Play was briefly held up in the second Australia v Pakistan test on Thursday after third umpire Richard Illingworth got stuck in a lift at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) receives an official warning after the pitch for the fourth Ashes test was rated 'poor' by the International Cricket Council (ICC) earlier this month.

“Right over here is William Harold Bill Ponsford, an Australian cricketer who is the only player to twice break the world record for the highest individual score in first-class cricket; Ponsford and Brian Lara are the only cricketers to twice score 400 runs in an innings,” an old man recited these words to a group of visitors as if he was reading from a book of verse.