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The Rediff Interview /Dean Jones

'At times I couldn't stop myself from urinating in my trousers'

India first woke up to your ability thanks to the tied Test in Madras. Could you take us through your memories of that epochal knock of yours, the agonies and the ecstasies?

Dean Mervyn Jones

The Tied Test not only put me on the map, it was also the focal point in changing the future of Australian cricket. Personally, it was my first Test after two years in obscurity; it was also a match that told me that I could play at this level. As a player, the biggest question you ask yourself is whether you are good enough to be on the same ground as Gavaskar, Dev, Border and company. Once you get over those negative thoughts, you're away.

The only disappointing thing about that Test was that I left my Man of the Match award behind in the rooms -- I'd dearly love to have that one here with me, at home. Talking about prized trophies, did you know that the bat with which I scored all those runs in the Tied Test is eagerly sought after by collectors around the world? I believe the highest bid so far is US $110,000.

Your fight against dehydration in course of that knock remains an enduring image -- from what we hear, Allan Border minced no words when he was 'motivating' you to go on?

Allan Border

The Tied Test was played in the hottest conditions I have ever experienced!. 40degrees out there, every day, with unrelenting humidity at about 80 per cent. I lost 8 kilos from that match alone, I received four bottles of saline through an intravenous drip. I could not run at one stage -- Border and I took to walking our runs.

My tactics for the last part of my knock was to block three balls and then just muster up some energy and slog the next. Luckily, it worked out. Border did motivate me, in his own way -- when I was on 174, I was racked with pain, dehydration, felt like I had pins and needles in my hands, added with the fact that at times I could not stop myself from urinating in my trousers.

I mentioned to AB that I had had enough, and sure enough his reply was quick: “Lets get a tough Australian out here then, if you can’t handle it anymore. Let’s get a Queenslander!. Greg Ritchie can handle this!” So I told what he could do with his tough bloody Queenslander, and batted on!

The 1987 World Cup saw you fit into the pivotal number three slot in the Australian team. What was the team's collective mood like, going into the tournament? At that point in time, Australia was rated around seventh or eighth among the contenders -- how did you, and the side, feel about that?

Australian team practising

Australia was rated 7th in the World Cup in 1987. Obviously, we had hoped to win this prestigious trophy, but realistically we really did not have a chance. Our preparation was hard, we trained very hard at Madras for two weeks prior to the tournament. This was perfect, to get used to the heat and conditions, and to develop a fantastic team spirit that carried us to a magnificent victory.

Everyone was rippling fit, where Bob Simpson worked heavily was on our fielding skills. We formed team plans that we believed were very successful. We had a theory that the team that makes the most singles will win 85% of the time.

Bob Simpson

Then, with whatever total we achieved, we had a great defensive bowling and fielding lineup, well supported by the fact we had bowlers who wanted to bowl at the death, like Reid, O'Donnell and Waugh. They had a great attitude, and a great assortment of change up or slow deliveries. Then psychologically, we would wake up in the very early hours of the morning after a match and make sure the opposition team was watching us at practise. This would let everyone know how badly we wanted to win this one.

The early games of the 1987 campaign saw the Aussie side just about scraping through -- against India, against New Zealand, then the defeat at the hands of India in New Delhi... before finally making it to the semis for the first time since 1975. Could you take us through those games, your personal highs and lows?

Looking back at the World Cup in 1987, apart from our great efforts in the finals, the game that turned everything for us from an Australian point of view was the very first game against India in Madras. It was such an important game to us psychologically, to beat India on their own turf, and it did not go without controversy.

Maninder Singh

I was facing Maninder Singh and I tried to hit him for a six over his head. I hit it a bit thin and flat, directed towards Shastri. He dived valiantly but fortunately for me, missed the catch and the ball appeared to just carry over the rope for what I thought was a six. Ravi was not sure whether it was a six or not, neither was the umpire, Dicky Bird, who ended up signalling a four.

Umpire Dicky Bird

I got out shortly after and proceeded to Hanif Mohammed, the match referee, to question whether he can reverse the decision from a boundary to a six. At the conclusion of our innings, Hanif Mohammed went to speak directly with umpire Bird himself. Bird then proceeded to speak with Shastri and after a short conversation, the decision was reversed and two runs were added to our score. Now, history shows that Australia won by 1 run, and if it wasn’t for that decision who knows what would have happened!

'I was shocked and outraged at the allegations'