'Never afraid to ruffle some feathers, his views were sometimes a little left-field.' 9WWOS
"Win the 18th over, and you win the match," he'd tell me over and over again, although we frequently clashed over exactly what constituted 'winning' the over. How much weight should be given to wickets at that stage of the innings compared to runs? It's a dispute that will have to remain unresolved.
So it was with some trepidation that I began working alongside him as part of the Macquarie Radio cricket coverage. As the famous phrase goes, never meet your heroes, because they're sure to disappoint you.But what I found was the exact opposite. From day one it was as though we'd been working together for years. He was encouraging and supportive of someone taking his first, somewhat tentative steps in the cutthroat world that is the cricket media.
Not only was he up to date with the current news, he prided himself on his historical knowledge. Even at 3am in a Canberra pub the night of the BBL04 final, he was still challenging fellow Tied Test hero Greg Matthews over some obscure stat that most ordinary cricket fans had long since forgotten. The result? I had to dig out the laptop and settle the dispute, although a few bourbon and cokes both before and after the argument mean the memory is a little hazy as to who was ultimately correct.
In recent years he'd enjoyed success as a coach, twice guiding Islamabad United to victory in the Pakistan Super League. Again, he was thirsty for as much knowledge as he could get his hands on, no statistic was too irrelevant, no detail too small, especially if it involved the all-important 18th over!
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