The 6th anniversary of the 434 match

Wow, has it been that long??

I was in Cape Town when it happened in the middle of perhaps the best three months of my life so far, coaching cricket at a school just a Herschelle Gibbs six away from Newlands, living in a beautiful big house with six party loving American student teachers (one of whom I was shagging rotten) and enjoying the view from the foot of Table Mountain every morning as I looked out of my bedroom window.

Being in South Africa when the game took place made it feel so much more significant. 10 minutes or so after after the game, people were literally yelling out from inside their cars as we walked down the street, beeping their horns "Did you see the cricket?? Amazing!!!" The next day people who hadn't seen the game live were crowded around TVs in cafes watching the replay on Supersport. Even my American house mates became cricket converts!The game was the top story on the front page of every newspaper. I still have a copy of the Cape Times from the day after the match.

Great times.

I remember feeling quite ill when I got up next morning and heard the result of the game. I had watched nearly all of Aus's remarkable innings, including Drunky's blitzkrieg, and went to bed feeling quite smug.

And Human selflessly wasting only 7 balls was the best that happened to South Africa that day.

I saw the second innings live from the first ball for some reason. Didn't regret it.

Still can't believe that Lewis FFS got 10 overs and Ferny only got 9.

Drunky = captain = idiot

JGK wrote:Still can't believe that Lewis FFS got 10 overs and Ferny only got 9.

Others have given Mickey's a record a shaking though, even Malinga. Punter couldn't seem to alter his mindset that Lewis was a great 'death' bowler.

I know many people who went to bed after Dippenaar was dismissed thinking that was the game in the bag.

I went to bed thinking the game had been lost.

Woke up with the radio on and 2 overs to go. So got the worst of it all.

I remember my sons staggering in, 3 hours after the end, too hoarse to speak.

Along these lines, 11 years ago today, one of the best partnerships in cricket took place. Dravid and Laxman in Kolkatta.

I remember it well. I'd just been told that after 6 operations they still hadn't been able to remove the tissue-eating bacteria from me and I'd have to go in for extensive treatment involving an even more gruelling operation, a week of intravenous antibiotics and a vacuum and irrigation wound bandage system. Excellent times.

Still, I bloody enjoyed that match.

At least it was a good match.

Aye. I almost didn't bother with it... I gave SA no chance whatsoever. But thought at least I'd watch Hershey in full flow as it was one of my favourite sights... what a player he could be. Damn tragedy he was so twattish... he could've been a great player.

Brilliant player when in form. Shame about everything else, topped off by an autobiography.

BTW in SA it is known as the 438 game.

tricycle wrote:Along these lines, 11 years ago today, one of the best partnerships in cricket took place. Dravid and Laxman in Kolkatta.

That happened during my honeymoon. Left Nairobi with Aust about to enforce the follow on. A week or so later I get to Zanzibar only to be told by a Pommy tourist that Australia lost the match. I then watched the last two days of the third test while at a resort on the other side of Zanibar and was obviously bloody annoyed for a while after (as was Mrs K who thought I should have been paying more attention to her).

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

i saw it online since it was so hard to get anyone to put on test cricket on the telly in england. must be the earliest i ever went to the library

JGK wrote:

tricycle wrote:Along these lines, 11 years ago today, one of the best partnerships in cricket took place. Dravid and Laxman in Kolkatta.

That happened during my honeymoon. Left Nairobi with Aust about to enforce the follow on. A week or so later I get to Zanzibar only to be told by a Pommy tourist that Australia lost the match. I then watched the last two days of the third test while at a resort on the other side of Zanibar and was obviously bloody annoyed for a while after (as was Mrs K who thought I should have been paying more attention to her).

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

Those two results will long be infamous in the annals of our cricket.

Nice honeymoon spot btw.

Red wrote:

JGK wrote:

tricycle wrote:Along these lines, 11 years ago today, one of the best partnerships in cricket took place. Dravid and Laxman in Kolkatta.

That happened during my honeymoon. Left Nairobi with Aust about to enforce the follow on. A week or so later I get to Zanzibar only to be told by a Pommy tourist that Australia lost the match. I then watched the last two days of the third test while at a resort on the other side of Zanibar and was obviously bloody annoyed for a while after (as was Mrs K who thought I should have been paying more attention to her).

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

Those two results will long be infamous in the annals of our cricket.

You forgot the Cape Town test.

JGK wrote:That happened during my honeymoon. Left Nairobi with Aust about to enforce the follow on. A week or so later I get to Zanzibar only to be told by a Pommy tourist that Australia lost the match. I then watched the last two days of the third test while at a resort on the other side of Zanibar and was obviously bloody annoyed for a while after (as was Mrs K who thought I should have been paying more attention to her).

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

As shit as finding out about the result must have been, it wasn't the worst place to find out.

tomorrow is the 11th anniversary of the 2001 Columbo test starting.

This week's The Spin was fantastically nostalgic.

"Only three non-Asian teams have ever won two series on the subcontinent in the same winter: Australia in 1959-60, South Africa in 2007-08 and Duncan Fletcher's side in 2000-01."

"Sri Lanka, by contrast, were almost unbeatable at home. Australia had been beaten a year earlier; and apart from Pakistan – who always did well in Sri Lanka – they would lose only one other home series between 1993 and 2011, to the magnificent Australians in 2003-04."

aMAZEing how watching that winter gave one* a skewed view of just how awesome Giles** and Croft were.

*Me

**always.

I was working a 4am shift that morning and put the tele on when I got up to go to work.

I switched on for the final over. I looked at the scores and didn't really take it in. I just assumed there was some mistake or something. But I woke up quick smart when I saw the South Africans celebrating.

I was a bit annoyed I hadn't woken up earlier.

Yorkie Jill wrote:"Only three non-Asian teams have ever won two series on the subcontinent in the same winter: ...South Africa in 2007-08 and ..."

do the bangles really count?