When Pakistan almost won the MCG before Mitch Marsh stole the show » Today Latest Stories

Like all great arenas, the MCG has its own unique atmosphere. It has its own unique feel. It has its own unique aura. She also has her own unique voice. But at around 1.40pm on Thursday (December 28), the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground looked very different. It was still normally loud, but it had a somewhat unprecedented energy.

The MCG was roaring in unison, as they do here by setting it up Oooh It escalated with one note, after all for the opposing fast bowler hitting a hat-trick. It’s not as if Mir Hamza has completely won them over. Or they were happy to see David Warner and Travis Head back in back-to-back deliveries. With Mitchell Marsh winning them, watching him get a clean first ball wasn’t on my watch list either.

But with his double, which came in the midst of an excellent spell with the new ball, the relatively unknown bowler from Karachi revived the Test and the series, almost against the run of play.

Having reduced Australia to 4/16, with a lead of only 70 runs, the left-armer unexpectedly lifted Pakistan into a position where they looked favourites. So much so that he was playing with thousands of Australians around the big field just as he was with the Australian batsmen in the middle. And they responded in kind. The treble was not meant to be achieved in the end with Marsh remaining.

After a few overs, there was a collective gasp going around the MCG. Again, it had the same intensity as every extreme crowd reaction you see here. But this time too, it did not matter that it was one of the opposition players who committed an extraordinary error, as Abdullah Shafiq dropped his second regulation catch at a crucial juncture at first slip. If David Warner was in the third round of the first innings on Boxing Day, Marsh was 20th and exactly 100 points behind this time. The disbelief of the Pakistani camp was repeated by the huge shock on every face in every Gulf of G. It was not again a case of Melbourne fans wanting Marsh out or suddenly developing a soft corner for bowler Aamer Jamal, who to his credit had entertained them earlier in the day with the bat. It was instead the importance of the moment. And potentially the impact these wickets could have on the innings, on the match, and even on the series. Not forgetting the entire Pakistani team, and perhaps even Pakistani cricket. It was truly a moment in time. Something that could have turned the visitors’ hopes of somehow returning to this series into a certain belief that they were doing so at the MCG.

Unfortunately, this was not the case for Pakistan. It was also the last time on day three that MCG held their collective nerve for the Pakistanis.

From that moment on, all attention turned to the Mitchell Marsh show. Five years ago, they turned their backs on him. Today, they lent him their heartstrings to pull them towards him. And the great Western Australian did not disappoint, playing one of the important knocks of his Test career. The sky remained grey, the Pakistani players remained serious in their lines and lengths, and the pitch remained difficult throughout its stay in the middle. But after a few big plays and mistakes early on, Marsh found his groove by attacking every delivery outside his off stump, and also gained confidence in keeping off stump line deliveries as his post-down innings progressed. It was in keeping with his approach to regaining and then cementing his No. 6 position in the Test team. He supported himself and the team’s belief that he was the executor of this position, regardless of the match scenario or circumstances. Although there is some very clever science behind this method, with Marsh later revealing how he decided to try to attack the boundary of the square rather than risk driving balls into the ground on this pitch.

The thousands of tight and partisan Victorians around the MCG were of course pinning every high-energy shot and every round as he approached what seemed like the inevitable ton. And so were the Marsh family in her box as well.

But then came the final collective reaction of them all from the MCG crowd on Thursday. Courtesy of one of the best shots ever taken on the ground, when Agha Salman threw himself to his right and nonchalantly caught with his right hand the ball that was flying in front of him after it hit Marsh’s bat. It was not so much a gasp as a shrill groan of despair and disappointment as Marsh came out throwing his head back, having fallen four runs short of his century. This reaction at least did not seem out of place but it was still a sign of how far the relationship between Mitch Marsh and the MCG had developed, as well as how important the blow he received was in the context of the match.

Salman’s brilliance compared to Shafiq’s ridiculous nastiness earlier summed up the traditional yin and yang nature of Pakistan on the cricket field. On the day the MCG forces were briefly on their side, they also allowed them to escape, in a way only Pakistan can. As they likely did with the Test itself, with the chances of getting either back in their side looking extremely unlikely at this stage.