Chris Broad’s expression was representative of the day’s proceedings © Getty Images
The 1960s had witnessed perhaps the most boring days in the history of the sport, even Ashes contests. Things changed in the 1970s and 1980s, more so following the advent of limited-overs cricket. There was, however, the occasional yawnathon, but few as bizarre as what happened on December 16, 1986, when Allan Border and Greg Ritchie put Adelaide Oval to sleep despite the fact that they were trailing in the series. Abhishek Mukherjee recollects a morbid day of Test cricket.
Both sides were hit by injuries. Geoff Lawson, who had played the previous Test at Perth on painkillers, could bear it no more. Australia also dropped Lawson’s new-ball partner Chris Matthews, bringing in Merv Hughes. Wicketkeeper Tim Zoehrer injured his shoulder in a practice session and was replaced by uncapped Greg Dyer.
The selectors decided to replace Lawson with a spinner. The spectators should have guessed what was coming when the playing XIs were announced: any side that left out Ray Bright for Peter Sleep was sending out a message regarding how they were approaching the match.
As for England, they missed Ian Botham, down with an injured rib, ruining the balance of the side. Since were one up going into the third Test, England replaced him with debutant James Whitaker, a batsman, thereby creating history: for the first time in history were three men from Leicestershire playing for England in the same Test. Curiously, none of them was born in the county: David Gower hailed from Tunbridge Wells (Kent), Whitaker from Skipton (Yorkshire), and Phil DeFreitas from Dominica — on the other side of The Atlantic.
The match
As mentioned, England were a bowler down, but that did not matter to Australia, who went to stumps on Day One at 207 for 2 despite an opening stand of 113. Both Geoff Marsh (43) and David Boon (103) scored at less than a strike rate of 40. Even DeFreitas, who sent down 10 no-balls in his first 10 overs, did not help his cause.
It made little sense, for the track was slow and the English fast bowlers harmless. A livid Bill O’Reilly lashed out in The Age: “I suggest with regret that David Boon be given a short holiday — 12th man for preference — while he regains his shattered cricket nerve. And with that regained, it would just as well to label him for the future as a candidate for a down-the-list occupation.”
Dean Jones, the man who would redefine batsmanship in limited-overs cricket, did not do much better: his 93 came at 42. To be fair, however, he tried to step out, but he was deceived by length by clever variations from Edmonds. Whitaker impressed all with his fielding on his first day of Test cricket.
The initiative came from Allan Border, followed by Greg Ritchie. Once Steve Waugh joined Greg Matthews, however, it seemed they were batting on a different pitch: the first nine hours had yielded 358; the next two got Australia another 146. Matthews raced to 73 in 119 balls and Waugh 79 in 117, allowing Border to declare at 514 for 5 immediately after they took 49 from 4 overs.
But England did not succumb. Chris Broad had scored a brilliant 162 at Perth; now he produced a patient, well-paced 113. Support came from Bill Athey (55) and captain Mike Gatting (100); by the time all three were back in the pavilion the score read 283 for 3. Gower and Allan Lamb saw them past the follow-on mark, and though they fell in consecutive overs, England had that extra batsman in the line-up to combat any pressure.
Public interest dwindled the day after. The average attendance of 11,000 over the first three days dropped to 7,158. Whitaker struggled, but whatever chance was there of a result was dusted when Emburey and Jack Richards added 61.
England were bowled out for 455, conceding a 59-run lead. Bruce Reid took 4 for 64, but Sleep found turn on a pitch where Matthews, Emburey, and Phil Edmonds had failed. He finished with 4 for 134 in addition to two gaffes from Dyer, who missed a stumping and had his nose broken when he missed one that came off Broad.
The bizarre approach
True, Australia lost Boon and Jones early in the third innings. They were reduced to 8 for 2. But it is also true that
– They had a 59-run lead,
– There was little time left on Day Four,
– They were trailing 0-1 with 2 Tests to go after Adelaide, and
– England already held The Ashes.
None of which explained why Australia were 8 for 2 after 50 minutes of existence at the crease. There was nothing in the pitch.
Marsh hung around grimly as Australia slept their way to 77 in close to two-and-a-half hours of batting. Then Marsh hit one back to Edmonds. Border and Ritchie saw off Australia to stumps. Australia led by 151. They needed quick runs before they could declare — maybe at lunch with a target of 250 or 275? Maybe an hour later?
The public probably understood it before the experts, for only 3,653 made their way past the turnstiles. Border and Ritchie blocked and blocked, and blocked some more, past lunch, well into the second session…
The crowd booed, but to no avail. One of them, a member of the fairer sex, took things to the next level. To quote Wisden, “a female spectator set up an ironing board and attended to her laundry throughout the fifth day’s play.”
O’Reilly, never one to mince his words, slammed Border uninhibitedly: “Our captain, Allan Border, must be persuaded to get off his backside and do a bit of constructive thinking for a change.”
Writing for The Sydney Morning Herald, Mike Coward merely called the proceedings “drab”.
Peter Roebuck was not as lenient in The Age: “Cricket can be boring if it is allowed to be … No one was sorry when, finally, the bails were removed. At last everyone could go to the beach, into the hills or out to a club. Cricket is a moribund game when it is played with a dull spirit. For 30 hours in Adelaide men ran around on the field, appearing to consider the game to be of the utmost importance and yet all they achieved was to bore the pants off every spectator in the ground. Cricket played in this way does not deserve to survive. Thank God the rain occasionally put a stop to the dreary ritual.”
To be fair to Border, there were a couple of breaks in the first session due to “misty rain”, but that was hardly reason for Australia to go at two runs an over. Border later admitted that he would have declared at lunch if there was a 260-run lead (they led by 190); exactly why they did not accelerate after that and set England about 250 in another 45 minutes remained a mystery.
Indeed, Woody Allen’s Hannah and Her Sisters winning the Best Movie Award at New York Critics Circle and Los Angeles Film Critics was bigger news even in Australia.
As for the match, Border duly brought up his hundred and declared at tea with a 260-run lead. The umpires had no choice but to let England bat on for 23 overs before putting an end to the torture.
Brief scores:
Australia 514 for 5 decl. (Geoff Marsh 43, David Boon 103, Dean Jones 93, Allan Border 70, Greg Matthews 73*, Steve Waugh 79*) and 201 for 3 decl. (Geoff Marsh 41, Allan Border 100*, Greg Ritchie 46*) drew with England 455 (Chris Broad 116, Bill Athey 55, Mike Gatting 100, John Emburey 49; Bruce Reid 4 for 64, Peter Sleep 4 for 132) and 39 for 2.
Man of the Match: Allan Border.