A TO Z of the Adelaide Oval

Spectators enjoy Day Two action in the India v Australia Test at the Adelaide Oval on December 13, 2003. India went on to win the Test to go one-up. Pic/Getty Images

A for Agarkar. His 6-41 in 2003-04 helped India bowl out Australia for 196. India went one-up in a series on Australian soil for the first time.

B for Bradman. Adelaide was The Don's home for a good portion of his life till it ended in 2001.

C for the Chappells. The Adelaide Oval was the home ground of brothers Ian, Greg and Trevor until Greg signed up for Queensland in 1973-74.

D for Dravid's grit ensured India achieved the 230-run victory target with 72 not out. That of course was after he carved a double hundred in the first innings.

E for Engineer. Farokh played with flair to top-score for India with 89 in the first innings of the 1967-68 Test. Jack Fingleton, the accomplished ex-player wrote: "A delightful, attacking innings from Engineer set the seal on a day of great entertainment."

F for Fleming. Glenn McGrath's new-ball partner Damien in the 1999-2000 Test returned match figures of 8-100 in Australia's 285-run win to kick off the 3-0 whitewash.

G for Gavaskar. The master opening batsman brought up Test century No. 31 in the 1985-86 game against Allan Border's Australians, carrying his bat for 166. The next highest scorer was nighwatchman Chetan Sharma with 54.

H for Hazare. There are batting greats who answer to the name of Vijay. But only one could score two centuries in a Test on Australian soil (1947-48). Hazare was one and he took hundreds off an Australian attack that had Ray Lindwall and Keith Miller.

I for India. Their only international win on the 1999-2000 tour came at the Adelaide Oval on January 25 when a Sourav Ganguly-powered century helped Sachin Tendulkar's Indians beat Pakistan in a triangular series game, by 48 runs.

J for Jenner. Shane Warne's late coach Terry was a leggie who hailed from South Australia. He played only one home Test (v England in 1974-75), claiming one wicket, but top-scored with 74 in the 1st innings.

K for Kim. Australia's brilliant middle-order batsman Hughes slammed a double century in the 1980-81 Test. Before his career-best effort, he received a good luck telegram on behalf of his newborn twin boys (as reported by Ashis Ray in Sportsworld). After the 213, another telegram arrived from them with the words, "well played, Dad."

L for Lloyd. No West Indies captain had won a Test series in Australia before Clive did in 1979-80. And he did so by scoring a match winning hundred in the first innings at the Adelaide Oval

M for McDermott. The bowling hero for Australia in 1991-92 was Craig, who claimed five wickets in each innings. He claimed skipper Mohd Azharuddin twice.

N for Nathan. Lyon was more than just a thorn in India's side during the 2014-15 Adelaide Test. He took away India's golden chance of a win by claiming seven wickets in their second innings.

O for outfield. The outfield of the Adelaide Oval is populated by seagulls. In the 1979-80 Test, Clive Lloyd's stroke hit one of them badly, but it recovered soon.

P for Pujara. Player of the match in India's victory at the Adelaide Oval in the 2018-19 series and deservedly so. His 123 and 71 were worth their weight in gold.

Q for Quirky. Michael Slater and Devang Gandhi who opened the batting for their respective sides' second innings, were dismissed for ducks.

R for Ricky. In four Tests Ponting accumulated 809 runs with three figure scores in each of those Tests. His average against India at Adelaide? 134.83.

S for Sandeep. Less than a month before the 1980-81 Adelaide Test, Patil was felled by a ball from Len Pascoe which sent him to hospital in Sydney. In Adelaide he blasted 174. Not bad for a man who was playing only his fifth Test.

T for Tendulkar. It was at the Adelaide Oval where Sachin was given out shoulder before wicket by Australian umpire Daryl Harper off Glenn McGrath. Tendulkar had no option but to walk back to the pavilion with a duck to his name but the flames of controversy took a while to extinguish.

U for Umesh. The Mumbai left-arm pacer sent back opener Bill Lawry off the first ball he bowled in the second innings.

V for Virat. A century in both innings by India's stand-in captain Kohli in 2014-15 deserved a victory, but the visitors fell short by 48 runs.

W for Walsh. Cool Courtney claimed the last wicket to fall in the 1992-93 Test for West Indies to win by one run.

X for Xavier. Oz's left-arm spinner Doherty got double centurion Kevin Pietersen to go for a massive hit only for KP to be caught at slip in the 2010-11 Ashes Test.

Y for Yadav. As nightwatchman, Shivlal hung on for 55 mins, facing 43 balls for 16 runs in India's first innings in 1980-81. In the second innings, he faced 28 balls to stay not out on zero and help India draw the Test.

Z for Zaheer. The prolific Abbas was working his way to a big score in the 1976-77 Adelaide Test when he hit one in the air which Jeff Thomson and Alan Turner tried to hold on to. But the two Australians collided which resulted in Thomson suffering a dislocated shoulder. Pundits say he was never the same bowler after the injury.

mid-day's group sports editor Clayton Murzello is a purist with an open stance. He tweets @ClaytonMurzello

Send your feedback to mailbag@mid-day.com

The views expressed in this column are the individual's and don't represent those of the paper