Bicentennial Test

Last updated

The Bicentennial Test
Date29 January 1988 – 2 February 1988
LocationAustralia
ResultMatch Drawn
Teams
Flag of England.svg England Flag of Australia.svg Australia
Captains
Mike Gatting Allan Border
Most runs
139 Chris Broad Flag of England.svg 196 David Boon Flag of Australia.svg
Most wickets
3 Graham Dilley Flag of England.svg
3 Eddie Hemmings Flag of England.svg
4 Peter Taylor Flag of Australia.svg
3 Steve Waugh Flag of Australia.svg

The Bicentennial Test was a single Test cricket match played between Australia and England at the Sydney Cricket Ground in celebration of the bicentenary of permanent colonial settlement in Australia. The match took place from 29 January to 2 February 1988 and was drawn. It did not count as part of The Ashes series, in the same way as the Centenary Tests in 1977 and 1980 also were excluded from the Ashes lists.

Contents

The match was played in the middle of an England tour to New Zealand, where the team later played three Test matches, all of them also drawn. In late 1987, the England team had toured Pakistan, and Australia had hosted Tests and One Day Internationals against New Zealand. Australia also hosted a single test against the Sri Lanka after the Bicentennial test in Perth in February 1988.

The teams

Sydney's reputation for favouring spin bowling led both sides to pick two specialist spin bowlers and to favour medium-pace or fast-medium bowling over out-and-out speed.

England were captained by Mike Gatting, fresh from his finger-wagging confrontation with umpire Shakoor Rana, and lacked several of the big name players of recent years, such as Graham Gooch, David Gower, Allan Lamb, and Ian Botham.

The team was, in batting order:

Australia were captained by Allan Border. The team, in batting order, was:

The match

England won the toss and batted. Broad shared stands of 93 with Moxon, who made 40, and 99 with Robinson, who made 43, on his way to a century on the first day. Wickets fell more steadily across the second day, including Broad for 139. Broad reacted angrily to his dismissal, and flattened the leg stump with his bat as he departed: he was fined the maximum permitted (£500) by the tour manager. England's final total of 425 contained no other scores of more than 50: the next highest after Broad was French with 47.

On the third day, Australia batted poorly and lost wickets regularly to shots more suited to one-day cricket. Jones made 56, but when bad light ended play two hours early, the side was 164 for seven wickets, 62 runs short of the follow-on. In tense cricket on the fourth morning, they failed to reach that figure by 12 runs, and Gatting enforced the follow-on. With the pitch getting slower and easier, Marsh and Boon put up a first-wicket partnership of 162 and after Marsh went for 56, Boon batted on and on across the final day, eventually reaching 184 not out, his then-highest Test score, as Australia got to 328 for two to save the match. They were helped by the loss of more play to bad light (when Gatting recalled fast bowler Dilley to the attack), injuries to both Dilley and Foster and lack of penetration among the other England bowlers.

The match was watched by 103,831 people, well below the forecast figure.

Match statistics

29 January–2 February 1988
Scorecard
v
425 (172.5 overs)
Chris Broad 139 (361)
Peter Taylor 4/84 (34 overs)
214 (96.1 overs)
Dean Jones 56 (125)
Eddie Hemmings 3/53 (22 overs)
328/2 (135 overs) (f/o)
David Boon 184* (431)
David Capel 1/38 (17 overs)
Match drawn
Sydney Cricket Ground
Umpires: Tony Crafter (Aus) and Peter McConnell (Aus)
Player of the match: David Boon (Aus)
  • England won the toss and elected to bat

See also

Related Research Articles

Graham Roy Dilley was an English international cricketer, whose main role was as a fast bowler. He played first-class cricket for Kent County Cricket Club and Worcestershire County Cricket Clubs, and appeared in 41 Test matches and 36 One Day International (ODIs) for the England cricket team.

The England cricket team toured Australia during the 1986–87 cricket season for a five-match Test series to contest The Ashes. While in Australia, England also played a number of tour matches against state and representative teams, and competed in two One-Day International (ODI) tournaments. Under the captaincy of Mike Gatting, England retained the Ashes with a 2–1 series win.

The Ball of the Century, also referred to as the Gatting Ball or simply That Ball, is a cricket delivery bowled by Australian spin bowler Shane Warne to English batter Mike Gatting on 4 June 1993, the second day of the first Test of the 1993 Ashes series, at Old Trafford in Manchester. With his first ball against England, in his first Ashes Test, Warne produced a spectacular delivery that bowled Gatting out. It became recognised as being of significance not just in the context of the match, but more generally in signalling a revival of leg spin bowling.

The tour by the Australian cricket team in England in 1981 included the 51st Ashes series of Test matches between Australia and England. Despite having been 1–0 down after two Tests, England won the next three to finish 3–1 victors, thus retaining the Ashes.

Centenary Test refers to two matches of Test cricket played between the English cricket team and the Australian cricket team, the first in 1977 and the second in 1980. These matches were played to mark the 100th anniversaries of the first Test cricket matches played in Australia (1877) and in England (1880) respectively. Neither match was played for The Ashes.

The Benson and Hedges Challenge was a one-off one-day international cricket tournament played at the WACA Ground in Perth, Western Australia from 30 December 1986 to 7 January 1987 as part of the 1987 America's Cup Festival of Sport.

The Australian cricket team toured England in the 1977 season to play five Test matches for the 1977 Ashes series against England. The Australians also played three one day internationals and 19 other tour matches.

The England cricket team toured Australia during the 1982–83 season, playing a five-Test series for The Ashes and a number of tour matches against Australian domestic teams before competing in a One-Day International (ODI) series against New Zealand for the Rothmans Cup. In between those competitions, England also participated in the Benson & Hedges World Series Cricket triangular ODI series against Australia and New Zealand.

The Australian cricket team toured England in the 1985 season to play a six-match Test series against England. England won the series 3–1 with two matches drawn. England therefore regained The Ashes.

The Australian cricket team toured England in 1993 aiming to retain The Ashes for a second consecutive occasion, having successfully defended them on home turf in the 1990/91 season.

The England cricket team toured Australia in 1994–95 to compete in the Ashes series against their hosts. The series consisted of five Test matches, Australia winning three, England one, and the other match was drawn. Australia retained the Ashes a third consecutive time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Australian cricket team in England and Ireland in 2001</span> Cricket series

In 2001, the Australia national cricket team toured England and Ireland to play county matches and the 2001 Ashes series. The Ashes series was played from 5 July to 27 August.

The West Indian cricket team played 16 first-class cricket matches in England in 1988, under the captaincy of Viv Richards. They enjoyed considerable success during the tour, while England endured a "disastrous summer" of continuous change.

The Australian cricket team toured New Zealand in the 1985–86 season to play a three-match Test series and four-match one day series against New Zealand after NZ had toured Australia earlier in the season.

The 1989 Ashes series was a series of Test cricket matches contested between England and Australia for the Ashes. It formed part of the 1989 Australian tour of England. The six-Test series began on 8 June 1989 at Headingley in Leeds and ended on 29 August 1989 at The Oval in London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1987 Cricket World Cup final</span> Cricket final

The 1987 Cricket World Cup Final was a One Day International (ODI) cricket match played at Eden Gardens in Calcutta, India, on 8 November 1987 to determine the winner of the 1987 Cricket World Cup. It was contested by Australia and England, both of whom had yet to win the trophy. The 1987 World Cup was the first World Cup to be hosted outside of England; it was also the first World Cup to feature a 50-over per side match format and the first time the final had been hosted at a venue other than Lord's. It is reported that 95,342 spectators attended the match.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2015 Ashes series</span> Cricket series

The 2015 Ashes series was a series of Test cricket matches played between England and Australia for The Ashes. The venues were Sophia Gardens (Cardiff), Lord's (London), Edgbaston (Birmingham), Trent Bridge (Nottingham), and The Oval (London). Australia were the defending holders of the Ashes going into the series, having won in 2013–14.

The Australian cricket team toured Pakistan in February to March 1980 to play a three-match Test series against Pakistan. Pakistan won the test series 1–0.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2021–22 Ashes series</span> Cricket tour

The 2021–22 Ashes series, named the Vodafone Men's Ashes Series for sponsorship reasons, was a series of five Test cricket matches that were contested between England and Australia for The Ashes. The series was played at five venues across Australia from 8 December 2021 and was scheduled to finish on 18 January 2022.

The 1986–87 Ashes series was a series of five Test cricket matches that were contested between England and Australia for The Ashes. The series was played at five venues across Australia, starting on 14 November 1986 in Brisbane and concluding on 15 January 1987 in Sydney. England were the defending holders of the Ashes going into the series, having reclaimed the urn in 1985.

References