The Centenary Test match was played in March 1977 to mark the 100th anniversary of the first ever Test match, held between Australia and England in 1876/77.
It did not form part of the Ashes series between the two sides. While the match had full Test match status – it was the 800th Test in all – it was treated as a standalone match.
A second Centenary Match was played three years later, to commemorate the first Test played on English soil between the two sides.
By an ironic twist of fate, the outcome of the match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground was the same as in the first match a century earlier – an Australian victory by 45 runs.
England, captained by Tony Greig, won the toss and invited the Australians to bat. At first, it seemed an excellent decision.
Australia were reduced to 51/5. Although captain Greg Chappell, with 40, and Rod Marsh, with 28, added some respectability to the scoreline, they were still all out for 138, with the English bowlers sharing the wickets among them.
However, the speed of Dennis Lillee and the deceptive medium pace of Max Walker proved too much for the English batters, who were bowled out for just 95 in turn. Lillee took 6-26 and Walker 4-54.
Australia, in front of a packed home crowd, were determined to do better with the bat second time round.
They began cautiously, with opener Ian Davis making 68. Doug Walters and David Hookes then added impetus with half-centuries before Marsh came to he middle and scored an unbeaten 110 off 173 balls. Aided by the tail, he got Australia to 419 before, with one wicket still standing, they declared.
That left England needing 463 to win. At one stage it looked like they might pull off a highly improbable victory, especially when Derek Randall and Dennis Amiss shared a stand of 166 for the third wicket.
But they lost wickets at inopportune time and the dismissal of Randall for 174 really signaled the end of their hopes. They were eventually dismissed for 417, one of the highest fourth innings scores ever in a losing cause.