It's the most wonderful time of the year

Steve Waugh’s famous last-ball century at the SCG in January 2003. Picture: Phil Hillyard

Andrew McDonald and family featured in the Dubbo Examiner for being at the 2003 Test

Norman Bull was in the top deck of the Members Pavilion with his father when Don Bradman strode out to bat in his last match at the Sydney Cricket Ground on February 26, 1949. The game was a testimonial for WA ‘Bert’ Oldfield and AF ‘Alan’ Kippax. The talk of the time was that the NSW Cricket Association wouldn’t grant Bradman a testimonial game because he’d gone to play for South Australia. Plus, he’d already had one in Melbourne.

Six-year-old Bull didn’t care about any of that. He’d driven eight hours with his father from their farm in Narrandera in the Riverina region of NSW. He had never seen so many people. It was a wonder. He can’t remember how many runs the Don scored that day, but he has never forgotten being there.

Although he has witnessed the batting of Bradman, Neil Harvey, Gary Sobers and Viv Richards, Bull says the best thing he has seen at the SCG, “without a doubt”, was when Steve Waugh brought up a 100 on the last ball of the day, January 3, 2003 — a feat that equalled Bradman’s record of 29 Test centuries.

“I was in the Noble stand, bottom deck, with some friends,” Bull recalls. “There was a pretty big crowd. And when he came through and hit that boundary, honestly, everyone jumped up in the air and the grandstand nearly went up with them.”

Bull hasn’t made it to the cricket every year. Sometimes he has had something else on. But mostly he’s made it, even with floods and fires to navigate. “But we’ve usually worked around them,” he says with a grin. “It’s pretty important to get there, you know.”

Bull is 80 and still working with his sons and grandsons on their wheat and sheep property at Narrandera. He quips that he’s working harder than all of them. He’s “90 per cent sure” he’ll be down again for the Pakistan Test in January, his 21st Test match in a row.

“I like watching the cricket, particularly Test cricket. I love the batting. I think it takes the most skill in sport. More so than footballers, in my opinion. And it’s an occasion when you meet a lot of people. I really look forward to that and sharing the event with them. I’ve been bringing a mate every year as one of my guests but unfortunately he died a few months ago, so I’m going to have to find another mate.”

Shouldn’t be too hard, though? “No, I’ll be right,” he says. “I’ll be right.”

Bull watches cricket from the MA Noble Don Bradman Dally Messenger Stand, but for Swans games he prefers the same top deck of the Members Pavilion where he first watched Bradman. He was there the night Buddy Franklin kicked his 1000th goal.

“You feel like you’re on top of the ground from there,” Bull says. “A lot of [members] have switched to the Noble stand where the facilities are better for the cricket. But for the football, you’re not sitting there for days on end. The Members stand, for two hours, it’s a great spot.”

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Megan Raadmasa in the black hat with her family at a Pink Test

On the night before each Test match at the SCG, Venues NSW (formerly the SCG Trust) hosts a drinks and nibbles function for its country members. In 40 years as a member, Andrew McDonald of Trangie, an hour west of Dubbo, had never been. But in January, his 21-year-old son Angus said to his dad, “Let’s go”. The drinks were at the gleaming new Allianz Stadium that many had never seen. And thus it drew upwards of 500 people, the biggest crowd the event had seen.

Welcoming the country members was the then Venues NSW chairman Tony Shepherd, who thanked everyone for coming and said the Sydney Cricket and Sports Grounds loved its country members because they tended to have a wicked sense of humour.

“He told this story about three guys from Trangie who used to drink in a bar in the Members on the top floor,” McDonald says. “One day, one of these blokes brought in a framed photo of himself and his two mates and he nailed it up on the wall in between all the old photos of historical happenings. And the photo stayed up there for the five days of the Test.”

The trio returned a year later and were delighted to find the photo was still up. For another five days they took photos of themselves in front of the photo, posing with beers. Another 12 months passed. The trio ascended the stairs to the bar. And there, still, was the photo of three mates from Trangie, sharing space with black-and-whites of Keith Miller, Richie Benaud and Neil Harvey.

Steve Gay, at far right, and friends at the SCG

“So, Tony Shepherd was telling this story about this bloke from Trangie, Angus McDonald, when my son pointed at my head and yelled out to Tony and this crowd of 500 people: ‘That’s his dad. That’s my grandad.’

“The three in the photo were my father, Angus, George Mack and Anthony Croudace, farmers and graziers from Trangie. It came down eventually.”

The first Test match McDonald saw was in 1976 when Greg Chappell scored 182. He was there eight years later for Chappell’s last Test when he scored, again, 182. At that first game, the hill was so packed that he and his father had to sit and stand slightly apart. Jeff Thomson took a diving catch like Glenn McGrath’s in Adelaide to get Deryck Murray out and “brought the house down”, according to McDonald.

McDonald became an SCG member in his early 20s and saw Chappell score a double-century against India in 1981. Sitting next to McDonald by chance that day was Chappell’s wife, Judith, who was quietly amused when Doug Walters received a bigger standing ovation from the Sydney crowd while walking off for 67 than Chappell received when he scored 204. “He was popular in Sydney, Dougie,” McDonald says.

The SCG was popular with the McDonalds, too. Andrew’s wife Yvette became a member and so did all three kids, Anthea, Holly and Angus (whose middle name is Bradman). The whole family was at Waugh’s last Test in 2004.

McDonald’s greatest memory, as it is for many, is also Waugh’s last-ball 100 against England in 2003. “I took a mate out that day, it was his first ever day watching Test cricket and he hasn’t been back since,” McDonald says. And McDonald was there in 1998 when Shane Warne bowled Jacques Kallis to claim his 300th wicket. He has a framed photo of the scene with the Members Pavilion clock nudging 7pm under dark skies.

Through his father’s connection to former Delhi batter Venkat ‘Sandy’ Sundaram, McDonald played with the Cricketers Club of NSW, whose home ground was SCG No.2 (since encompassed by the Sydney Football Stadium). One day the pair put on a 108-run partnership (of which McDonald made 17) with the tall Chappell-esque Sundaram blasting away from one end while McDonald stood at the non-striker’s and watched the wood-chopping at the nearby Royal Easter Show.

Today, McDonald’s kids are regulars at Swans and Big Bash League games and love taking their friends out. The magic is still there for their dad, too. “It still takes your breath away every time you walk into it,” he says. “It’s a privilege to be a part of it. For country people, we don’t get the opportunity to do that very often. I think that’s why we make a trip of it. You’ve got to make the most of it.”

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David Johnston has two distinct and very fine memories of the SCG, which unlike most members took place inside the boundary ropes. In 1967, aged 12, Johnston came down from Maitland, along with a bunch of NSW country kids, when invited to stay at the SCG for a week-long cricket clinic. And by stay at the SCG, that’s what they meant.

“We slept in the Members stand on fold-out canvas army beds,” Johnston says. “We showered in the players’ dressing rooms. We were coached by some of the great players of the time — Brian Taber and Peter Philpott, who became a beloved mentor.”

At the end of the week Johnston, along with a kid from Albury called Steve Rixon, was chosen to play in the Country versus City match that would take place — to Johnston’s unmitigated joy — on the centre wicket of the SCG. And there he scored 127 not out. “And I thought,” Johnston says, “this is all right.”

Johnston’s dad, a cricket tragic, had built a pitch in the family backyard using the same Bulli soil that made the centre-wicket at the SCG. He’d roll it every day. And Johnston and his mates played on it every day. Johnston would become good enough to play 14 first-class games for NSW. He once scored 81 against Queensland at the SCG but his other greatest memory inside the ropes was when he faced up to a legend.

“I played against the great Dennis Lillee in a Sheffield Shield match,” Johnston says. “He was beautiful to watch. Rhythm, pace, an athlete. He was a presence on the field — open shirt, gold chains. He was magnificent.”

Did he get Johnston out? “Of course he did. Twice! The second time was LBW. He did that big appeal, the two fingers up, half squatted down. Rod Marsh came up to me afterwards and said, ‘Bad luck mate, wasn’t out’.”

Johnston lives today in the Newcastle beach suburb of Merewether not far from his friend and former captain, Rick McCosker. Johnston was 12th man in a match when McCosker, opening the innings for NSW, scored two unbeaten centuries and was on the field for every ball of the four-day match.

“Afterwards, I offered to drive him home for the three-hour trip back to Newcastle. I figured he’d be a bit tired. But he wanted to drive home, too,” Johnston says. “Tough man, Rick.”

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Megan Raadsma’s friends and family rarely need to ring or text one another about where to catch up during the Sydney Test match each year, so long have they enjoyed it. “We all sit in different spots during the game,” Raadsma says. “But we know where we’re going to meet up at lunch, at tea, before the match, afterwards. Same spots, different year.”

Raadsma’s people come from everywhere — across Sydney, Cowra, Mollymook. She comes down each year from Black Head, north of Forster-Tuncurry on the NSW mid-north coast. The Sydney Test is where they all meet up, often for the one time each year.

“It’s just been the most fantastic place to catch up,” she says. “We all just know that we’ll meet up for a drink at some point. It’s always a perfect get together for cousins, aunties, friends. I used to live and work on an agricultural research station in Trangie and all those guys I worked with will come down and they’ll know where we’ll be.”

The photograph that hung on the wall in the Members for days

Aside from the social aspect, Raadsma loves the cricket. She, too, counts Waugh’s last-ball century and Matthew Hayden’s 300 against Zimbabwe as highlights. “Another time, Dean Jones was on the boundary and I got him to sign some little bats for my children,” she says. “He was fielding at the time so didn’t have long to chat, but he was very accommodating.”

Raadsma laughs with self-deprecation at why she likes being a member.

“It’s almost a snobby thing, ‘Oh yes, we’re members, you know’ [laughs]. But seriously, there’s a lovely ethos or something about the place. I love taking new friends. It’s just a nice, well-mannered atmosphere.”

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Shane Warne in full flight at the SCG. Picture: Phil Hillyard

When Steve Gay, 41, travels from Dubbo to Sydney for the Test match each year, he feels like the town comes to the big smoke with him. On the plane he’ll see people he knows. In the pub he’ll see people he knows. In the queue for a beer at the Long Bar, he’ll meet an old mate from Dubbo.

Gay is a creature of habit. If it’s not broken, don’t fix it. Every year he travels with the same group of mates (teammates from Dubbo Roos), stays in the same motel in Bondi Junction and drinks in the same Lord Nelson Hotel. They eat at the same Chinese restaurant in Neutral Bay. To mix it up, they might go to the races at Randwick.

In the early ’90s, Gay would travel for the one-dayers with his mum and dad. They would sit high in the Clive Churchill Brewongle Stand. He had always wanted to join the Members. When the opportunity came up he grabbed it.

“The history of it has always appealed,” Gay says. “There’s something about it. We always get there for Jane McGrath Day. Some guys in our party have family affected by breast cancer. We get right into that. It’s a must-do.”

Along with the always poignant Jane McGrath days, there was one particularly emotional day when David Warner paid tribute to his mate Phil Hughes after whacking a century before lunch against Pakistan.

Today, Gay will take his three girls to Sydney Swans games. “The kids love it,” he says. “One of them took up AusKick at home because of it. Hopefully they’ll join us at the cricket one day.”

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Peter Gesling was on the fence at third man, just in front of the old SCG hill and the mighty old scoreboard, where he was having a chat with giant West Indian paceman Joel Garner. It was Gesling’s first cricket match at the ground and he was there with mates from Sydney University, and 50,000 other people, for the first game played under the lights at the SCG — World Series Cricket Australia vs the West Indies, November 28, 1978.

Even with the bubbling noise of so many spectators (Kerry Packer had ordered the gates opened to allow the long queues of people in), Gesling and his mates found Garner great company.

“We had a great time with him,” Gesling says. “We had just finished university and it was time to celebrate. Big Joel was on the boundary and willing to talk. Great fella. I’ve always found that when you’re respectful of players they’re willing to have a conversation.”

Gesling returned to his hometown of Wellington on NSW’s central western slopes and applied for SCG membership. And he never stopped coming for the Tests. And the one-dayers. And the rugby union. When the Sydney Swans came to town in 1982, Gesling became a foundation member. He saw Warne’s first Test (in 1992) and his last (in 2007) when Australia beat England, and Warne, McGrath and Justin Langer were given a heart-felt send-off.

He saw Chappell score a masterful 100 for Queensland along with a “couple of hundred other diehards” and was up with everyone else when Waugh clubbed a boundary for his ton on the last ball of the day in 2003.

Today, he’ll drive from Blueys Beach on the NSW mid-north coast and catch up with the usual suspects in the Ladies Pavilion. “I’ve enjoyed the experience and maintained it every year for that reason. We catch up with old friends every year. We make new friends, people you just have a chat with at the breaks,” he says.

“Recently, I’ve enjoyed the breakfasts around the Test match, the lunches with former players.” For the Pakistan Test he’ll bring along five of his 16 grandchildren — all of whom are on the membership waiting list.