Greg Matthews
Gregory Richard John Matthews (born 15 December 1959) is a New South Wales and Australian former cricket all rounder (off-spin bowler and left-handed batsman).
He was popular with fans as "a tough, useful, determined little cricketer; a steady, flat, off-spin bowler; a staunch, correct left-hand bat; and a brilliant fielder.... also a cocky, slightly zany character.
"[2] When Australian cricket was in the doldrums in the 1980s "his dashing batsmanship and growing ability as a spin bowler suddenly elevated Matthews to a position of a national hero".
As Australia rose to dominance in the 1990s Matthews proved to be "not good enough in either of the game's main departments to make a lasting impact as a Test all-rounder"[4] and despite a century against England in 1990–91 he played only irregularly and was finally dropped in 1993.
Scoring 123 and taking 3–48 for the state colts against Queensland saw him selected in the New South Wales side to play Western Australia in November 1982, replacing John Dyson, who was on test duty.
[16] Matthews is a tough, useful, determined little cricketer; a steady, flat, off-spin bowler; a staunch, correct left-hand bat; and a brilliant fielder.
Early in his cricketing career Matthews was regarded "as a bowler who fielded energetically and could bat a bit"[17] and a "complete extrovert, dressing to shock".
[18] Matthews enjoyed clubbing and ignored the midnight curfew imposed by New South Wales fast bowler Geoff Lawson as "these were his socialising hours and the time he came to life",[19] and his mantra was "'live each day as if it's your last'".
"[26] Matthews was picked to play in Australia's one day team for the World Series Cricket competition that summer and was praised for his fielding, but failed to perform with the bat and ball and was dropped after two games.
"[43] Matthews was told he was recalled to the Australian side to tour Sharjah for a one-day tournament,[44] then took part in the Sheffield Shield final, where NSW beat Qld by one wicket.
[48] In the One Day Internationals Matthews batted at number eight and hit the winning runs at Old Trafford (22 not out) and Lord's (29 not out) as Australia won the Texaco Trophy 2–1.
[52] He was selected in the Fourth Test because Graeme Wood was injured and again volunteered to open the innings,[53] but also ran out Allan Lamb from extra cover.
"[56] Greg Matthews joined me at the wicket to start an innings which was to 'make' him as a Test cricketer...I think we had all regarded him as a bowler who fielded energetically and could bat a bit.
Allan Border was greatly pleased with Matthews performances that summer saying "Once he didn't feel part of the team, he fell he was a different sort of a character and others reacted that way to him.
In the Second Test at Melbourne he came in at 109/5 and made 100 not out adding 46 for the last wicket with his New South Wales teammate Dave Gilbert (4)—who came in when Matthews was 59—to hoist the Australian total up to 262.
[68][69] Lacklustre Indian batting and late rain saved the match after Allan Border (163) and Gilbert (10 not out) made another rear-guard action in the second innings.
Matthews was voted Player of the Finals[74][75] and it was a considerable boost to Australian confidence as the team completed a lap of honour round the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
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.
The Australian captain Allan Border threatened to resign if Australia did not win the four game One Day International series and then saw New Zealand go 2–0 up.
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 pavilion at number seven.
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 Matthews returned to Australia as with improved all-rounder credentials and the Test team's first choice spinner.
[112] 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.
[114] 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; Matthews made 14 and 0.
[125] Around this time Matthews revealed he turned down two approaches to tour South Africa despite being offered $200,000 because "I didn't think $200,000 would make me happy and I had other things in life to do."
Steve Waugh thought he "was being punished largely for previous infractions and perceived attitude problems ... and straight away you could sense that a couple of guys felt their careers might be over".
"I think the best balance is to play a spinner, which means that one of the quickies would have to miss out", Border said, adding that he was particularly impressed by Matthews' bowling in the Sheffield Shield final the previous summer.
In the First Test at Colombo he was Man of the Match as he made 6 and 64, took 3/93 and 4/76 and caught Ranjith Madurasinghe off Shane Warne to give Australia a 16 run win.
"[182] Matthews began the 1992–93 summer controversially when he was fined 25% of his 1992 players contract for appearing in a magazine crushing a packet of Benson and Hedges cigarettes.
Matthews was kept on in the Australian 12 for the third test at the Sydney Cricket Ground and played alongside Warne in the final eleven, replacing Mike Whitney.
With Shane Warne in the side Australia no longer needed Matthews as a spinner, he could not get a place on his batting alone and he never played for the Australian test team again.
