Australia Vs England 1986-87
When, at the start of the following season, Australia found themselves in trouble against England in the Brisbane Test, there was an extraordinary display of faith in his ability: up in the Press-box at The Gabba the assembled army of journalists, almost to a man, uttered statesments of relief when they saw Matthews emerging from the pavillion at number seven. He was the man to stop the rot they felt. He duly made fifty and by dogged batting and a good deal of talking managed to stave off a second defeat in the next game at Perth. But gradually his outer ebullience became crushed by inner doubts and by the end of the summer he was being viewed by some disillusioned scribes as just another player in a country which had temporarily lost its grip on international cricket
- Christopher Martin-Jenkins
Matthews returned to Australia as with improved all-rounder credentials and the Test team's first choice spinner. Despite high hopes of regaining The Ashes against an England team that "can't bat, can't bowl and can't field" Australia found itself in trouble again. Allan Border won the toss at The Gabba and put England in to bat and watched them make 456. Greg Matthews was the most senior of bowlers, and had played as many Tests (17) as the others combined; Bruce Reid (8), Steve Waugh (8), Merv Hughes (1) and Chris Matthews (0). Still, he made a gritty 56 not out in the first innings, but Australia could not avoid the follow-on and lost by 7 wickets. In the Second Test at the WACA England made 592/7 declared and Matthews batted for 190 minutes for his 45 and 14 not out to see out the draw. The Third Test at Adelaide finally saw Australia on top, but Border declared their innings on 514/5 with Matthews on 73 not out and Waugh on 79 not out after complaining about their slow scoring rate. In any case England had no trouble drawing the match on a slow, flat wicket, though Matthews did bowl the England captain Mike Gatting for a first ball duck. The Fourth Test at Melbourne was a debacle as the Australian batsmen threw their wickets away to Ian Botham (5/41) and Gladstone Small (5/48) and losing inside three days. Although he had made 217 runs (53.75) Matthews had taken only two wickets (147.50) and could hardly justify his place in the bowling line up. With The Ashes out of reach the selectors dropped David Boon, Greg Matthews and Craig McDermott for the Fifth Test, which was won thanks to the debutant spinner Peter Taylor.
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