Bruce
16th November 2004, 04:00 PM
Rather than continue the threadjack might bear a conversation of its' own.
I thought it a little odd that a show about cricket in the 80s would spend most of the first half talking about thing that happened in the 70s. WSC really was as big a revelation as it seems. (not that I was old enough to really know what was going on). Prior to WSC the ACB paid players $100 per day for a test match. That's a bit over $5k when the gate takings were well over $100k. Any wonder then that the players revolted.
However good the current Aussie team is, they haven't caught the Windies yet as far as sheer length of dominance. Those guys beat up on everyone, home and away, for 15 years. They were awesome.
My first day of test cricket was at the MCG on boxing day 1981. The day of Kim Hughes' century and Lillee knocking over the Master Blaster on the last ball of the day. It wasn't as easy to keep up in the days before replays at the ground and with simple scoreboards and as a 9yr old I wasn't too sure about Hughes' ton. All I knew was that batsmen kept getting out and we weren't making many runs. But I clearly remember Lillee's spell at the end of the day. It was absolute pandemonium. Standing on the platform of Richmond station 30 mins after stumps had been drawn we could still hear the chants of "Lillee Lillee" coming from the 'G. I've been completely hooked on Test Cricket ever since.
It was galling to watch Headingly again.
Next week will see more scars exposed I think as the mid to late 80s was not the best for Aussie cricket. Not till 89 did we start the climb out of the slump that started when G Chappell, Marsh and Lillee left together.
I thought it a little odd that a show about cricket in the 80s would spend most of the first half talking about thing that happened in the 70s. WSC really was as big a revelation as it seems. (not that I was old enough to really know what was going on). Prior to WSC the ACB paid players $100 per day for a test match. That's a bit over $5k when the gate takings were well over $100k. Any wonder then that the players revolted.
However good the current Aussie team is, they haven't caught the Windies yet as far as sheer length of dominance. Those guys beat up on everyone, home and away, for 15 years. They were awesome.
My first day of test cricket was at the MCG on boxing day 1981. The day of Kim Hughes' century and Lillee knocking over the Master Blaster on the last ball of the day. It wasn't as easy to keep up in the days before replays at the ground and with simple scoreboards and as a 9yr old I wasn't too sure about Hughes' ton. All I knew was that batsmen kept getting out and we weren't making many runs. But I clearly remember Lillee's spell at the end of the day. It was absolute pandemonium. Standing on the platform of Richmond station 30 mins after stumps had been drawn we could still hear the chants of "Lillee Lillee" coming from the 'G. I've been completely hooked on Test Cricket ever since.
It was galling to watch Headingly again.
Next week will see more scars exposed I think as the mid to late 80s was not the best for Aussie cricket. Not till 89 did we start the climb out of the slump that started when G Chappell, Marsh and Lillee left together.