Saravan’s anger spoiled the fun of a great Test match being played, although his team later registered a wonderful victory by scoring 418 runs in the fourth innings. Saravan should have got a discussion to score 105 runs, but he was in the news for his poor comment about a sick woman undergoing treatment. Let’s go straight on that test:
Which match was: Fourth Test, St. Johns, 09 – May 13, 2003, Australia’s West Indies Tour
Australia 240 (Justin Langer 42, German Lawson 7-78) and 417 (Matthew Hayden 177, Justin Langer 111, Marwin Dhillon 4-112)
West Indies 240 (Brian Lara 68, Andy Bical 3-53, Brett Lee 3-72) and 418-7 (Ramnaresh Saravan 105, Shivnarayan Chandrapaul 104, Brian Lara 60, Brett Lee 4-63)
West Indies win by 3 wickets
Man of the match S. Chandrapaul
What happened: In the first three Tests of the series, Australia (Glenn McGrag had not played in the first two Tests due to his wife being ill) took a 3-0, a series winning lead. The McGrath tour attended the party at the behest of his wife Jane because despite being ill of cancer, she wanted life to continue in a common way.
The last Test match in Antiga was played on the toured pitch. Both teams scored 240 runs in their first innings (for the 7th time, a record of equal score in the first innings in the Test). By the beginning of the second innings, the pitch began to get easier and Australia scored 417 runs. At one time, he was expecting a big score from this as Matthew Hayden (177) and Justin Langer (117) had added 242 runs for the first wicket. Nevertheless, West Indies got a target of 418 runs to win. Such a big score in the fourth innings to win in Test cricket was never scored before (the current record was 406 runs, India-West Indies, Port of Spain, 1975-76).
West Indies had more than two days. When Lara was out on a score of 165, Saravan and Chandrapaul took the front and gradually brought the Australian team to the backfoot. Macgra started getting the most upset due to the disappointment of not falling wickets and when Saravan was close to 100, desperate McGrag started debating in Fijool. During this time, such lewd comments were also heard:
McGrag – ‘How is the taste of Brian Lara’s penis?’
Sarwan – ‘I do not know Ask your wife. ‘
McGrag – ‘If you mention my wife again, I will cut your throat.’
In every report, it was mentioned that the debate was started by Macgra but Saravan also did ghee work in the fire. McGrag then pointed to the umpire Shepherd that the umpire did not take any action officially. By then, in addition to David Shepherd, Glenn McGrath fellow cricketers Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer also came there in support of him. The picture of this quarrel in which the two are seen arguing among themselves, is one of the most printed pictures of cricket. With what happened, there was a lot of infamy and there was no increase in the reputation of either of the two teams. The ACB and ICC asked the Australian cricketers to improve their behavior in strong words.
When the score was 288-5, the test was almost equal. Pendulum bowed towards Australia as soon as Jacobs was out. Seeing the poor condition of his team, a crowd of spectators erupted and started throwing bottles on the ground. Chandrapaul, however, stopped Australia and the West Indies registered a historic victory on the fifth day.
What happened after this: Daniel Lane later wrote in his book ‘Line and Strength: The Complete Story (the Complete Story):’ If the situation was normal, if the situation was normal, Macgra may not even give any reactions to him, but due to Jane’s illness in the house, he was upset and he got to listen to the things that he got to hear. Then he also heard a light voice that ignore what happened and play further, but something was happening inside that they could not stop themselves from hitting this insult.
Seeing Macgra provoking, Jason Gillespi standing close to the boundary also said- ‘Oh God, what will happen now? Saravan has teased the wasp’s hive.
Langer later said, ‘Saravan did not know anything about Jane’s illness and he is very sad for what he said. Later McGrag and Saravan also apologized to each other. McGrath admitted after the match, ‘What happened was not that it was and then finished. This was such a thing about which I keep thinking and for the last few days I am very upset about it. After that test, when he went to Jamaica from Antiga for the ODI series, the two were together in the flight.
A few years later McGrath said – ‘Memories of such an incident never disappear. The quarrel in the length of both of us seemed terrible. I talked to Saravan and he answered very well. He said that he did not know that Jane was ill and apologized again for what happened, but I said that I should apologize.
On June 22, 2008, Jane McGrag died at the age of 42 due to problems after surgery. By then, they had got breasts, hips and brain cancer. Before that, Glenn established the Macgra Foundation with his cooperation and the foundation helps in nursing care of breast cancer victims.
Who got punishment: The match referee Mike Proctor for this quarrel did not punish either of them. In his perspective, Shepherd came to the middle at the right time, stopped the quarrel. His attitude was criticized very much. ABC CEO James Sutherland called Wal and asked to control his team’s behavior on the ground.
It took Macgra several days to normalize. He was the most sad that he could not control himself. Both players are now good friends. Thus, one of the best Test matches so far, was infamous due to the most ugly and bad comment dispute.
