First Cricket Match – Eight heroes tell the story of the most exciting Test of all time, played exactly fifty years ago
50 years ago today, the most famous Test match came to an extraordinary conclusion. The drawn Test between Australia and the West Indies at the Gabba was played in a cordial atmosphere against the backdrop of cricket, as some disappointing series turned the crowd away. It was the first Test of a memorable series of fascinating cricket between the two teams led by Richie Benaud and Frank Worrell. Some of the players who participated this week saw a fine example of what Test cricket has to offer.
First Cricket Match
It’s in the final four: Ian Makeiff and Lindsay Clyne with Wes Hall and Joe Solomon at the 40-year Test meeting in 2000 © Getty Images
History Of Cricket In India
Lindsey Clyne, Australian spinner I remember the night before a Test match there were three or four Australians and three or four West Indians and we were playing calypso in Gary Sobers’ room. It was very strange.
Colin Macdonald, Australian opener On the first day we wondered if we were ever going to win the match as Sobers was crucifying us. It was a great shot. He scored one of the best centuries ever; I have never seen better.
Cline years later I said to Gary, “That wonderful innings you played, that 130 was fantastic.” And he said, “Lindsay, that was 132”. So it must be very special to him because he scored so many centuries.
Norm O’Neill scored 181 in reply and Alan Davidson took 11 wickets to set Australia a target of 233 when their second innings got off to an early start on the final day.
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Richie Benaud, Australian captain As I walked through the gate and past the pavilion into the changing room, I saw white flowers on the pitch; Clover flowers. It became clear that the land was not cut this morning. I ask to mow the grass, but the curator tells me that after seven o’clock it rained heavily and he could not mow the ground… He has no time for it now. Looks like the grass won’t be cut today because I got a mower and did it myself. I don’t think it really matters, we just have over 200.
“As a kid we were trying to throw mangoes down from the trees. I believe that’s what made me a better pitcher,” Joe Solomon on his match-winning outing.
Alan Davidson, Australian all-rounder Wes Hall played amazingly when you consider he had new boots that he hadn’t worn and he had these big blisters on the bottom of his feet. Finally, after he cut the blisters, he put this big slab of sticky plaster on his leg. Really, it was just raw meat and he kept pouring and his heart pounding. It was one of the most exciting things I have ever seen on a cricket field. He must have been in pain.
Neil Harvey, Australian batsman Alan McGillvray left for Sydney by plane at four o’clock. He was our broadcaster at that time. He said “ok, game over, I’m going home”. And he went. And he didn’t see it. He thought he lost it. But the game is never over till the last ball.
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Davidson and Benaud produced a stunning fightback to lead Australia to a seven-run victory in the final, with Wally Grout, Ian Makeiff and Clyne still with the bat.
Davidson I went 5 for 57 in the second leg and it wasn’t the position you’d expect to be in, but I liked the conditions. There is a challenge in such a situation.
Ian McKiff, Australian fast bowler Ritchie and Devoe played more or less ODI cricket. It wasn’t just that they were taking their time. They took sassy singles and stuff like that. It was a very anxious couple of hours.
Gerry Alexander, West Indies wicket keeper We were in trouble. The match seems to have more or less gone out of West Indies’ control.
The History Of Cricket
Makeiff Wally Grout, who was next up, smoked the whole thing. It was a nervous wreck. He was the worst of us all because he was the one who had to do the job. Lindsay and I were tailenders, while Wally got to play a little.
DAVIDSON I thought we had the game figured out. I was talking to Richie and I still had two steps to go. It was a tip and run and I said, “We don’t need any nonsense, just make sure I’m there to face Wes” because I thought Wes would pick me up once – well, it was either four. Or six and we only wanted seven. Then of course Ritchie played the first three or four [of Sobers] and then he hit it straight to Joe Solomon and off they went. If I were Usain Bolt, I wouldn’t be able to do that.
Solomon stumps over mid-wicket; Davidson was dismissed on 80 runs. The new batsman was Grout. Davidson It was an impulse. We played such cricket. We were hitting it and taking off, we had some wild pitches and the pressure kept building. It was there that Frank Worrell did a great job of calming down some of the more exciting players in the West Indian team.
Joe Solomon, the West Indies batsman back home in Guyana, I regularly hit the stumps. It was our usual practice, we bet on who could reach the goal. And as children we tried to throw mangoes down from the trees. I believe in everything that makes me a good pitcher.
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Davidson Valley Grout had to step up and didn’t know where his gloves were. They were at the top of his pads and of course the moment he stood up they went back to his thighs so he couldn’t find them. I wouldn’t say it was the quietest in the world when I walked in.
Australia needed six runs to win. Wes Hall dismissed Grout on the first ball.
“At the end of the day, Frank got his team together and Richie got his team together and there was this long table in the dining room and around that table was a West Indian and an Australian, a West Indian and an Australian. “Alan Davidson.”
Benaud Wally was hit in the solar plexus, a crippling concussion, and the ball landed on his feet. It barely hit the ground before I went on my way without calling. Wally saw me coming and took to the field holding his stomach…definitely a troublesome single.
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No one in their right mind would have bumped Benaud at this point in the match…but it was a bumper that the big man could muster with every ounce of speed and power. I was trying to hold on… I was trying for four runs which would have won almost everything. The only result was the sharp touch of gloves and Gerry Alexander’s triumphant shout as he caught me. Have you ever tried so hard to do something…focused so intensely that everything else was pushed out of your mind…and then it disappeared in a split second? Then you have some idea how I felt when I passed the grout the other end and he said, “All your wall…” He just looked up and muttered, “Thank you so much!”
After Kline I finished I said to Colin Macdonald, “I don’t have to go in, do I?” He said, “No, I don’t think so.” Then we lose wickets and I’m trying to get the stuff, and I can’t find the gloves, I’m looking in the bag. I sat on them. It got me a little bit, I freaked out a lot, that’s for sure.
Macdonald Ken McKay did not allow us to move from our place for fear of God’s intervention. He was very superstitious. No one spoke much. The last ending was sensational.
Makeiff bowled the third ball, then missed the fourth ball. Grout took a brave bye, Alexander armed Hall, who missed the stumps with a throw that would have dismissed Makeiff. Next ball, Grout fell as Rohan Kanhai and Hall combined; The bowler dropped the catch. To win in three balls.
The First International Cricket Match
The Age notes a tie in 1960; Sydney Morning Herald Ray Robinson looks back on the match when West Indies visit
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