700TH WICKET

Channel 9 deliberately put Bill Lawry in commentary to start the Boxing Day Test in 2006 against England, with the script written for Shane Warne – on 699 Test wickets – to reach the magic 700 milestone on home soil at the MCG.

Lawry was left in the seat for an hour and a half because Nine bosses wanted him to call the famous moment – but eventually he had to vacate the chair and attend an

MCC lunch as 40 overs passed by without a breakthrough.

But then it happened. Warne spun one past England star Andrew Strauss, then set off on a run around the MCG and send the crowd wild. It was a theatrical moment only Warne could manage – and it was Mark Taylor, not Lawry, who had the call.