TOPIC:

Sadly It appears that test cricket at the WACA is now a thing of the past and the ground will only be used if a minnow tours which is looking increasingly unlikely as the years go on. The last test played there was against England in late 2017 and like many other times in ashes games at the ground, Australia dominated. England must have hated the place because they only won once there to Australia's 10 and that sole win was during the World Series Cricket years when Australia were playing with a second XI.

Overall Australias record at the ground was 27 wins, 11 losses and 8 draws so it stacked up well for the home team. Many of the 11 losses were inflicted by the dominant West Indies team of the 70s 80s and early 90s , their fast bowlers loved the bouncy pitch.

Just thought I would start this thread to ask what memories people have of test matches at the WACA. Some that spring to mind for me are

• Lillee and Thommo in 1974
• Tony Manns century as a night watchman against India 1977
• Hilditch being given out handled ball v Pakistan 1979
• The Aluminium bat incident 1979
• Lillee and Javed altercation 1981
• Merv Hughes hat trick over 3 separate overs -1988
• Curtley Ambrose 7 - 1 in 1992-3
• Haydens world record score V Zimbabwe 2003
• Gilly 57 ball century V England 2006
• South Africa chase down 400 in 2008
• Warners ton in a session v India 2012
• Harris and Johnson destroy England 2013
• The Marsh brothers both score tons 2017

It wasn't a test but Dennis Lillee's 8 - 29 against the Rest of the World in 1971 announced his arrival as a world class bowler.

I'm sure there are lots more memorable moments, would be interested to hear others recollections of watching test cricket at the WACA over the years.

 

A few others also.
1982 Terry Alderman chasing the skinhead of the ground.1982 and dislocated his shoulder tackling the intruder to the ground.
Did Doug Walters also score a century in a session at the Waca.
That crazy 1993 V West Indies wicket.Similar to the Gabba test wicket this summer.

Shane Warne's 99 caught near the boundary at cow corner was one I will never forget as I was sitting in that vicinity, talk about throwing a century away when he could have just knocked it along the ground for an easy single as he was batting quite beautifully that day in 2001/02.

Geoff Lawson being felled from memory by a Patrick Patterson bouncer breaking his jaw in the process back in 1988/89! 

The Glenn McGrath hatrick against the WI in 2000/01 including the great Brian Lara amongst them.

The unforgettable day in 1981/82 when there were from memory 7 or 8 West Aussies named in the Test XI  (Wood, Laird, Hughes, Marsh, Lillee, Yardley, Alderman,) if only I could have seen the likes of Jim Maxwell & Geoff Lawson's sour mugs over those 5 days!!!

All of the absolute cricket greats had their moments on our hallowed turf at one point or another be it Lillee, Thomson, G.Chappell, Marsh, Walters, V & B. Richards, Botham, Holding, Marshall, Garner, Border, Ambrose, Walsh, Hadlee, Boon, Wasim Akram, Kapil Dev, Hughes, McDermott, Warne, McGrath, Tendulkar, Lara, Kohli, Johnson, Hayden etc it goes on and on........

I cant forget Ryan Harris's ball of this century to Alistair Cook in 2013/14 on the very first ball of their second innings either it did everything from the moment it left his hand and hit off stump....Starc similarly bowled a beauty in 2017/18 that seemed back a mile.

Plenty of great memories there BH.....DK and his flying aluminum bat, Miandad and DK agreeing to disagree...not, Roy Frederick's flaying the Aussie bowling attack to all parts of the WACA scoring 169 (?).....Dougie hitting a century in a session after tea......watching Wayne Daniel coming off the boundary fence for his next delivery, Wayne Phillips(not the Victorian one) hitting a 158 on debut v Pakistan.....are all the ones I saw first hand......also loved watching the tea session on the telly after school

I used to love it as a kid when they would televise the Sheffield Shield on Ch9 from the WACA Freeze, usually it would be the first session on a Friday or Monday and the afternoon session from about 3pm on a Saturday or Sunday.
Saw some remarkable games back then including Shield Finals and even the old McDonalds Cup 50 over domestic matches.
From the late 70s through to the dominant 80s and in to the 90s before it was very sadly finished up when I think it was Optus Sport got the SS rights in the late 90s/early 2000s.
All of our WA greats like Marsh, Lillee, Hughes, Alderman, Massie, Malone, Clark etc did stints in the commentary when they retired with usually Bruce Walker, David Grant and or Michael Thomson heading up the coverage.
 

One of the most memorable was one of the old Gillette Cup matches against Queensland who were bolstered by Greg Chappell and the one and only Sir IVA (Vivian) Richards
Our batsmen were somehow rolled over for just 77 and not a single soul in Australia gave us any hope of avoiding an absolute hiding on our home deck - well apart from a pissed off Dennis Lillee 
He proceeded to target bounce firstly Chappell , who got caught down the leg side trying to hook Lillee and them famously triple bounced the great Richards before producing a snorter of an off cutter to shatter his stumps 
I've never been to any cricket ground since that roared so loud and we eventually obliterated them for 62
I still think it was one of Lillee's best ever spells of bowling 

Yes the famous "Miracle Match" Southy.

I had to laugh hearing those NSW muppets Waugh & Haddin on commentary the other day in the Perth Scorchers vs Sydney Sixers game say how they used to give WA a hiding every time we would go to the SCG.
What they "conveniently" forgot to mention was how it was reciprocated in kind and some when they ventured over to the WACA.
One of my favourite memories of Shield matches was watching WA obliterate NSW inside 2 days here back in the late 80s or early 90s. In fact after rolling all 11 of them inside a session in their first innings we made them follow on and a couple of their batsmen (Richard Chee Quee was definitely one) were out again, dismissed twice within a session as we rolled them for well under a 100 in both digs to win by an innings and some.........!!!!!!

Two moments bought up by Southerner and Freezer .
Gillette Cup Wa V Qld ,,76/63..Has to be the greatest match played at the Waca.
Roy Fredrick's taking on Lillie and Thomo in 75/76.
Windies made 200 in 20 overs,8 ball overs.
Fredrick's 169 of 145 balls.

BH remember Chris Matthews.Nerves got him in the couple of tests he played..Played some great Waca matches for Wa 

Yes we have an appalling record at the SCG and especially if it's an old fashioned dusty turner and it's mostly never changed through the years mate
only time I've seen NSW get a hold of us over here was that Waugh brother partnership of over 400 - Mark Waugh in particular was just sublime one of the very best innings I've seen 
Watching every ball of Adam Gilchrist against the Old Dart , he'd been out of touch and staring probably at an end out of his hands and then he comes out a little bit shaky for the first few balls but latches onto a cover drive , which yes was a touch lofted , but that one drive set off an absolutely magnificent display of shot making and there weren't too many that didn't hit dead centre of that Puma bat , fricken extra-ordinary 100
I remember footage of a very young Jeff Thomson stalk up the crease and then just unload - years later there was a fast bowling speed test I think at the WACA nets and it was Jeffery Thomson who was easily the world's fastest and I think several from around the world were tested that day alongside Thommo
But he was 10kmh quicker and then some and 160 kmh was confirmed

Selective memories BH.
A pity Julian did not go on the attack and call them out.