Some great descriptions so far in this thread.
In no particular order are 3 Tests. My other 2 are ODi. I'll post them later when I get time.
2005. Ashes first Test. The game started with thunder & lightning we'd been promised. The first hour alone was some of the best cricket I've seen and we all know how it ended. I'll stick with the first couple of hours... I'd just come off a flight and landed in London (my backpacking days). I had an hour before play started... a short wait and the train into the city chewed up 50 minutes... I duck into the first pub I find to watch the match. Not. Showing. The. Cricket.
Desperate now I walk down the street (luggage and all, girlfriend in tow) peering into windows to see if anywhere has a TV. I find myself 2 minutes before play in, of all places, a public library with a big screen TV! Yay Britain!
Grevious Bodily Harmison was in full flight- he battered both Langer and Hayden immediately. It hurt. A small crowd has gathered at the library TV. They were black & blue but started playing shots against Hoggard- he swings one through the gate, bowled! Ponting comes in. A nervous starter. He pushes at a wide tempter from Hoggard, it swings and he's dropped at 4th slip. England have dropped the Ashes surely. But this England don't go away...
Harmison starts battering Ponting now. Draws blood. Doesn't come down to check on him! Then nicks him off! The crowd grows. The library is absolutely electrified! The bloody library! Flintoff bounces out Langer! Simon Jones starts bending them reverse. Oz is crumbling. Enter Gilchrist..
He's bashing them everywhere. He strikes 6 fours in 29 runs. He's striking at 150. He's doing a Gilchrist. Playing on a different pitch. Oh so THIS is where Oz takes over and England goes away. But England do not go away. Freddie attacks. Freddie is around the wicket. He's reversing. He gets Gilchrist... and somewhere in the city, a pub is not having half as much fun as a public library. The library is electrified. The. Bloody. Library.
2004/5 Chennai. Oz v India, 2nd Test. A personal favourite of mine, even though most may not remember it. But I was travelling in India and I got to attend all 5 days. Had the time of my life.
Shane Warne became the leading wicket taker in test cricket (533, at the time putting him ahead of Murali) when he had Irfan Pathan caught at slip) and it was a huge moment. Anil Kumble took 13 for the match but was made to work hard for them. Shane Warne was similar, took 6/120 in the first innings.
Most people think Warne was always carted in India but forget that in this series, he was healthy and bowling beautifully. He'd got Sehwag & Laxman multiple times and Patel was his bunny. Australia was winning tests. He broke his thumb before the 4th test.
The match was a thriller, ebbs and flows, Oz opening stand of 132 but bowled out 235. Warne took the first 2 wickets in India's reply but they mounted a tall 376. Oz are 140 behind and wobbling in the 2nd innings but an impeccable Damian Martyn ton under pressure pulls our 2nd dig to 369.
India set 230 to win on day 5.. Oz 1 nil UP in a 4 Test series...McGrath Gillespie and Warne... Sehwag Ganguly and Laxmann... it's Day 5, it's a spinning deck, it's reversing, it's a little bit up and down... it's on a knifes edge... and it rains... all day. Great 4 days cricket and a day 5 I'll always wonder about.
Absolute pleasure being in the stands and interacting with the Indian fans as the match swung wildly- all great experiences.
2013 Adelaide, Oz v England 2nd Test. Just rampant Mitchell Johnson. He'd set the stage in Brisbane- terrifying England, wickets of guys jumping and flicking at short balls, trying to pull their bats away, trying to hook. England were rattled but that was Brisbane- you almost expect a quick to run amok. And Johnson isn't always consistent...
So we go to Adelaide. Pre pink ball Adelaide. A bowlers graveyard, flattest track in the country. Oz score 600 first innings. It's a lifeless deck. Johnson unlikely to have much impact? Boom he's beating guys for sheer pace, he's cleaned bowled 4 batsman, another LBW, he takes 7 in the first innings with sheer menace and airspeed. A legend is born. Johnson's ashes.
