Tony Becca, Senior Sport Editor
THE Melbourne Cricket Ground is one of the finest Test arenas in the world. In fact, despite the charm of the Eden Gardens in Calcutta, it is second only to Lord's.
Home of the first Test match in 1877, the MCG, as Australians proudly refer to it, is not only the largest Test ground anywhere, it also boasts the largest capacity, the atmosphere is electric, and as many a batsman has confessed, it takes a special breed to perform there. It is no place for the weak hearted.
Starting with Charles Bannerman's effort when he ticked off the first Test century with a superb innings of 169 retired injured for Australia in the inaugural Test, and with Thomas Kendall's seven for 55 in the same match, it has, however, been the scene of some of the greatest performances of all time, and next to Lord's, it is the ground where young players, particularly Australians, dream of parading their skills.
Numbered among the young players, the young batsmen whose dreams came true and who celebrated in style were Neil Harvey who, at 19 years and 121 days, stroked 153 for Australia versus India in 1947-48, Don Bradman who, at 20 years and 129 days, scored 112 for Australia against England in 1928-29, Clem Hill who, at 20 years and 317 days, scored 188 for Australia versus England in 1897-98, and Jack Hearne, who at 20 years and 324 days, scored 114 for England in 1911-12.
Among the older players to have survived the atmosphere at the MCG was Jack Hobbs who, at 46 years and 88 days, stroked 142 for England in 1928-29 to become the oldest player ever to score a Test century.
For the West Indies, however, it has not been a happy hunting ground and as they prepare for the fourth Test match starting tomorrow evening local time, they must be pondering their fate as Australia bid for a 4-0 lead in the five-match series.
In 12 appearances at the MCG, the West Indies, who lost the first six, have lost eight times, won three times, and drawn once; and on top of that while Australia's batsmen have scored 12 centuries and their bowlers have taken more than five wickets in an innings nine times, West Indies batsmen have scored only five centuries and have taken five wickets on only four occasions.
The record, however, shows that with one ending in a draw, the West Indies have won three of the past six matches there - including two of the last three and the last one, and although they lost the match and drew the series 1-1, they are probably hoping that one of their bowlers will emulate Michael Holding's feat of five for 45 and six for 62 in 1981-82, and although the match ended in a draw after the West Indies had won the first three, that one of their batsmen will be as brilliant as Viv Richards was in 1984-85 when he smashed the Aussie attack for 208.
The problem is that only one of the Windies bowlers seems capable of matching Holding's feat, that only one of their batsmen has the skill to do onto Glenn McGrath and company what Richards did to Geoff Lawson, Rodney Hogg, Craig McDermott and company, and the prayer on every West Indian lip is that Courtney Walsh and Brian Lara will come good.
Once again they remain the West Indies only hope - if not to win, at least to make it a contest.
So far, Walsh has failed to fire "Down Under", so far Lara has fired only once, and if they fire in Melbourne, if they match the performance of Holding and Richards, win, lose or draw, they will be the toast of the world.
Walsh, the world record holder for the most wickets in Test cricket, is 10 away from becoming the first bowler to take 500 wickets; Lara, the world record holder for the highest innings in Test and first-class cricket, has played some of the finest innings ever - including a memorable 277 in Sydney in 1992-93 and if he plays one more, if he lights up the MCG, no one, not even his greatest detractors, could deny him a place among the game's great batsmen.
