UPCOMING MILESTONES
Australia v Sri Lanka, 2st Vodafone Test, MCG
· This will be the last match for each team this calendar year. In 2012 Australia has played 10 Tests (Won 6 Lost 1 Draw 3), while Sri Lanka played has played 9 (Won 3 Lost 4 Draw 2).
· Michael Clarke requires 15 runs to pass Ricky Ponting’s Australian record of 1,503 Test runs in a calendar year.
· Michael Clarke has to score 111 runs if twice dismissed or 11 runs for once dismissed to maintain his Calendar average of 100. (Only three players in the history of Test cricket have achieved this feat. Don Bradman scored 1029 at 113.88 in 1948, Gary Sobers scored 1193 at 132.55 in 1958 and Ricky Ponting scored 1503 at 100.20 in 2003.)
· Peter Siddle’s best mainland venue is the M.C.G. where he has taken 56 first-class wickets at 21.93.
· Mitchell Johnson requires 4 wickets to reach 200 Test career wickets. (Johnson will be the 14th Australian to reach this milestone.)
· David Warner requires 68 runs to reach 2,000 first-class career runs.
· Shane Watson requires 4 wickets to reach 200 first-class career wickets.
· Mike Hussey requires 136 runs to reach 1,000 Test runs in the 2012 calendar year.
· Mike Hussey requires 68 runs to pass Ricky Ponting’s Australian record for the most runs against Sri Lanka (Ponting scored 975 from his 14 Tests).
· Rangana Herath will finish the 2012 calendar year as the leading wicket taker. He currently has taken 60 wickets and cannot be overtaken. (Peter Siddle currently has 38 Test wickets and Nathan Lyon 33 Test wickets in the calendar year.)
· Jackson Bird will be Australia’s 431st Test player if selected in the final starting eleven. The last pace bowler to make his Test debut in an MCG Test was Brett Lee in 1999 v India. Bird has taken 14 wickets from his two first-class games at the M.C.G. at an average of 12.07.
· Kumar Sangakkara requires 40 runs to reach 10,000 Test career runs. (Sangakkara will be the 11th batsman to reach this milestone)
· Prasanna Jayawardene requires 3 catches to reach 100 career catches. (Only Kumar Sangakkara has taken more wicket-keeping catches for Sri Lanka with 131)
· Angelo Mathews requires 76 runs to reach 3,000 first-class career runs.
· Suraj Randiv requires 50 runs to reach 2,000 first-class career runs.
· Suraj Randiv requires 1 wicket to reach 400 first-class career wickets
· Tillakaratne Dilshan requires 1 catch to reach 350 catches in first-class cricket.
History of Boxing Day Tests at the MCG
· The 2012 Test v Sri Lanka will be the 37th Test at the MCG to involve play on Boxing Day.
· The first was v England in 1950 when the third day’s play was on Boxing Day.
· The first Test to have play commence on Boxing Day was v West Indies in 1968.
· The last Test when Boxing Day was not the first day of a Test at the MCG was 1994 v England when play commenced on December 24.
