A to Z of Brisbane

A for Alderman Lord Mayor did a remarkable job in readying the Gabba pitch for the 197475 Ashes opener after a tropical storm hit Brisbane Alderman Clem Jones was hailed as a miracle manB for Bucknor Steve was guilty of a howler when he adjudged Sachin Tendulkar LBW despite replays showing the ball was clearly going over stumps off Jason Gillespie in 200304 The Indian icon endured a threeball duckC for Craig Queenslander McDermott tore India apart when he got a fifer and followed it up with 447 in the second innings In eight Tests at the Gabba he collected 40 wicketsD for debutants Australia fielded as many as six firsttimers in the 197778 Test v India mdash David Ogilvie Tony Mann Paul Hibbert Peter Toohey Steve Rixon and Wayne ClarkE for England Australiarsquos oldest Test match rivals have not won a Test at Brisbane since 198687 They have lost seven of their nine Tests at the Gabba since thenF for Frank The captain of West Indies during the Tied Test in 196061 Worrell emphasised on calmness in his team to ensure his team didnrsquot end up losing the gameAlso ReadS Madan Lal backs Indian pacers to come goodG for Ganguly A fine hundred by skipper Sourav in the opening Test of the 200304 series contributed to a rare occurrence of India not losing the first Test of a series in AustraliaH for Hussain Englandrsquos 200203 captain at Brisbane won the toss and sent Australia in The result The hosts scored 492 and Nasser had to cop massive criticismI for Irani The only Indian wicketkeeper who batted at No 11 in Tests at Brisbane Jamshed was not renowned for his additional batting skills In 22 firstclass games his best effort was 46J for Jaisimha Sent in as a replacement for the injured BS Chandrasekhar ML carved an attractive hundred in 196768 in a highly competitive Test His tonleft the Australian public wondering why was he not picked in the first placeK for Kepler The South African played for Queensland before qualifying Australia And where does Wessels get a hundred on Test debut At the Gabba in 198283L for Labuschagne A home Test coming up for Marnus And hersquos hungry for runs A century in the 202021 Test against India at the Gabba will give him the confidence to come goodM for Manoj Very nearly Indiarsquos topscorer in both innings amidst ruins in the 199192 Test His unbeaten 54 in the first innings was followed by 39 Only Ravi Shastrirsquos second innings 41 was better than No 8 batsman Prabhakarrsquos scoreN for none Pakistan have no Test victory to show at Brisbane in six attempts They lost five in 198182 199596 19992000 201617 and 201920 The drawn game was in 198384O for Ogilvie The 197778 Gabba Test debutant earned his selection with 464 runs in three games for Queensland David a biology teacher scored an invaluable 46 in Australiarsquos second inningsP for Pant The Australians canrsquot be faulted for fearing him considering the way he batted India to an amazing win in the 202021 Test His unbeaten 89 made it possibleQ for quirky Gul Mohamed and Hemu Adhikari Indiarsquos No 3 and No 4 batsmen in the 194748 Test were both dismissed for 13 in Indiarsquos second inningsR for Ravi The man whose inputs paved the way for Indiarsquos unbelievable 202021 victory as head coach at the Gabba Shastri will be hoping for a repeatS for Surti The Indian allrounder who did well in the 196768 Test ended up playing for Queensland and thus Brisbane was his home ground in Sheffield Shield cricketAlso ReadJaiswal misses the team busT for Toshack He was part of Don Bradmanrsquos attack which took on India in the 194748 Test Ernest could bowl pace and spin His 11 wickets sent India crashing to their first defeat of the 04 series lossU for Umpires The two umpires at the Brisbane Tied Test of 196061 shared a common first name Colin Egar and Colin Hoy supervised the memorable result Egar stood as Wes Hall bowled the final over while Hoy declared Ian Meckiff run out for Test cricketrsquos first tieV for Vengsarkar Mumbaibased Dilip opened the batting with Sunil Gavaskar at Brisbane in 197778 worked his way to 48 and was out hit wicket as his cap fell on the stumps while negotiating a Jeff Thomson deliveryW for Woolloongabba The Gabba gets its name from this southern suburb in Brisbane ldquoA swampy parklandrdquo as described in the Oxford Companion to Australian Cricket this area was developed into a cricket groundX for Xfactor Scott Boland who bowled well enough in Adelaide for Australia not to miss Josh Hazlewood greatlyY for Yallop Victoriarsquos Graham kicked off his Test captaincy with a second innings century against England in the 197879 Test However Australia lost the series 15Z for Zaheer Indiarsquos leftarm quick bagged a fifer in his first Test bowling stint on Australian soil In the 200304 Gabba Test Khanrsquos 595 helped restrict the hosts to 323 However he missed the next Test through injurymiddayrsquos group sports editor Clayton Murzello is a purist with an open stance He tweets ClaytonMurzelloSend your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper