Ashes 2017: Boxing Day Test brings back happy memories for spin wizard Shane Warne

TO be an Australian playing a Boxing Day Test is amazing, and being a Victorian, well, that’s something absolutely amazing, writes Shane Warne. Two moments stand out for the spin great:

Shane Warne enjoyed great success at the MCG.

I WAS very lucky to call the mighty MCG my home ground and my back yard for more than 20 years.

To be an Australian playing a Boxing Day Test is amazing, and being a Victorian, well, that’s something absolutely amazing.

The MCG is one of two Test grounds that all players want to experience — the other is the hallowed turf at Lord’s because of its history and tradition, plus its unique slope.

Every cricketer across the globe in their minds has played a game at the ‘G, but so few get the chance to test their mettle for real.

Today, 22 men get that opportunity in what should be a cracking Test match.

I’ll be among the expected 90,000-100,000 on hand, commentating for Channel Nine, to witness new history being made along with memories that will last forever.

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Driving to the ground all the great times will come flooding back and will make the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

It happens every time.

Shane Warne celebrates removing Andrew Strauss to secure his 700th Test wicket.

As a player, the walk down the race and into the coliseum and the roar that always follows, it stirs something special inside.

Boxing Day is always the showpiece match of the summer. It’s the best-attended Test match anywhere in the world — between 250,000-300,000 fans will walk through Yarra Park and in through the turnstiles over the next five days.

The crowd is so passionate and the noise that echoes around the stands is hard to describe. It’s truly awesome.

Two Boxing Day Test memories stand out for me.

The first was in ‘94 when I managed to take a hat-trick — my one and only hat-trick in any form of cricket — against England.

It was David Boon’s birthday and the “keg on legs” took an absolute screamer at bat pad to get rid of Devon Malcolm, who’d walked out looking more like Robocop than a No.11 with all his padding on.

Shane Warne celebrates his hat trick at the MCG in 1994.

I remember bowling a top-spinning leg break and Malcolm gloved it and Boonie did the rest.

Hat-trick, Boonie’s birthday and an Ashes Test win — tough to beat that. We sung the song with extra passion that night and the celebrations were special.

My other standout memory was my last ever Boxing Day Test, in 2006.

It’s amazing how things pan out; if I’d taken one extra wicket in 16 summers I’d have had 700 Test wickets on the morning of the game, but I hadn’t so I was on 699. The scriptwriter was right on the job.

I was up at 5.30am for the Shane Warne Foundation Boxing Day breakfast with Kevin Pietersen and Michael Clarke where we raised a lot of money for seriously ill and underprivileged children.

So I was at the ground before anyone and it was a really eerie morning. It was quite chilly and there was low cloud. It was unnerving almost.

We lost the toss and bowled first and when I got the ball there was a very nice acknowledgment from the crowd.

But when I knocked over Andrew Strauss, the roar was the loudest I ever heard in any match I played in. Holding the ball up in front of 93,000 people cheering and chanting your name was a great moment.

Shane Warne is cheered from the MCG as he holds the ball aloft to celebrate taking five wickets in the innings as well as his 700th wicket during the 2006 Boxing Day Test.

Then at stumps, having taken a five-for on day one of the Test match and leading the team off, with my kids, family and friends all there watching, it was highly emotional and is hard to beat as my favourite ever cricket day.

The funniest incident at the ‘G didn’t happen on Boxing Day, but when I was captain of the one-day side against England in front of 85,000 people.

The crowd was pelting Darren Gough with all manner of things down at third man and it was getting a little out of hand.

Alec Stewart was captain of England and he was getting a bit worried, so he called me out onto the ground, stopping play. The crowd wanted blood.

I left the change rooms and walked out in thongs and shorts. I asked Alec, “What do you want me to do?”

He said, “Please make them stop throwing stuff at Goughy.”

“Are you serious?” I responded.

England captain Alec Stewart asks Shane Warne to ask the MCG crowd to stop throwing objects at England’s Darren Gough in 1999.

Alec said yep, or we are walking off.

So I grabbed Mark Waugh’s helmet and walked down to Bay 13 wearing Junior’s helmet and with my shorts and thongs on and asked them to stop — and they did.

They all started chanting “Warnie, Warnie” — I got off pretty quickly, let me tell you.

Today, it’s all to do for England. They need to get some pride back after a pretty disastrous tour.

I think they’re a better side than they’ve shown and they will be desperate to make amends.

I feel for Joe Root a little, it hasn’t been easy for him but he can hold his head high. He’ll be desperate to make a big score on such a mammoth stage and I do hope he makes a big 100.

The moment for me that could have turned the series was when James Vince was run out, with Nathan Lyon throwing down the stumps, in Brisbane.

If Vince had made a big score, a big 150, everything could have been different.

But the Aussies are 3-0 up, have the Ashes in their keeping and there’s no way they’ll be putting the feet up in this Test. They’ll be hungry for five-nil.

Alastair Cook and Stuart Broad have had a tough tour, and there is a bit of talk they should be dropped — I don’t agree as they have enough credits in the bank to play the next two Tests and can come good.

Broad has not bowled as well as he would have liked but he hasn’t had a lot of luck, either.

Similarly, Cook has been a bit stiff, I reckon. In Brisbane he got out on a hook shot to an unbelievable catch at fine leg and then in Perth fell to a super caught and bowled to Josh Hazlewood. So while he’s looked a little out of sorts, he has been a bit unlucky too.

A final note on the Australian selectors. Credit where credit’s due; they’ve aced it this series with gutsy calls on Tim Paine, Cameron Bancroft and the Marsh brothers.

We’re all quick to nail them when they get it wrong — and even before they get it wrong in some cases! — but a huge tick to Trevor Hohns, Greg Chappell, Darren Lehmann and Mark Waugh.

Well done. Inspired. Just like Boxing Day at the MCG.

Originally published as Ashes 2017: Boxing Day Test brings back happy memories for spin wizard Shane Warne