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Favourite Matches of all Time

Snippie

School Boy/Girl Cricketer
With over 4 500 threads, I'm pretty sure this must have been done before, but could you guys bear with me? :D

I'm interested to know what your favourite matches ever watched is.

If possible, only one One-dayer and one Test.

Why was it your favourite, who was the teams playing, who won, which players stood out during the game etc.

It doesn't have to be the best, just your favourite for whatever reason...


Still thinking about mine, will post it a bit later! :D
 

Dasa

International Vice-Captain
Mine, without a doubt, is this match. I don't think I need to say anymore about this one, I'm sure anyone who saw it was in awe of Laxman (at least for a little while).
 

FaaipDeOiad

Hall of Fame Member
Greatest ODI for me was the 1999 WC semi-final between Australia and South Africa.

The greatest test I've seen... is very hard, but I'd probably say Edgbaston 2005 comes pretty close.

Greatest series... I think I enjoyed Australia vs West Indies 94/95 (as well as 92/93 for that matter) the most. Australia vs India 2001 and the 2005 Ashes compete well.
 

Neil Pickup

Cricket Web Moderator
FaaipDeOiad said:
Greatest ODI for me was the 1999 WC semi-final between Australia and South Africa.

The greatest test I've seen... is very hard, but I'd probably say Edgbaston 2005 comes pretty close.

Greatest series... I think I enjoyed Australia vs West Indies 94/95 (as well as 92/93 for that matter) the most. Australia vs India 2001 and the 2005 Ashes compete well.
Only cos you didn't win the last two, yeah? :p
 

Slow Love™

International Captain
These are probably my favorite tests, off the top of my head:

West Indies vs Australia at Kingston, 1995
The game where Australia stopped WI's unbeaten series record and became unofficial world champions. Steve Waugh played one of his greatest innings (if not the greatest) and endured a barrage of bouncers the likes of which Alan Border said he'd never seen before. Also spawned one of the greatest dummy spits, when Richie Richardson claimed it was the weakest Australian side he'd ever played against.

India vs Australia at Chennai, 2001
After the horrendous wake-up call at Kolkata, I thought it was an aberration, and Australia would still take the series. Aargh, how wrong I was. We looked pretty out of the match when Harbhajan ran through us yet again, but at 8/130-odd, suddenly we looked a chance again. I often wonder about how things might have been so different if Dighe hadn't survived that huge LBW appeal. Just a great test match all round, and the noise level towards the end was absolutely immense.

South Africa vs Australia at Port Elizabeth, 1997
A curiously topsy-turvy match in which the advantage swung dramatically to and fro throughout. Mark Waugh played what he called his best innings ever in conditions in which the bowlers prospered, and Ian Healy, concerned that he might run out of partners, ended the match with two wickets in hand by hitting a four and a six to win the match for Australia.

England vs Australia at Birmingham, 2005
We all lived through this one fairly recently. :)

Australia vs Pakistan at Hobart, 1999
After the teams were fairly even when their first innings' were completed, Pakistan, with the aid of a century from Inzamam set Australia an improbable 369 chase for victory. At 5/126, a predictable Pakistan victory was on the cards, but Gilchrist, in only his third test innings, gave us a preview of things to come, smacking 149 off 163 balls, and making the Pakistani bowlers look panicky and clueless as to how to stop him. With Langer, who also played an excellent innings, he took Australia all the way home and Pakistan failed to even get into the tail after removing the top order so efficiently (although, to be fair, Langer was given not-out to a thick edge to the keeper on 76).

Australia vs New Zealand at Melbourne, 1987
Australia, thanks to a 90 from Peter Sleep (NZ had awful headaches with the tail in both innings) held a 40 run lead after the first innings, and then were set 247 for victory. But NZ fought back after Australia were looking reasonably comfortable at 5/209, and with six overs to go, Australia were 9 down for 227. Whitney and McDermott decided survival was the best option (they only had to draw to win the series), and Hadlee, who was level at the time with Ian Botham's 383 test wickets, couldn't break the pair, and they hung on for a nail-biting draw, 17 runs away from victory.

Australia vs South Africa at Adelaide, 1998
On a docile pitch, SAF amassed 517. Mark Taylor carried his bat through Australia's entire innings to crucially avert the follow-on, while Shaun Pollock ripped through the rest of the Aussie bats to take 7/87 in 40+ overs. On the last day, Mark Waugh, who was dropped four times, made a century and held out South Africa's charge for victory. There was some controversy towards the end of the match concerning a very late not-out decision on a hit-wicket appeal, because the Saffies didn't understand the rules. This resulted in another dummy spit, this time from Cronje, who allegedly threw a stump through the door of the Australian dressing-room.

(For some reason these dummy-spits from opposition captains really appeal to me, so I can see why England supporters so enjoyed Ponting doing his block during the Ashes :))
 
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foe

School Boy/Girl Cricketer
Dasa said:
Mine, without a doubt, is this match. I don't think I need to say anymore about this one, I'm sure anyone who saw it was in awe of Laxman (at least for a little while).

no Indian fan will ever forget that 1 :D
 

Barney Rubble

International Coach
England v Australia, The Oval, September 8-12 2005. The greatest five days of my life, to conclude the greatest summer of my life. Immeasurably brilliant.
 

Tom Halsey

International Coach
Not the greatest match ever by any means, but The Oval 2005 has to be my personal favourite. At one stage it looked as if the Aussies were going to knick it, what with Warne and McGrath bowling so well, and Pietersen hits us to vitory (or draw). Brilliant. :D

Best all round match I've ever seen though is either Edgebaston 2005, or Kolkata 2001, or Karachi 2000.
 

Hit4Six

U19 Debutant
GREATEST TEST: ind vs pak chennai 1998/1999 i forget where tendy made 136 in a losing cause. If that match was made into a movie it would be one of the most nerve shredding a depressing ever, saqlains bowling, afridi's ton and tendys performance.

GREATEST ODI: ind vs eng natwest final great match, great back story etc. just great overall
 

archie mac

International Coach
Maybe because I am just a couple of years older than most, I will choose the 4th Test Aust V Eng. 1982/83
 

Hodgo7

School Boy/Girl Captain
For the one-dayer have to say the World Cup 99 when we tied the game with South Africa. Could you get a more nerve-wracking end to a game.

For the test match I would have to go with Kingston ini 1995. The end of an era for the Windies and the start of a new one for the Aussies !!!!
 

Top_Cat

Request Your Custom Title Now!
ODI: Bevo's 78* in response to Australia being 6/38 capped off a great game in general.

http://aus.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1995-96/OD_TOURNEYS/WSC/WI_AUS_WSC_ODI5_01JAN1996.html

Test: The most tension-filled Test I've ever seen (most of the matches in the recent Ashes series come close, though!). As you can see from the scorecards, it was a low-scoring match but played on a decent pitch so just shows you the quality of the bowling throughout. The context of the match means you understand why it was so tense; whoever won this match would likely win the series.

The WI had started the tour slowly (almost losing the first Test and going down in the second due to 7/52 from Warnie) then Brian Lara's 277 in the 3rd indicated they'd finally warmed-up. Justin Langer was hit a million times in his first Test (still the toughest debut I've ever seen someone endure by a long, long way) and managed to hit a 50 in the second dig against a rampant WI attack. Then local hero Tim May (yay!) on his birthday hit out and with Craig McDermott, managed to bring an utterly hopeless situation to being a near-win.

Then Craig McDermott was given out caught behind and the WI won by one run. I must have watched the replay a hundred times but to this day, I can't see whether McDermott gloved it or it came off the bottom of his visor. Darryl Hair gave him and if he gloved it, it's surely one of the most amazingly accurate calls of all time. If he didn't, it was so close that giving it out was understandable. In reality, the WI had both McDermott and May plumb LBW a few times before that so they deserved a little luck.

Man, just thinking about it makes me tense!

http://aus.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1992-93/WI_IN_AUS/WI_AUS_T4_23-26JAN1993.html
 

Slow Love™

International Captain
Top_Cat said:
Test: The most tension-filled Test I've ever seen (most of the matches in the recent Ashes series come close, though!). As you can see from the scorecards, it was a low-scoring match but played on a decent pitch so just shows you the quality of the bowling throughout. The context of the match means you understand why it was so tense; whoever won this match would likely win the series.

The WI had started the tour slowly (almost losing the first Test and going down in the second due to 7/52 from Warnie) then Brian Lara's 277 in the 3rd indicated they'd finally warmed-up. Justin Langer was hit a million times in his first Test (still the toughest debut I've ever seen someone endure by a long, long way) and managed to hit a 50 in the second dig against a rampant WI attack. Then local hero Tim May (yay!) on his birthday hit out and with Craig McDermott, managed to bring an utterly hopeless situation to being a near-win.

Then Craig McDermott was given out caught behind and the WI won by one run. I must have watched the replay a hundred times but to this day, I can't see whether McDermott gloved it or it came off the bottom of his visor. Darryl Hair gave him and if he gloved it, it's surely one of the most amazingly accurate calls of all time. If he didn't, it was so close that giving it out was understandable. In reality, the WI had both McDermott and May plumb LBW a few times before that so they deserved a little luck.

Man, just thinking about it makes me tense!
Oh yeah, how could I forget that one... I think it's still the tightest victory in a test, ever. I never felt like we were going to win that game, and then suddenly, when it looked like we actually would, it got snatched away (shades of a more recent match, and in similar circumstances, too). And we all knew what was going to happen in Perth - I think Border did, too. That was a very strange series in which it really felt like we were punching above our weight.
 

Slats4ever

International Vice-Captain
Top_Cat said:
ODI: Bevo's 78* in response to Australia being 6/38 capped off a great game in general.

http://aus.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1995-96/OD_TOURNEYS/WSC/WI_AUS_WSC_ODI5_01JAN1996.html

Test: The most tension-filled Test I've ever seen (most of the matches in the recent Ashes series come close, though!). As you can see from the scorecards, it was a low-scoring match but played on a decent pitch so just shows you the quality of the bowling throughout. The context of the match means you understand why it was so tense; whoever won this match would likely win the series.

The WI had started the tour slowly (almost losing the first Test and going down in the second due to 7/52 from Warnie) then Brian Lara's 277 in the 3rd indicated they'd finally warmed-up. Justin Langer was hit a million times in his first Test (still the toughest debut I've ever seen someone endure by a long, long way) and managed to hit a 50 in the second dig against a rampant WI attack. Then local hero Tim May (yay!) on his birthday hit out and with Craig McDermott, managed to bring an utterly hopeless situation to being a near-win.

Then Craig McDermott was given out caught behind and the WI won by one run. I must have watched the replay a hundred times but to this day, I can't see whether McDermott gloved it or it came off the bottom of his visor. Darryl Hair gave him and if he gloved it, it's surely one of the most amazingly accurate calls of all time. If he didn't, it was so close that giving it out was understandable. In reality, the WI had both McDermott and May plumb LBW a few times before that so they deserved a little luck.

Man, just thinking about it makes me tense!

http://aus.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1992-93/WI_IN_AUS/WI_AUS_T4_23-26JAN1993.html
that was an amazing game thje bevo one... does nyone know when the tradition of the new years test in sydney began?

cos it can't have been in play this season.
 

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