An innings so historic that Robelinda had to break it up into two half-hour videos

The 1st Test of the 2003 Test series between Australia and Zimbabwe at the WACA was a historic moment, in that it was the first time the WACA had hosted a Test match in October, it was Zimbabwe’s first Test match in Australia….

And, after Zimbabwe won the toss and chose to field, it proved to be historic for another reason.

After Day 1, Australia reached stumps at 3/372 and opener Matthew Hayden, who was dealing with back soreness, was unbeaten on 183, and when Day 2 commenced, Hayden resumed clubbing a Zimbabwe attack that was often so mild that the Queenslander chose to face medium pacers in his Baggy Green, a move that probably wouldn’t be allowed in this age of increased player safety.

“We didn’t really say anything to Hayden during his innings. Once he got to 60 or 70 it looked pretty ominous. It was like he was batting with a barn door. I don’t think having a word was really going to have much of an affect.”

Trevor Gripper during an interview with Wisden, 2016

Eventually, as Hayden flayed the Zimbabwean attack, the milestones kept rolling.

He reached his second Test double century during the opening session of Day 2, bettering his own highest Test score in the process (It was 203 against India at Chennai in 2001).

During the middle session, with Australia scoring better than a run per ball while Hayden and Adam Gilchrist were at the crease, Hayden reached his triple century in 363 balls (Which was the fastest in history at the time), only the fourth Australian to score a Test match triple century, and he matched Bob Cowper against England in 1966 as the only players to score Test triple centuries in Australia (Michael Clarke and David Warner have since joined the club).

A short while later, Hayden moved to an unbeaten 334, matching Sir Donald Bradman and Mark Taylor (Who was commentating the match for Channel Nine) on the Australian Test record score, and it should be remembered Taylor had declared at Rawalpindi 5 years earlier so he could share Don’s record score…

However, Bradman was promoted to glory in 2001, so Hayden had no such sentiment on his mind, and surpassed them both to claim the Australian Test record score (335 off 396 balls), soon going on to become the first Australian player to score 350 in a Test match innings, and the fourth player to reach the milestone, alongside Len Hutton, Sir Garfield Sobers and the record-holder Brian Lara, who had scored 375 against England at Antigua 9 years earlier, and was now well within Hayden’s sights….

Of course, Haydos should’ve holed out on 335, but Mark Vermeulen (Not Trevor Gripper) dropped a sitter at long-on, which goes to show even the Zimbabweans wanted to see a world record.

“It was wrongly reported afterwards that during Hayden’s knock I dropped him. That wasn’t true, it was actually Mark Vermeulen. I can’t remember the reporter’s name but it was mentioned to me after the game and I had to make sure I corrected it!”

Trevor Gripper during an interview with Wisden, 2016

Hayden also brought up the 700 for Australia with a 6 straight down the ground, the first time Australia had scored 700 in a Test innings since 1955 (vs the West Indies at Kingston), as Hayden and Gilchrist each scored a century in a session of play, such was the barrage on the Zimbabwean attack.

Finally, in the final over before Tea on Day 2, the crowd got to see the history they wanted, as Hayden moved to 373, then he had a potential boundary cut off and settled for an easy 2, allowing him to match Lara’s world record 375 off just 413 balls, scored in just 5 sessions of play with 37 fours and 11 sixes (By comparison, Lara against England batted for 12 hours, 46 minutes, faced 538 balls and scored 45 fours without a six).

Two balls later, Hayden hit an easy single down the ground to move on to 376, the highest score in 1661 Test matches over 126 years.

A few balls later, Hayden moved to 380, with a historic 400 well within his sights and Steve Waugh more than happy to let him go for it, but Haydos finally played one big shot too many, as he top edged a sweep off Trevor Gripper to deep backward-square, and Stuart Carlisle, fighting the seagulls, held on to end what was the greatest Test innings to that time.

“I did eventually get Hayden out! The leg-side was the biggest part of the field so I bowled on that side. He went for a sweep – which he hadn’t done a lot of – and he top-edged it to Stuart Carlisle at deep backward-square. He took a great catch actually because there were a whole load of seagulls near him and as the ball travelled to him they were trying to take off. We were glad he held on.”

Steve Waugh declared with the score on 6/735 and Gilchrist unbeaten on 113 off only 94 balls, the Australian players gave Hayden a guard of honour, and proceeded to bowl for the remainder of the match, as Zimbabwe were bowled out for 239 on Day 3, Waugh enforced the follow-on, and thanks to some Day 4 rain, the visitors made it 22 overs into Day 5 before finally being bowled out again for 321, as Australia won convincingly by an innings and 175 runs.

Just to top everything off, Hayden was on the field for every single ball of the match.

The Post Script

Brian Lara called Hayden and congratulated him on breaking the record, then Lara famously reclaimed the record a mere 6 months and 1 day later with his 400 against England at Antigua, the first (and only) Test quadruple century – Hayden returned the compliment.

A few years later, Hayden hit 181 against New Zealand in an ODI at Hamilton, giving him the Australian record score in both Test and ODI cricket – He held it until Shane Watson bested his ODI score with 185 against Bangladesh in 2011.

Due to the match being so early in the cricket season, Zimbabwe being the opponent, and the time zone difference between Perth and the Eastern States, this was the lowest-rated Test match of Channel Nine’s cricket coverage (Dating back to 1979), and it supposedly cost Kerry Packer $4m due to it being broadcast in the last week of the ratings period, and Nine’s ratings going down the toilet due to not being able to broadcast their top shows in primetime.

Subsequently, due to poor attendances in Perth & Sydney, and Channel Nine’s financial losses, Cricket Australia have rarely scheduled Test matches against supposed ‘minnow’ nations during the summer of cricket, a run that was due to end with a maiden Test against Afghanistan in Perth in December 2020, which was called off due to the pandemic, and a second attempt in 2021 (Which would’ve been in Hobart) was called off due to the Taliban government’s position on women playing sport.

This Test match is the only instance of Australia scoring 700+ runs in a Test innings in Australia, and it wouldn’t be the only score of 700+ that summer, as India declared on 7/705 in the 1st Innings of the 4th Test against Australia in Sydney – They are the only two instances of 700+ runs being scored in a Test innings in Australia.

Finally, the last fact of this moment…

Despite going on to score 30 Test centuries, the 380 proved to be Hayden’s only Test century in Perth.