The 1985/86 Tests in Australia

[spell_check]

After the farewell of the Greg Chappell, Dennis Lillee and Rod Marsh, then the crushing defeats both home and away against West Indies, followed by the 3-1 loss to England in England, Australia at Test Match level had fallen in a heap. Then the troubles plummeted to alarming levels when on top of that, the defections to South Africa occured. This was the public interest in the 1985/86 series against New Zealand and India:

New Zealand:
Brisbane 4042 4242 5097 2022 641 16044
Sydney 6558 9957 12871 5141 3021 37548
Perth 12544 13120 9938 6517 4681 46800

India:
Adelaide 8141 9519 7109 4091 1455 30315
Melbourne 29108 18146 15751 14710 4000 81715
Sydney 17736 14263 16326 14292 4911 67528

The three ODIs held in Adelaide in that same season totalled 62,621. More than double the Test crowd but over two less days. There were predictions in the early 80s that Test matches would be dead by the end of the decade, however a resurgence by Australia followed by domination put paid to that in this country.

Will the same happen for 20/20, that Test matches will survive the test of time? The ODIs back at this time did not clash with the Tests like the IPL does now. There was no need to go to South Africa for more lucrative deals once the fall of apartheid resulted in their return from exile, but who's to stop the IPL going from strength to strength when the ICC go hand in hand with it?

[Rik E Boy]

I reckon that eventually West Indies, New Zealand and Bangladesh might stop playing Test Cricket entirely. In four decades there may only be a handful of test nations - Australia, England, South Africa....full circle. If test cricket ever wound up I wouldn't ever go to a One dayer of Teeball match.

NO SALE! But I do appear to be in the minority. I was channel surfing yesterday (NO FOOTY ACK DARN SPLIT ROUND) and the teeball world cup was on and I heard Ian Chappell say 'this match is fizzling out' LMAO and I thought this was the brave new world of non stop all singing all dancing actionfest that is teeball. Teeball is crap and eventually people will start to catch on. The first people to drop off will be the people who remember a time when cricket was a battle between bat and ball. It will go from strength to strength for as long as one dayers did then in twenty years there will be the 'Ten/10' revolution. What a joke, but I won't be laughing if Test Cricket ever becomes a casualty.

regards,

REB

[FlyingHigh]

From memory, the Adelaide test was a very boring draw. May also have been Merv Hughes' debut, with figures of something like 1/120ish.

How many of these tests were draws? Think all against India were, and all except the Brisbane test v NZ too? Brisbane test was when Hadlee had a part in all the dismissals.

[spell_check]

From memory, the Adelaide test was a very boring draw. May also have been Merv Hughes' debut, with figures of something like 1/120ish.

How many of these tests were draws? Think all against India were, and all except the Brisbane test v NZ too? Brisbane test was when Hadlee had a part in all the dismissals.

New Zealand won in Brisbane and Perth, Australia in Sydney. Yes, all three Indian Tests were draws, and Merv debuted here.

[FlyingHigh]

From memory, the Adelaide test was a very boring draw. May also have been Merv Hughes' debut, with figures of something like 1/120ish.

How many of these tests were draws? Think all against India were, and all except the Brisbane test v NZ too? Brisbane test was when Hadlee had a part in all the dismissals.

New Zealand won in Brisbane and Perth, Australia in Sydney. Yes, all three Indian Tests were draws, and Merv debuted here.

Yes, you are right Spelly. That Australian win was Hookesy's last Test for Australia IIRC

[GWW]

From memory, the Adelaide test was a very boring draw. May also have been Merv Hughes' debut, with figures of something like 1/120ish.

How many of these tests were draws? Think all against India were, and all except the Brisbane test v NZ too? Brisbane test was when Hadlee had a part in all the dismissals.

If my memory serves me, most, if not all, was washed out in the Adelaide Test.

Was this the test where Border made a double century in the 2nd innings to avoid defeat?

[spell_check]

I reckon that eventually West Indies, New Zealand and Bangladesh might stop playing Test Cricket entirely. In four decades there may only be a handful of test nations - Australia, England, South Africa....full circle. If test cricket ever wound up I wouldn't ever go to a One dayer of Teeball match.

NO SALE! But I do appear to be in the minority. I was channel surfing yesterday (NO FOOTY ACK DARN SPLIT ROUND) and the teeball world cup was on and I heard Ian Chappell say 'this match is fizzling out' LMAO and I thought this was the brave new world of non stop all singing all dancing actionfest that is teeball. Teeball is crap and eventually people will start to catch on. The first people to drop off will be the people who remember a time when cricket was a battle between bat and ball. It will go from strength to strength for as long as one dayers did then in twenty years there will be the 'Ten/10' revolution. What a joke, but I won't be laughing if Test Cricket ever becomes a casualty.

regards,

REB

I agree REB, so as long as there are Ashes series going, there will still be Test matches. I don't know if the 2010/11 Ashes series will be as well attended as the 2006/07 series, but I get the feeling another competitive series this year will bring in the crowds:
2006/07 Series
Brisbane 39288 39315 38719 37056 10349 164727
Adelaide 31458 30321 30075 24552 20355 136761
Perth 24175 24268 22006 20703 12288 103440
Melbourne 89155 ? ? 244351 - 3 days
Sydney 46070 45572 41533 30862 164037 - 4 days
Total: 813,316

If only the Melbourne Test went for 5 days along with Sydney, it would have nearly topped the 1 million total.

[spell_check]

From memory, the Adelaide test was a very boring draw. May also have been Merv Hughes' debut, with figures of something like 1/120ish.

How many of these tests were draws? Think all against India were, and all except the Brisbane test v NZ too? Brisbane test was when Hadlee had a part in all the dismissals.

If my memory serves me, most, if not all, was washed out in the Adelaide Test.

Was this the test where Border made a double century in the 2nd innings to avoid defeat?

http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/S ... 46687.html

No it wasn't the double century Test for Border , but it was rain affected.

[am Bays]

From memory, the Adelaide test was a very boring draw. May also have been Merv Hughes' debut, with figures of something like 1/120ish.

How many of these tests were draws? Think all against India were, and all except the Brisbane test v NZ too? Brisbane test was when Hadlee had a part in all the dismissals.

If my memory serves me, most, if not all, was washed out in the Adelaide Test.

Was this the test where Border made a double century in the 2nd innings to avoid defeat?

Nah, the third innings of the match started at about 5:10 pm on the last day. The last days play was the first day of Test Cricket I ever saw live. rained virtually until lunch and then Gavasker made a century blocking virtually the 1st 5 balls of every over then milking a single...very borings days cricket, noticable for Merv Hughes taking a catch to give hookesy his first test wicket.

What was interesting was that the third innings (Australia's 2nd innings) saw the start of one of our better opening combinations, Boon and Marsh, because Phillips was crook (vomited on the field a couple of times on the last day).

[ORDoubleBlues]

From memory, the Adelaide test was a very boring draw. May also have been Merv Hughes' debut, with figures of something like 1/120ish.

How many of these tests were draws? Think all against India were, and all except the Brisbane test v NZ too? Brisbane test was when Hadlee had a part in all the dismissals.

Think it was also the debut of Bruce Rude - and possibly Geoff Marsh (?) as well - and who knows how good he would have been if he wasn't getting injured all the time.

This was also the NZ series where Richard Hadlee had the remarkable figures of 33 wickets in 3 tests and there was a shameful mass production of "Hadlee's a wanker" stickers that seemed to catch on for a while at the time but has been largely forgotten about.

[GWW]

No it wasn't the double century Test for Border , but it was rain affected.

Ah ok, it must have been the next NZ tour to Oz, i think in 87, where Border scored the double ton in the 2nd innings in the Adelaide Test.

[spell_check]

No it wasn't the double century Test for Border , but it was rain affected.

Ah ok, it must have been the next NZ tour to Oz, i think in 87, where Border scored the double ton in the 2nd innings in the Adelaide Test.

http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/S ... 49413.html

Yes that would be the one. And check out the attendance at the bottom - even worse than 1985/86.

[whufc]

I reckon that eventually West Indies, New Zealand and Bangladesh might stop playing Test Cricket entirely. In four decades there may only be a handful of test nations - Australia, England, South Africa....full circle. If test cricket ever wound up I wouldn't ever go to a One dayer of Teeball match.

NO SALE! But I do appear to be in the minority. I was channel surfing yesterday (NO FOOTY ACK DARN SPLIT ROUND) and the teeball world cup was on and I heard Ian Chappell say 'this match is fizzling out' LMAO and I thought this was the brave new world of non stop all singing all dancing actionfest that is teeball. Teeball is crap and eventually people will start to catch on. The first people to drop off will be the people who remember a time when cricket was a battle between bat and ball. It will go from strength to strength for as long as one dayers did then in twenty years there will be the 'Ten/10' revolution. What a joke, but I won't be laughing if Test Cricket ever becomes a casualty.

regards,

REB

So true, had a discussion with some fellow test loving mates about how long it would be before T20 became too long a version and the 10/10 version which could be played in a hour and half is created.

[Sam_goUUUdogs]

I wouldn't be surprised if it got to the stage where there was 10/10 or 5/5 cricket matches in a rugby 7's style tournament, maybe the Cricket 7's, Seven/7
I suppose the beauty of anything shorter is that it wouldn't probably be able to be a stand alone event, and would need to be in a tournament format, which will mean it will always been seen as a novelty form of the game, and wont be able to be seen as mainstream cricket alongside the other 3 forms of the game.