Bicentennial Test in Australia

1st Match - Sydney, January 29th - February 2nd, 1988, Australia

In 1988, Australia celebrated her Bicentenary. It had been decided to include in it's celebrations a Bicentennial Test match, played between Australia and England. It was played at the Sydney Cricket Ground at the end of January and begining of February. The England side were at the time touring New Zealand and authorities decided that the touring side play the Test match and a One Day International. Just before the match, Sir Donald Bradman and other 'living legends' were paraded before the crowd, driven in a veteran Rolls-Royce. The crowd stood and gave them a standing ovation.

England won the toss and decided to bat on what was seen as a perfect wicket. broad and Moxon guided England to 71 without loss at lunch, although the pair were incredibly lucky to still be at the wicket. They had given 3 chances to the home side, but none of them were taken. Moxon was soon out after lunch and only lost another wicket all day.Unfortunately for the crowd and England, they had only scored 221 runs all day, Mike Gatting taking 67 minutes to end the day on 3 not out. All the English batsmen had starts but only one managed to turn it into a noteworthy innings, Broad who was eventually out for 139. Broad in disgust to being given out, knocked over his stumps and was promptly fined for his actions - A$1,000. Dean Jones top scored but the home side were no match for the English and were eventually bowled out for 214, 211 runs behind.

The play had now reached the 4th day and although in it's late stage, England were confident of winning the match. They needed a couple of quick wickets to apply pressure on the Australians. However, Marsh and Boon made a solid start scoring a century partnership and when bad light ended play 1 and a 1/2 hours early, Australia saw their chances of saving the match improve. Marsh was out with the total on 162 on the final day but by now, England had lost all interest in getting a result from this special match. Boon ended the match on 184 not out and with Dean Jones scoring 24 and Border 48 not out, the home side saved the game with ease. On such an important occassion, it was a shame that the cricket didn't live up to the expectations.