I can remember the few days that sealed my lifelong love affair with cricket. They were December 26-30, 1982. Don't get me wrong, I loved cricket before these five days, but there was no turning back after them.
The first almost eight years of my life, I lived in a cricket mad country, so there was already a love for the game. Then we were moving from Asia to Africa, so we visited "home"- Australia in between. So from playing cricket I got to watch some serious cricket for the first time: The Ashes were on. And I watched every minute I was allowed to, from the beginning of the first test to the end of the last. But it was the fourth test that stuck deep in my psyche..
The Aussies had bowled out the English on the first day and were going to start their innings on the second day. And we were going to be there. I had watched enough cricket over the summer that I had picked out Greg Chappell as my favourite player. He looked so elegant when batting. It wasn't long and he was in. I sat forward. This was it. I was getting to see my hero live. Looking on from the long off boundary, I watched the first ball - pitched in short, hooked... and caught. Out first ball! The disappointment was huge. If I am honest, I sulked. I did not even remember that Hookes and Hughes (Kim, not today's Phil) both scored 50s. But by the time Rod Marsh was batting I was paying attention again. His 50 saved the day for me. It almost, but not quite, made up for Chappel's shot. I stood on the seat and applauded with the rest of the crowd. It had been down and up, but that day of test cricket had impacted me emotionally.
Over the next couple of days England slowly got on top. Late on the fourth day the Aussies lost their ninth wicket still 73 runs behind. The Aussie number 11, Jeff Thompson, was not really known for hanging around, and Border hadn't been in great form. The match was as good as over. But Border had other ideas, and Thommo stayed with him. Remarkably, at stumps the Border-Thompson partnership was still going.
The next morning I watched each and every ball on the TV at my grandparents. The Aussies edged closer and closer. Then Thompson was dropped. Phew. Another run. And another. The Aussies built their partnership. Finally, one more shot would win it for Australia. Then Thompson edges it to slip again! It's been dropped again! No. No. First slip came behind second and completes the catch. No! Three runs short. England won.
The first reaction was disappointment. Followed almost immediately by the sense that I had seen something really special. And I had. It is still the best match of cricket I have ever seen. If you are in Australia, ABC iview has a highlights package available for the next few weeks here. I watched it a few days ago. The skills shown were good. The match ebbed and flowed. And when Chappell went out I felt that same sense of disappointment. In fact the feelings I remember each came back. Even the one that I had witnessed something special. And I was reminded again why I love this game.
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