Remember when: Hayden v McGrath

For those old enough, the current Quadrangular Series in the Top End has revived memories of an epic series that unfolded in Australia 20 years ago this summer.

Then, it was a hotshot group of supremely gifted young cricketers taking on a legendary list of seasoned internationals, in Damien Martyn’s Australia A up against Mark Taylor’s Australia in the Benson and Hedges World Series.

The inclusion of Australia A in what was annually a trilateral series came about as a means of drumming up public interest, with a struggling England side and minnows Zimbabwe considered little more than cannon fodder for an Australian side that was very much on the up in world cricket.

And the glut of talent in the country at the time meant an ‘A’ team was well-equipped to hold its own at international level. Consider this for a top six: Greg Blewett, Matthew Hayden, Damien Martyn, Michael Bevan, Justin Langer, Ricky Ponting.

Sure enough, the two Australian sides reached the final untroubled, and it was there that the fireworks began.

“I remember it well because it was a pretty pivotal series for a lot of us,” Hayden told cricket.com.au.

“Your Damien Martyns, Greg Blewetts, those hungry young guns who were just sitting on the fringes, had played a bit of (top level) cricket, or had in fact been out of the side, and that was certainly my case; I was trying to bust my way back in.

“There was a really hungry attitude among the Australia A players, and there was actually quite a lot of resentment and disappointment from the Australia (team) point of view, aimed fairly and squarely at the cricket administrators at the time because of that classic case of, if you put Australia and Australia A up against each other, Australians by their nature are going to support the underdogs.

“So there was a real rivalry that existed on the grounds that there were those guys pushing for higher honours in the Australia A side, putting pressure on guys like Mark Taylor, who was starting to come under pressure for his one-day performances, and the Australian public getting right behind us, (as we) were having a dream run through the series.”

Hayden took to the occasion with vigour, seeing it for the enormous opportunity it was to perform on the national stage against the best his own country had to offer.

And he didn’t miss the chance for a wind-up, either.

“I loved it, because I had such a huge insight, having played with a lot of the guys, like Craig McDermott for example,” he said.

“I knew exactly how to get under his skin; hold him up at his mark, just all the things I learnt playing with him, and I was being as annoying as I possibly could.

“I had 40,000 people behind me, and I was starting to really improve my one-day cricket at that point as well.

“We had all of our young peers around us who I’d played a lot of junior cricket with – we were just on fire, it was great.”

That sentiment is one echoed by Hayden’s ‘hungry’ opening partner Blewett, the 46-Test batsman recalling the Australia A matches with particular fondness.

“Those were probably some of my fondest memories as a cricketer,” he said.

“We had Greg Chappell as coach and I think we took it as an opportunity to play in front of packed houses.

“The camaraderie was brilliant.”

With one-day cricket set to undergo a revolution at the 1996 World Cup, Hayden believes this particular series also foreshadowed a transition as to how the 50-over game was both played and viewed within Australia.

“More than anything it was really showing crowds that there was a new breed of cricketer sitting in the Australia A side bubbling along and playing really good, entertaining cricket,” he said.

“We were entertaining crowds and people were loving it.”

And while the ‘A’ players and the fans were indeed loving it, the situation wasn’t so rosy for the incumbents in the national side.

“In the Australian team, we felt like we were on a hiding to nothing,” recalls Stuart Law, who played 54 one-day internationals from 1994-99.

“We became the much-backed hero, and the underdogs, which were Australia A, were the most supported team out on the field.

That fact was perfectly evident, even from the opposition dressing room, says Blewett.

“When you go overseas, you’re obviously used to the crowd getting on your back,” he said.

“But not in your own country.

“I think they were a bit peeved off that they were copping that sort of treatment when they were playing at home.

“They felt like they were probably playing in South Africa or New Zealand instead of the MCG.”

But the combative nature of the matches definitely ensured fans were treated to a no-holds-barred contest.

“We knew there was more to it than just a game of cricket,“ Law said.

“There was pride at stake, and luckily we managed to win every game we played against them, but it wasn’t without our struggles.

“It was mate against mate, and they were tough games of cricket. We’d beat each other up on the field, then off the field we’d become mates again.

“What it did prove at the time was that Australia did have a wealth of talent. We fielded two teams, and they both played off in the finals. That was a testament as to how tough it was back in those days to get into the Australian team.”

Australia’s win in that first final is remembered as much for an incident between Hayden and Glenn McGrath as for Ian Healy hitting the winning runs from the match’s final delivery.

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“I hit him through backward point, and as I was turning to see whether I needed to run or whether it was ‘save your legs’, I’ve run straight into the corner of his arm,” Hayden continued.

“Having not seen it, I was under the impression he’d intentionally stuck his arm out at that time.

“So the whole ‘eff you’ thing has come out in both of us. It was brilliant.”

The physical confrontation between two players who would go on to become giants of the game has since become a classic scene in the annals of Australian cricket.

“I remember it vividly, and I also remember the after-match judicial process,” he added.

“John Reid from New Zealand was the ICC match referee, but he wasn’t actually sanctioned because it wasn’t an official international, so he had no jurisdiction.

“So I went up there thinking the whole thing was a bit of a furphy.

“In my eyes not a lot had gone on – two heavies of the game in a fast bowler and an opening batsman, you’re going to get that kind of rivalry.

“So I walked up with a beer in my hand, and there was (former Australia team manager) Steve Bernard, Mark Taylor and ‘Pidge’ (McGrath) sitting around this table at the SCG, and this Reid character said to me: ‘What do you effing think this is? A holiday? Put your beer down and have some effing respect Son!’

“I thought ‘Oh, I’m gone here’, but as it turned out he didn’t have any jurisdiction, so we both got away with a caution (laughs).”

Far from having to ask Hayden to dig deep into the recesses of his memory to re-live the moment for us, the big Queenslander insists it remains a healthy source of debate between he and his New South Wales counterpart.

“We still talk about it,” Hayden laughed.

“‘Pidge’ came over to my place about six months ago, and you wouldn’t believe it, but (the incident) flashed up on TV, and to this day we are still fighting about it – ‘Mate, you pushed me’. ‘I didn’t push you – you were just in my face’.

“And Kel, my wife, just said: ‘Boys, it’s 20 years ago – you’ve got to let it go!’”

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And so for the obvious final question: should Cricket Australia do it again?

“No, I don’t think so,” Hayden said. “Once bitten.

“I can vividly remember the tension that Mark Taylor was under during that period and just having that scrutiny on his team (was unfair); the fans are there to support the Australian side, not a bunch of hippies coming up through the ranks.

“It was opportunistic of us, and the egalitarian nature of our country means that we were always going to take those opportunities, and no-one is bigger than the game.

“It was disappointing for (the) Australia (team), but gee, what a fantastic series if you’re just purely looking at it from a celebration of cricket point of view.

“It was probably perceived politically as a tad arrogant as well I’d reckon, so there’s a lot of reasons why you shouldn’t do it, but from a fan’s point of view, you could maybe look at doing it under a different name.”