Today is the 60th anniversary of the first tied test match held at Brisbane. This test brought cricket back from the doldrums of the boring 50's and gave us this fantastic photograph..
A thread courtesy @tintin1107 about the story behind this photo.
A thread courtesy @tintin1107 about the story behind this photo.
At tea Australia were 109/6, chasing 233 in the final innings. A number of reporters based in Australia's other state capitals had folded their typewriters and, with their offices happy to save a night in a hotel, made a dash for the early evening flights.
How wrong were they.
How wrong were they.
The same was for photographers. But some game theory was at play - Ron Lovitt of Age and Harry Martin of Sydney Morning Herald were asked to leave only if the other left. Some game theory at play.
As the game heated up and became tense, Lovitt and Martin had been eyeing each other's diminishing supply of glass camera-plates. They had often worked alongside each other, but neither had, by all accounts, ever addressed a single word to the other.
When the scores were tied, the photographers realized that they had only one unused plate each..
Given the Ravi Shastri cliche - all results possible of the delivery - the story goes that the 2 photographers tossed a coin to determine who would click what.
Given the Ravi Shastri cliche - all results possible of the delivery - the story goes that the 2 photographers tossed a coin to determine who would click what.
Martin won the toss and was allowed to click the shot - which could be the winning run.
Lovitt would stay his shutter and take any of the action following the stroke - a catch in the deep, a run-out or the batsmen's (or bowler's) victory salute.
Lovitt would stay his shutter and take any of the action following the stroke - a catch in the deep, a run-out or the batsmen's (or bowler's) victory salute.
Martin clicked this pic (apologies for the quality) and you can see the batsman Lindsay Kline playing his shot.
Lovitt was heart-attack tense as he waited behind his viewfinder and watched Joe Solomon pick up and - wait for it, wait for it - with just the solitary stump to aim at, threw down the wicket as Meckiff lunged despairingly at the line.
GREATEST CRICKET PHOTO OF ALL TIME.
GREATEST CRICKET PHOTO OF ALL TIME.
The toss story has never been really verified. Here is an account from @stock_delivery about the photograph.
Here Lovitt didn't know if he has captured the greatest photo or not as he wasn't sure which side he had used for an earlier pic.
cricmash.com/other-2/brisba…
Here Lovitt didn't know if he has captured the greatest photo or not as he wasn't sure which side he had used for an earlier pic.
cricmash.com/other-2/brisba…
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