We continue our countdown of the most memorable moments in Test cricket on Australian soil this century
Top 20 in 2020: The best Test moments, 8-6
There are moments in cricket, as in all sport, that are so memorable you can recall exactly where you were and who you were with when they happened.
Be they back-to-the-wall hundreds or feats of individual brilliance, they are the moments you've re-watched countless times in the years since and still get chills every time.
Re-live the countdown so far: 20-18 | 17-15 | 14-12 | 11-9
As part of our 20 in 2020 countdown series, we're looking back at the 20 most memorable moments from Test matches played on Australian soil in the past 20 years.
They might not be the best innings ever played, or the perfect bowling performance, but rather moments that are quite simply unforgettable.
We continue today with numbers 8, 7 and 6 in our Top 20 countdown of the best Test moments and we will take a look at the top batting and bowling performances in the coming weeks as well.
Make sure you return to cricket.com.au and the CA Live app every day this week as we continue the countdown all the way to No.1
8) McGrath & Gillespie's batting masterclass
The Gabba, 2004
Image Id: 9A243684C2F04FCB87543004DF9938CBBy Martin Smith
Ricky Ponting has long described Glenn McGrath's one and only Test half-century as a miracle, but cricket's most famous batting bunny insists his career-best with the blade was due to hard work as much as any intervention from a higher power.
After an ankle operation had sidelined McGrath from Test cricket for almost a year prior to the 2004-05 Test summer, he entered the first of three Tests against New Zealand back to full fitness and also in the best batting form of his career.
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With his bowling capacity severely restricted early in his rehabilitation from surgery, McGrath decided to make the most of his numerous trips to the SCG nets by fine-tuning a part of his game he had long ignored.
"I thought 'while I’m there, I might as well face the ball machine'," McGrath recalled to cricket.com.au in 2015.
"I was facing about 500 balls a week from the ball machine, which I normally wouldn't face in a year in the nets.
"So I was probably seeing the ball OK.”
Image Id: DF380B92127F41DFBCA59B027CD531A5 Image Caption: McGrath is given a guard of honour // GettyEven so, McGrath's Test batting average of 6.53 gave little cause for optimism when he strode to the middle of the Gabba in the evening session of day three to join his batting partner Jason Gillespie, who boasted a comparatively Bradman-esque career mark of 14.44.
But just as the Black Caps turned their attention to how they would survive a tricky hour or so of batting late in the day, Ponting's miracle began to unfold before their eyes.
Australia’s final-wicket pair produced one of the most entertaining and jaw-dropping periods of cricket ever seen on these shores, somehow pilfering a staggering 114 runs from the same Kiwi attack that had earlier dismissed Matthew Hayden, Justin Langer and Ponting for the cost of five runs less than that.
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McGrath brought up his maiden Test fifty just before stumps, one of five crisply-struck boundaries taking him to a milestone that elicited howls of laughter from his disbelieving teammates and wild applause from the spectators who had stayed late into the afternoon to watch an unlikely batting masterclass.
But New Zealand's humiliation wouldn't be complete until the following day; after Gillespie reached his maiden Test fifty early in the morning session with a French cut to the rope and a laddish celebration lifted from the 90s film classic Happy Gilmore, the shell-shocked Black Caps were ripped out for just 76 in their second innings having spent just 36.2 overs in the middle.
Which was only one delivery more than McGrath and Gillespie faced in their record-breaking and unforgettable union.
7) Collapses and controversy in SCG nail-biter
Sydney Cricket Ground, 2008
Image Id: A932667EC7AF4DCC9507C1C93DB5034CBy Adam Burnett
The legacy of the 2008 Sydney Test will always surround the infamous 'Monkeygate' affair on the third day of the match, an incident that set an ill-tempered tone for the rest of the series and rocked world cricket's ecosystem to its very core.
And while it's impossible to ignore the ill-feeling and mistrust that stemmed from one of the most divisive cricket scandals of this century, the controversy has and possibly always will overshadow a pulsating Test match on the field and one of the tensest finishes to a game in recent memory.
With a series triumph and a world-record equalling 16th consecutive Test match win on the line, Australia ran into a defiant Indian outfit shortly after the arrival of the new year.
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The home side led 1-0 after a Boxing Day triumph, a win that put Ricky Ponting's team one short of Steve Waugh's Australians from seven years prior, who had made it 16 straight wins until being beaten by India in the epic Kolkata Test of 2001.
However, a disastrous opening to this second Test for Australia put the tourists immediately in the frame to again end the hosts' run and draw level in the four-match series.
Australia slipped to 6-134 on day one, with Indian spin pair Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh finding their groove at the SCG.
Image Id: 7C3130F8138148129CB09EC324190BE7 Image Caption: Symonds saved Australia on the opening day // GettyIt was up to the unlikely pair of Andrew Symonds and left-arm spinner Brad Hogg to save face.
Symonds enjoyed no small dose of good fortune with umpiring decisions and dropped catches going his way, but he was brilliant in between, playing the innings of his Test career to force Australia back into a contest that see-sawed dramatically for the ensuing four days.
Hogg produced a Test-best 79 as Australia recovered to post 463, but when Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman – two men who had more than their fair share of days out at the SCG – produced two sublime knocks for India, they were able to build a first-innings advantage of 69.
Matthew Hayden and Mike Hussey then spurred Australia on with a pair of hundreds second time around, but with the declaration delayed until shortly before lunch on day five, a draw appeared the near-certain outcome.
Image Id: D1ABA9B43792470FA9A1F771489E76F6 Image Caption: The Harbhajan-Symonds controversy dominated the Test match // GettyBrett Lee struck in the first over of the final innings, but with India 3-79 at tea and the experienced heads of Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly established in the middle, Australia's chances of taking seven wickets in the final session seemed remote.
But with three wickets still remaining and the shadows growing long across the SCG, Ponting threw the ball to Michael Clarke.
The rest is a familiar tale; with Clarke's second over – the penultimate of the match – the left-arm orthodox part-timer snared three wickets in five balls to complete a miraculous, controversial and historic victory.
6) Amazing Adelaide
Adelaide Oval, 2006
Image Id: 5592D8F362454623A5CBD04FB421FC1BBy Adam Burnett
Mike Hussey actually had to suppress a laugh.
He'd only been in Australia’s Test team for 12 months, and the prospect of mocking Ricky Ponting or Shane Warne wasn't one that sat comfortably with him.
But he couldn't believe what he was hearing.
Not only were Ponting and Warne convinced they could win a Test match that was quite obviously petering out to a draw, but they were actually discussing how they would do it.
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"You could see it in Ricky's eyes and in John Buchanan's eyes, and then Warnie started to get involved as well, and the belief started to grow,” Hussey recalled in 2017.
Soon enough, Hussey was convinced. If two of the greatest players to wear the Baggy Green believed it, so did he.
Some seven hours later, he was standing in the middle of the Adelaide Oval, perspiration dripping off him, savouring the finest hour of his cricketing life.
Perhaps England had bought into the public consensus that morning that, after just 17 wickets had fallen on the opening four days of the match, the match was destined for a draw.
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Or perhaps, the remarkable final day was more to do with Australia’s ace in the pack.
Warne had a way of bending matches to his will, and the hosts' remarkable reversal in fortunes on that fifth morning – England were ripped out for just 129 after an early spell of three wickets in eight balls from their leg-spinner – had his fingerprints all over it.
It left Australia needing 168 to win in the final 36 overs of the day and, after Langer and Hayden fell inside six overs, Hussey was promoted up to No.4 as a nod to his expertise in run chasing in the 50-over format.
He teamed up with Ponting and it was smooth sailing until the skipper was caught for 49. When Damien Martyn came and went (in what would be his final Test innings), he was joined by Michael Clarke with 47 runs needed from 82 balls.
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The pair adeptly whittled down the runs required, running hard between the wickets and picking gaps in the field, before Hussey remembers “getting hit with another massive surge of nerves when we needed about another five runs to win”.
"That was the realisation for me that we were actually going to win this game,” he says. “And I was desperate to be out there in the middle, to be part of this famous victory."
With the scores tied, Hussey drove superbly through extra cover and he and Clarke completed the single needed, sparking wild celebrations in the Australian rooms and sheer disbelief among the shattered tourists.
Image Id: 1DBE0BF052454DE09CBAC4850E6A05BF Image Caption: Warne bowls Pietersen around his legs // GettyFar from mocking Warne and Ponting, Hussey had instead proven their words prescient, passing his acid test in the process.
"It still to this day is probably the best feeling I've ever had on a cricket field," he says.
"And listening to guys like Ricky and Shane Warne say that was the best Test match they've ever been involved in, (it) was pretty amazing to be a part of."
Top 20 in 2020: Best Test moments countdown (so far)
20) Legends bid farewell
19) Warner dines out before lunch
18) Smith's brave last stand
17) Hussey and McGrath's final stand
16) McGrath predicts his milestone moment
15) Perfect delivery cooks England skipper
14) McGrath's miracle catch
13) Perry celebrates 200 ... twice
12) The Harmison ball
11) Warne falls heartbreakingly short
10) A trio of Test triples
9) A fitting tribute to a fallen friend
8) McGrath & Gillespie's batting masterclass
7) Collapses and controversy in SCG nail-biter
6) Amazing Adelaide
Make sure you return to cricket.com.au and the CA Live app every day this week as we continue the countdown all the way to No.1