Beating the heat ... in Chennai

Greg Matthews was at India’s net session yesterday. He was chatting to Harbhajan Singh about the art of offspin, working on his flight and elbow position. But it was fitting that he was wearing a sweater despite the warm conditions and bowled a few balls with a cap on – that’s exactly how Indian fans remember him from the sensational tied Test in Madras back in 1986.

Matthews’ ten wickets went a long way in the dramatic match but it was his eccentricities that stood out. In scorching, humid conditions that caused Dean Jones to nearly pass out, Matthews bowled with a jumper on all day. The temperature was around 40 °C and the humidity 80% but Matthews’ theory was he would radiate rather than absorb heat. While the rest of his team-mates suffered, he stunned them with both ball and attitude.

It was Matthews who picked up the final wicket of the game, dismissing No.11 Maninder Singh and the famous picture of him jumping in appeal is framed at many grounds around India – the sweater and baggygreen cap prominently displayed.

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Subroto Banerjee, who played one Test and six ODIs for India in the early 1990s, is here. In fact he’s been in Sydney several years and plays for a local club. Banerjee’s debut was at this very ground, during India’s tour in 1991-92, and remembers the match in which India took the field without a specialist spinner. Banerjee wasn’t the only debutant in that game. A young, rotund, blond legspinner, Shane Warne, took the field for Australia for the first time as well.