12.30am in Sydney, ten hours before the scheduled start of the Warne-McGrath-Langer-Buchanan grand finale. It has been raining fairly steadily for the last three or four hours here, about six kilometres west of the SCG.
Having said that, the forecast from the Bureau of Meteorology indicates that the showers will be restricted to morning and night.
190: The approximate number of overs left unplayed when the Melbourne Test finished two and a bit days early.
244,351: The cumulative number of spectators at the MCG over the three days of the Test, an average of 81450 per day. The record cumulative crowd for a Test in Australia was 350,534 for the MCG Test against England in 1936-37, a six-day Test thus averaging a mere 58422 per day.
I'll write more about the Melbourne Test on what should have been either Day Four or Day Five, but for now here are my votes for Day Three of the Melbourne Test, ie, the day that Australia thwacked England by an innings.
Three points: Brett Lee; two points: Shane Warne; one point: Stuart Clark.
With one Test remaining, we have a clear leader. No prizes for guessing who...
Melbourne cricket fans denied two days' unbridled adulation of Shane Warne as Test finishes early. Film at 11.
I was just about to congratulate Andrew Symonds for being the first non-white person to score a Test century for Australia in men's cricket. Of course, he's the second... one Jason Gillespie beat him to the punch by eight months.
Still, it's testimony to the conservative, imperial institution that Australian cricket has been over the past century and a half. It's getting better - very, very slowly.
"It wasn't enough for Melba to become one of the greats of the Golden Age of Grand Opera. She wanted to be the greatest. her glorious voice took her to the top; her ruthless determination to overthrow any rival kept her there long after the voice had begun to decline. Revealed in this relentlessly candid yet sympathetic study is Melba the drama queen, the monstrous prima donna, the canny businesswoman, the generous and kindly friend, the unique star who refused to fade."
The crowd erupts. The Waltz King is beaten by a glorious leggie.
