussie Battler AB brought up his 10,000th Test run. I was there on the day, and it was the longest standing O I have been involved in. Legend.

Big Dog wrote:I remember attending a couple of days of the Headingly Test in 1977. Aust were getting a caning (we did'nt know about the Packer Circus negotiations at the time that were obviously undermining the team). My mate & i were sitting in the outer next to a huge Scotsman who was going for Australia because he hated the "unglish".
After stumps we retired to an interesting pub that had once been a Bank & got into a round with a couple of friendly locals. At time one of the guys said his dad owned a pub & would we like to 'kick on'. He apologised that it was just a working mans pub but the beer was ok.
We arrived at this quintessential traditional English pub that sold real ale from hand pulled pumps & were welcomed by the guys dad & his grandfather & proceeded to have a ripper session in the cellar. I had never pulled a pint before so i asked if i could have a go. I'd been watching how they did it & pulled the perfect pint to which granddad stated i was a natural & would get a job in any pub in the land.
My crowning achievement in the Olde Country.

Outstanding story.

Pears V Hampshire at New Road in 1986 - Macca in his pomp. Far and away the fastest piece of bowling I have witnessed.

Seeing David Sales smash a triple century against Essex in 1999, we were at 58-6 at one point. Can't believe it was that long ago actually.

I think in that same game our batsman "Extras" was stranded on 99.

Edit: And here's the scorecard. Apologies, Extras got 98. Pretty sexual scorecard though.

vilkrang wrote:Seeing David Sales smash a triple century against Essex in 1999, we were at 58-6 at one point. Can't believe it was that long ago actually.

I think in that same game our batsman "Extras" was stranded on 99.

Edit: And here's the scorecard. Apologies, Extras got 98. Pretty sexual scorecard though.

Ohh that was so sexual. Must admit I glory-hunted and only went there for the start of day 2. I was dole-bludging at the time so didn't have piles of cash. You could still pay by session, I just blagged it in there for the rest of the day. Rippers was top drawer too. Was incredible.

I have only attended two one-dayers at the Gabba. One was the 1975/76 Gillette Cup Final when Queensland won their first-ever trophy. The other was this match - Qld vs Tas 1976/77.

You will notice that Kevin Badock had bowling figures of 0.3/0/0/0. It was also the last game that Badcock played for Tasmania. There was a good reason for this. Badcock was bowling to Vivian Richards when the great batsman smashed a drive straight back at him. It hit him in the head & we all thought Viv had killed him. Fortunately he survived.

WideWally wrote:I have only attended two one-dayers at the Gabba. One was the 1975/76 Gillette Cup Final when Queensland won their first-ever trophy. The other was this match - Qld vs Tas 1976/77.

You will notice that Kevin Badock had bowling figures of 0.3/0/0/0. It was also the last game that Badcock played for Tasmania. There was a good reason for this. Badcock was bowling to Vivian Richards when the great batsman smashed a drive straight back at him. It hit him in the head & we all thought Viv had killed him. Fortunately he survived.

He didn't concede any runs, so it must have been a decent stop!

(luckily he had a spare head)

I remember that terrible blow; Badcock was a good cricketer, especially in ODIs.

Basil wrote:

WideWally wrote:I have only attended two one-dayers at the Gabba. One was the 1975/76 Gillette Cup Final when Queensland won their first-ever trophy. The other was this match - Qld vs Tas 1976/77.

You will notice that Kevin Badock had bowling figures of 0.3/0/0/0. It was also the last game that Badcock played for Tasmania. There was a good reason for this. Badcock was bowling to Vivian Richards when the great batsman smashed a drive straight back at him. It hit him in the head & we all thought Viv had killed him. Fortunately he survived.

He didn't concede any runs, so it must have been a decent stop!

Aye. He swallowed the ball.

Literally!

Brass Monkey wrote:

vilkrang wrote:Seeing David Sales smash a triple century against Essex in 1999, we were at 58-6 at one point. Can't believe it was that long ago actually.

I think in that same game our batsman "Extras" was stranded on 99.

Edit: And here's the scorecard. Apologies, Extras got 98. Pretty sexual scorecard though.

Ohh that was so sexual. Must admit I glory-hunted and only went there for the start of day 2. I was dole-bludging at the time so didn't have piles of cash. You could still pay by session, I just blagged it in there for the rest of the day. Rippers was top drawer too. Was incredible.

I can't remember why but I couldn't attend day 3 so didn't see the finish, saw all of day 1 and 2 though. Was only 14 at the time and remember it being a turning point in my love for cricket.

2nd April 2011 at Bombay. Nuff said

one of the greatest days of my life

vilkrang wrote:I can't remember why but I couldn't attend day 3 so didn't see the finish, saw all of day 1 and 2 though. Was only 14 at the time and remember it being a turning point in my love for cricket.

**sighs** Oh David John Grimwood Sales. Special.

WideWally wrote:I have only attended two one-dayers at the Gabba. One was the 1975/76 Gillette Cup Final when Queensland won their first-ever trophy. The other was this match - Qld vs Tas 1976/77.

You will notice that Kevin Badock had bowling figures of 0.3/0/0/0. It was also the last game that Badcock played for Tasmania. There was a good reason for this. Badcock was bowling to Vivian Richards when the great batsman smashed a drive straight back at him. It hit him in the head & we all thought Viv had killed him. Fortunately he survived.

Aye..i remember that. Jim Wilkinson was a schoolmate of mine & is now a successful Lawyer & member of the Legislative Council in Tasmania. He also played a few games of VFL with South Melbourne. I never let him forget, however, when i bump into him in the street.

1992 World Cup Final at the MCG

The Great Southern Stand had just opened .

My first trip to Melbourne

Pakistan vs the pommy qunts ...Beefy had cracked the sh!ts about Gerry Connolly impersonating the Queen at an official WC dinner and then had made a crack about 'all Australians being convicts' ....thus ensuring that no Ozzie would barrack for the Poms

Memories

Blokes running around carrying Ozzie flags with the Union Jack removed and replace with the Pak flag

The poms chanting 'engerland engerland engerland' and the Ozzies responding with 'Inzamam Inzamam Inzamam'

The loudest crowd roar I'd ever heard when Beefy came out to bat ....replaced 12 minutes later when he got out for a duck to Wasim

The kids sitting in front of us were going through their bags showing each other what they'd brought to the game. Sandwiches , chips drinks etc . One kid brings out a tray of frozen sausages . The other kids tell him they'll came in handy later . My mate and I are trying to work out the sausages and figure as the Great Southern Stand is new they might have a bbq area so the kid can cook his snags. No . During the evening when the game got a bit slow (probably just after Wasim took out Lamb and Lewis in consecutive balls) the crowd started up the Wave and the little sh!ts started throwing the (by now defrosted) snags as high as they could to land on others in the crowd .They gave each other bonus points if they could lob up a tier . It was funny (as long as you weren't the person getting hit with a raw sausage) and the whole crowd around the kids would spin round to see where the snags went when they launched them.

England v South Africa at Headingley 2003. The evening session and the start of the South African second innings. England were bowled out a few short, Nasser in particular had been raging at his dismissal to Rudolph, the part-timer. Must've been the Saturday, cause we sang Happy Birthday to Butch, who was fielding under the crappy scoreboard.

The atmosphere after Kirtley got Gibbs cheaply, and then the roar when Martin Bicknell, the legend that is, got Smith for not many. There weren't many overs left in the day and most of the west stand were drumming on seats, the boundary boards, whatever, trying to urge on the old war horse to get another that night. It wasn't to be and Kirsten and Andrew Hall took the match, but the Oval went on to be fantastic for England. What a series.

embee wrote:1992 World Cup Final at the MCG

The Great Southern Stand had just opened .

My first trip to Melbourne

Pakistan vs the pommy qunts ...Beefy had cracked the sh!ts about Gerry Connolly impersonating the Queen at an official WC dinner and then had made a crack about 'all Australians being convicts' ....thus ensuring that no Ozzie would barrack for the Poms

Memories

Blokes running around carrying Ozzie flags with the Union Jack removed and replace with the Pak flag

The poms chanting 'engerland engerland engerland' and the Ozzies responding with 'Inzamam Inzamam Inzamam'

The loudest crowd roar I'd ever heard when Beefy came out to bat ....replaced 12 minutes later when he got out for a duck to Wasim

The kids sitting in front of us were going through their bags showing each other what they'd brought to the game. Sandwiches , chips drinks etc . One kid brings out a tray of frozen sausages . The other kids tell him they'll came in handy later . My mate and I are trying to work out the sausages and figure as the Great Southern Stand is new they might have a bbq area so the kid can cook his snags. No . During the evening when the game got a bit slow (probably just after Wasim took out Lamb and Lewis in consecutive balls) the crowd started up the Wave and the little sh!ts started throwing the (by now defrosted) snags as high as they could to land on others in the crowd .They gave each other bonus points if they could lob up a tier . It was funny (as long as you weren't the person getting hit with a raw sausage) and the whole crowd around the kids would spin round to see where the snags went when they launched them.

I was there too. I was sitting in the old Ponsford and had a great view of the new GSS which looked magnificent, full as it was. Was barracking for Pakistan. I hate watching cricket from square leg but you could see the wizardry of the bowlers quite well as they were swinging it prodigiously. Hard to forget the captain's winning speech either.