Greg Matthews - New Zealand Vs Australia 1985-86

New Zealand Vs Australia 1985-86

I could never analyse why, right from the outset, sections of the New Zealand crowds had taken a set against Greg. Perhaps it was his juanty manner on the field. Perhaps he was a shade too successful for the liking of the more rabidly parochial Kiwi fans...You could never understand the mentality behind the crank phone calls Greg received in New Zealand, the egg-throwing and the incident in Wellington where a toilet seat was thrown on the field.

Allan Border

Australia toured New Zealand in 1985-86 and lost their second series against them in the same season despite several improvements. In the First Test, Matthews (130) came in at 166/4 and added 213 for the fifth wicket with Greg Ritchie (92), a record for Australia vs New Zealand and Matthews' highest Test score. Rain ensured a draw in both the first two Tests and in the Second Matthews had the unusual bowling analysis of 3-3-0-1 when he caught and bowled Bruce Edgar in New Zealand's second innings of 16/1. Australia lost the Third Test when they collapsed to 103 in the second innings and lost by 8 wickets. Matthews had taken his then best Test bowling of 4/61, dismissing Bruce Edgar (24), Ken Rutherford (0) and Martin Crowe (0) with the score on 73. This gave him 8 wickets (29.50), his best series bowling so far, but he had taken only 23 wickets (43.69) in 14 Tests to add to his 725 runs (32.95).

The Australian captain Allan Border threatened to resign if Australia did not win the four game One Day International and then saw New Zealand go 2-0 up. Fortunately Australia won the last two games and Matthews was Man of the Match in the Fourth ODI at Eden Park, where he made 54, took 9-1-33-3 and held onto three catches in Australia's 44 run win. This allowed Border to announce that the team had improved enough for him not to resign, much to the advantage of Australian cricket.