Greg ‘Mo’ Matthews, who was Oz’s star performer in the ’86 Tied Test, reckons Jones’ courageous 210 wasn’t as great since it was scored on a flat track
Australia’s Dean Jones in the late 1980s. PIC/GETTY IMAGES
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Australian Dean Jones’ double hundred in the Tied Test at Chennai in 1986 is rated as one of the gutsiest knocks of all time in international cricket. But his teammate Greg Matthews, who claimed the last wicket for Australia (Maninder Singh) in that September 1986 Test doesn’t rate the innings very highly.
Greg Matthews
“It was on an absolute road. Look at the numbers — 1488 runs (overall) were scored on that surface. The guy (Jones) was 23, in his prime, fit as a mallee bull. If you are not fit enough to walk out there and play, don’t come whingeing to me. He lost a few kilos — it just blows me away,” Matthews (nicknamed Mo) was quoted as saying by Fairfax Media on Saturday.
In fact, Matthews said he would not put the double century, scored in oppressive heat and humidity as one of the top 50 innings he has seen since he started following the game in 1966.
Jones, in Chennai as commentator for the Tamil Nadu Premier League, told the Sydney Morning Herald in response to Matthews’ view: “To come into these conditions the way it was, and to lose eight kilograms in a day, where I couldn’t afford to lose eight kilos because of my weight, it might be a bit of a silly comment from Greg.
“I don’t care if it was the top 50 or not — it was a pretty important time in my life. The non-selection to England in 1985, and whether I was good enough at this level, is what pushed me through the pain barrier.”
Matthews, who claimed 10 wickets in the game apart from scores of 44 and 27 not out, added: “He (Jones) batted well and, yes, the wicket was flat, but he made 210 in that heat and that sort of stuff — it’s pretty good going.”
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