In light of Hallam Kalora Park’s obliteration of Narre Warren in the DDCA at the weekend, this week’s edition of Tyler’s Top 10 takes a look at some of the worst days to be a willow wielder in Test cricket history.
And as much as writing about a Test match in 1955 between New Zealand and England would be nothing short of enthralling, there needs to be a few rules here.
This specific segment looks at Test matches that include only Australia, and have to be within the last 50 years.
10. Pakistan 10/72 v Australia 2004: Not many visiting nations had fun coming to the WACA to face the Aussie quicks. Pakistan was no exception in 2004, as they were tumbled out for 179 in the first innings and just 72 in the second. Glenn McGrath took 8/24 in this particular innings, but didn’t even win man of the match!
9. England 10/68 v Australia 2021: Fresh in the memory. Star News Group sports editor Dave Nagel has put a word restriction on a certain member of the current Australian bowling cartel; apparently his name has been used too frequently in recent times. But this un-named man did take a few poles this day!
8. England 10/67 v Australia 2019: Founder of this column, Tyler Lewis, believes this is the greatest Test match of all time. This contest had everything, but in this particular innings it was Josh Hazlewood who took 5/30. Finger-nails were a faint memory at 4am at the conclusion of this Test!
7. Pakistan 10/62 v Australia 1981: Pakistan feature in this list a lot, maybe it’s an omen for the upcoming Test series. It’s not often a touring side looks at the Australian fixture and thinks ‘gee I can’t wait to face Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson at the WACA’. DK took 5/18 off nine and Thommo captured just the one scalp from his two overs. Like all typical fast bowlers, they did the job and then went and sat in the change rooms for two days.
6. Australia 10/60 v England 2015: 10/60 is probably overs given the Aussies were 7/33. It was a dark day in Nottingham for the Aussies, as extras top scored with 13. But when it’s virtually night time and Stuart Broad has a maroon duke ball on a green wicket, is there much the batters can do? Broad took 8/15 from 9.3 and had at one stage six slips.
5. Pakistan 10/59 and 4. Pakistan 10/53 v Australia 2002: We don’t want to throw accusations out there or anything, but seriously… this is the same Test match. The Aussies made 310 in between these two performances with the stick. Matthew Hayden’s 119 was just short of an inning victory in this one. The king of spin took 4/11 and 4/13 in 17.5 overs for the match.
3. West Indies 10/51 v Australia 1999: No one likes batting on a fourth innings wicket in the Windies. But it’s usually because it turns sideways, in this instance it was the two seamers that cleaned up. McGrath captured 5/28 to go with his 5/50 in the firs dig, while Jason ‘Dizzy’ Gillespie snared 4/18.
2. Australia 10/47 v South Africa 2011: The Aussies had a 188-run lead heading into this third innings, before Vernon Philander went bonkers. The seamer blew several pads off on his way to 5/15 off seven.
1. India 10/36 v Australia 2020: There seems to be a theme here for when the Aussies torpedo through a side. ‘The Hoff’ took 5/8 in this one, snicking Indian batters off for fun! India actually had a first innings lead heading into this third innings, but was castled in a blink of an eye. The perpetual Virat haters had a brilliant day.
