The imminent departure of Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath from the Australia side might be giving parochial fans conniptions but as Peter Roebuck writes in the Sydney Morning Herald, the pair should be celebrated, not mourned.
Ten more days of Test cricket remain before Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath put aside their baggy green caps. Not since Laurel and Hardy has the breaking of a partnership between a burly man and a skinny fellow caused such a rumpus. Together they have taken more than 1600 wickets for their country. Whenever the game was afoot, the captain could throw them the ball confident that the tide was about to turn. Neither man ever retreated. Neither was a champion by decree. They pursued greatness, recognised it, embraced it, used it.
Warne is not the only Melbourne icon being lauded today. In The Age, Greg Baum reflects on the great history of the MCG, which is hosting its 100th Test match (if the washed out 1970-71 Test is included).
The MCG hosted the first three Test matches, and seven of the first 11, all Australia versus England. The history of the ground is synonymous with the history of the game. Today, the MCG will stage its 100th Test, by blissful coincidence also Australia versus England. Necessarily in cricket, a century is an occasion for pause, roars, plaudits and applause. Now the MCG is a citadel, walled, turreted and bejewelled, filling the city's eastern horizon. Then, it was little more than an enclosure in the Police Paddocks, with a grandstand, but no scoreboard, telephone or electric lighting.
