Australia's wicketkeeper over the 1985-86 summer was Wayne Phillips, but his form dropped away and Tim Zoehrer was appointed in his place.

[8] Dyer performed strongly in tour games but Zoehrer was first choice keeper for the three Test matches.

[18] Zoehrer's aggressive on field behaviour over the summer was causing media controversy and Dyer was increasingly spoken of as a more viable option.

In the first Test, Dyer took six catches and scored 8 runs with the bat, as Australia earned a then-rare victory.

[24] In the third Test, New Zealand were 1-119 when Dyer claimed a catch off Andrew Jones from the bowling of Craig McDermott.

[25] This decision later proved extremely costly for New Zealand because Australia only just narrowly escaped with a draw in the game.

)[26] "Dyer has to live with his conscience for the rest of his life – no way can I blame the umpires," said New Zealand's cricket manager.

One angle of slow motion TV replay apparently indicates that the ball had in fact touched the ground.

In March 1988, Dyer was dropped from the Australian side to tour Pakistan that winter in favour of Ian Healy.

[32] He was sacked mid season, replaced as wicketkeeper by Phil Emery and as captain by Geoff Lawson.