In looking at an old photo album today, I found two original photos with big cricket crowds at the MCG. I scanned one in and tidied it up a bit:
On the back, there was the stamp “Jan 82”; being the date that Kodak or whoever processed and printed it.
Check out the old MCG stands. Not much shade and you can see the long bare wooden (metal?) benches. Plus these were Dry Areas; no alcohol. From memory the alcohol limit was how much full strength beer you could carry into the MCG. No, I’m not kidding.
I initially checked and assumed it was a Test match, specifically Boxing Day 1981. In those days I’d wait till the film had been used up, before getting it developed. It may have been weeks after the first photo was taken.
Next on the PC I zoomed in and saw:
- A banner with the words “Viv = God”. So it was against the West Indies.
- That little Bowlers scoreboard. It looked, initially, like a large number of runs; 187 or 87 for Lillee.
But, then I looked at the next photo in the album:
Aha, if it’s the same day, then the coloured clothes mean One Day International (ODI), not a Test. The stamp on the back was the same as the first, so same film at least.
It was actually quite easy to then find the exact match and date. I firstly zoomed in on that Bowlers Scoreboard – in the first shot – and realised I’d initially misread it. It was Wickets, Runs, Overs.
I wrote the first few WRO values down. Then, as an afterthought I scribbled down Greg Chappell’s figures of “_, 33, 9”
I then found a good online listing of the Windies 81/82 tour, including full scorecard. The very first ODI game I clicked on had the great Gregory Stephen Chappell’s bowling as “_, 33, 9”. Glad I had that afterthought.
To confirm, I randomly picked ‘Henry’ Lawson’s figures. Well that was easy; he played in the above game, but didn’t play in the other two equivalent Windies ODI’s at the MCG that season (both were finals).
So: it was The 10th ODI of that Benson & Hedges (cough!) World Series Cup tournament and played on Sunday, January 10th, 1982 at the MCG. The Windes won by 5 wickets (with 17 balls remaining).
Can’t yet find the attendance, but it looked well over 80,000. You could imagine the din with most of them chanting “Lil-lee” in unison. Just 5 years before that, I’d heard that same chant at the Centenary Test, as a 15 year old. That was the match – and probable moment – where I fell in love with cricket. That or the huge crowd ‘encouraging’ an English bowler with “Willis, Willis, Weak as Pi$$”. I kid you not.