Australia celebrates the last man standing in the tie-break Test match against India in Madras (Chennai). (ABC: Madras Magic: The 1986 Tie-break Test Match)
It was the eve of the 1986 Test series between India and Australia. The weather in Madras (now Chennai) was stifling. Experienced Australian left-arm spin bowler Ray Bright was thirsty but he realised that he had a tough job to do on pitches that suited his game.
“Normally I’d have a couple of beers with some of the boys who don’t mind a little drink before the game, but I thought, ‘It’s going to be hot and humid tomorrow’ so I’d better have a quiet night and order room service,” Bright told ABC Sports.
“Unfortunately, the hotel kitchen was not as good as the ones we have in India right now and I developed severe symptoms of food poisoning and did not get better for most of the race.
Follow all five Test matches of this summer’s Border-Gavaskar series on the ABC Sport live blog and listen to the phone-in show on ABC Listen.
“It was a slightly fishy pizza, I don’t know if the chef put something on it or if this is just something that happens sometimes.
“To this day I regret why I bothered ordering pizza in India when there is so much other good food out there and nothing wrong with it.”
As Bright’s stomach began to churn, Dean Jones was called into captain Allan Border’s room. The 25-year-old Victorian, who had played two Tests against the West Indies in 1984, was recalled for the India tour because of his prowess against spin.
“He said, ‘Well, you’re my number three for the next few years, do you want it?’ And he looked me straight in the eye and said, ‘Do you want it?’ And I said, ‘I’ve been waiting for two years,'” Jones said in the 2006 ABC documentary “Madras Magic: The 1986 Test Draw.
“When I walked out of the room, I felt like I was ten feet taller. I felt invincible.”
A good toss to win
The next morning, when the team arrived at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Bright was no longer in shape to bowl, but he knew that telling the stern Border man that he could not play was not an option worth considering.
“I thought, ‘Gee, I hope we win the coin toss and the batting contest,’ because I didn’t know if I could make it to the plate, I didn’t know if I could stay vertical long enough and stop vomiting,” Bright said.
“The 12th man, Dave Gilbert, came in and said, ‘We won the coin toss, now it’s time to hit the ball.’ I slumped over the table and stayed like that for the rest of the day.”
India had just won an impressive Test series in England 2-0. Australia had been in the doldrums after the retirement of greats Greg Chappell, Dennis Lillee and Rod Marsh in 1984 and the departure of players during the 1985 Rebels tour of South Africa.
David Boon’s century gave the visitors a good start and when the moustachioed opener was dismissed late in the day, the Borders decided to send in a night watchman.
“Unfortunately, I’ve been a night watchman for most of my career,” Bright said.
“I was a little surprised, I don’t know if AB knew I wasn’t doing well, but he let me go out there and bat anyway because AB was very persistent about what he wanted to do.”
Bright fades
The next morning, the 40-degree heat was further exacerbated by the concrete stadium.
According to Indian local batsman Chris Srikanth, there are three main types of weather in Chennai in September.
Ray Bright played through illness during the tie-breaking Test match. (Getty Images: S&G/PA Images)
“Hot, hotter, hottest,” Srikkanth told Madras Magic: The Draw of ’86 Tests.
Fighting the heat wasn’t the only challenge for athletes, referees and spectators; there was also the unbearable stench.
“The Buckingham Canal that runs through the Madras Cricket Ground doesn’t have the best aroma in the world to say the least,” Bright said.
Australia resumed play on February 11 and the 32-year-old Bright found it difficult to keep up with Jones.
“I wasn’t in good shape and couldn’t eat too much or drink too much,” Bright said.
“As you can imagine, Dino was at full tilt, running around the court like a fly.
“I had to tell Dino to slow down a bit, I couldn’t keep running in this heat and humidity.
“We scored 70 runs and that weakened the Indian attack a little bit.”
Bright hit a six and three fours in the 30th over, but the Victorian felt he could not hold on any longer.
“My eyesight wasn’t very good and I wasn’t thinking clearly, like you would with severe food poisoning and dehydration,” Bright said.
“My mind started to get a little confused.
“I think I probably should have gotten out more and let some of the better hitters get in.”
After being fired, Bright barely had a chance to make it to the locker room, where he was cared for by a doctor.
“He was basically dead, he was shot and almost in tears,” Boone told The Magic of Madras: The 1986 Test Draw.
Deano dominates
Wearing a baggy green baseball cap, Jones scored his first century with a single in just the fifth Test innings.
“This is an achievement for a player who has learned to control his impulses and work hard to score,” said commentator Jim Maxwell during ABC News’ coverage of the game that night.
VOTE NOW: What are the biggest moments between Australia and India?
The photo shows stylized images of Ricky Ponting, Brett Lee, Sophie Molineux and Dean Jones.
This summer, ABC Sport will be looking for the most memorable cricket moments between Australia and India, as voted for by readers. Vote now in our online poll.
Jones swung his bat toward the crowd, knowing his work was far from done.
“I was like, ‘Oh, I scored a 100 on the test and you did it,’ but my brain was saying, ‘I’m not worried about the 100, I want to score more,'” Jones said.
After taking more than five hours to reach triple digits, Jones picked up the tempo, wowed even his opponents as he repeatedly danced around the field to meet his opponent’s pitches.
“I have never played against a better batsman in my life and he really didn’t let me bowl,” Indian spin bowler Maninder Singh said in an interview for The Magic of Madras: The Draw of the 1986 Test.
“When I hit the ball out there, he was there and it was just a beautiful sight, and there are times in your career when you just enjoy getting hit.
“I challenged him to come out and fight me, and he accepted it every time.”
Jones and Bird were tearing the home team apart, but they were taking their toll in the furnace-like conditions.
Cramping and vomiting
“It got to the point where my hands were starting to cramp up and it felt like pins and needles,” Jones said.
“Then I glanced over and my hind legs started to cramp up, and then my back.
Dean Jones batting with Allan Border as the opposition looks after him, hunched over, unwell and dehydrated. (ABC: Madras Magic: The 1986 Test Draw)
“I was on 170 mg and I knew I was in trouble because I started peeing my pants and I couldn’t stop.”
Jones, hunched over his bat, vomited in center field, surrounded by concerned Indian players and Bode.
“I told AB, ‘I’ve had enough, I’m going to stop playing, this is stupid, I’m throwing up every two minutes, we’re on TV, every time I hit in the outfield I can only take one step, I can’t run, I’m cramping, I can’t move anymore,’ Jones said.
Australia have won just three Tests since Border reluctantly took over leadership in late 1984. The man sometimes known as the “Cranky Captain” did not like the idea of Jones retiring injured with Indian bowlers at his mercy.
“I thought I could coax him into trying a little harder, but I didn’t know how cunning he was,” Border told Madras Magic: The ’86 Test Draw.
“I said, ‘If you want to leave now, we’ll send a tough guy over, we’ll send a Queenslander over’.
“I knew it would have the desired effect, and I heard someone yelling curses at me afterwards, so I knew I had pushed the right button.”
Deano completes historic double-century
Border’s comments were like red tape to the Victorian bulls. Jones was soon running gingerly across the field, now wearing a wide-brimmed hat and pumping his fist, becoming the first Australian to score a double hundred in India.
Australian coach Bob Simpson described the batting as “one of the greatest innings ever played and one of the bravest ever played”.
Nearly four decades after playing Test matches, India all-rounder Ravi Shastri heaped praise on Jones, who passed away in 2020 due to a stroke.
Dean Jones leaves the field after scoring his famous double hundred against India at Madras. (ABC: Madras Magic: The Draw Test 1986)
“It was a real test of his stamina, his grit, his determination and also having AB at the other end to support him to keep going,” Shastri told ABC Sports.
“It was a Herculean effort under the circumstances.”
Bright played with Jones at Victoria for several seasons and knew Jones was strong both mentally and physically.
“He’s very motivated and in very good shape,” Bright said.
“Anyone who has seen him run between the wickets, especially in one-day games, will know [that].
“His focus is incredible, that’s one of the most striking things.
“It was absolutely the best innings I have ever seen in Test cricket.”
Jones doesn’t remember entering the locker room at tea time in 202. Teammates described him as looking like a corpse in protective gear.
“People would cover him with ice and towels and do everything else they could to lower his temperature,” Bright said.
“We are pleased to see Dino continue to stay healthy, so the team is doing everything they can to get him back in top condition so he can continue his impressive batting record.”
Dressing room collapse
Jones was bowled out for 210, ending his eight-hour vigil. His partnership with Bird was worth 178.
“I curled up in a ball because I was cramping so badly I couldn’t relax,” said Jones, who lost 8kg that day.
Dean Jones was taken to hospital after playing against India in Madras. (Getty Images)
“I screamed and felt pain in my back and stomach and cramps all over my body.
“Obviously, dehydration was setting in.
“I remember when I came out, I was put in an ice bath and it felt like warm water.
“That was the first time in the whole day that I felt like, ‘I’m alive, I’m OK,’ and then I jumped out of the tub and it was over.”
Jones fell to the ground and was taken to hospital.
“It was only later that I realised he had collapsed and was in a very bad condition and was rushed to hospital,” Border said in an interview for Madras Magic: The ’86 Test Draw.
“That’s when I started thinking, ‘Oh my God, I killed him’.”
In cricket-crazy India, Jones was given star treatment at the hospital.
“I walked into the emergency room and there was a guy in critical condition surrounded by nurses and doctors who had been hit by a bus,” Jones said.
“All of a sudden someone said, ‘Australian cricketer, dehydrated, Dean Jones’ and then they all left this poor guy and looked after me.”
Jones was on an IV drip all night and was not cleared to play until the next day.
“His legendary status is entirely due to me, and if he retired at 170 pounds injured, he wouldn’t be a legend,” Bode said.
The reliable Border team scored 106 points and Australia claimed first innings victory with the score of 7/574.
The hosts were in trouble at the end of the third day’s play at 5/170. Indian captain Kapil Dev castigated the team, saying they were playing “one-day cricket”. On the second day, Dev himself played as if he were playing a limited-overs match, knocking in a quick 119 while India scored 397.
At the end of the fourth day, Australia scored 5/170. A boundary was called and India won by 348 runs.
Final day run chase as tempers boil
The hosts were aggressive in chasing the target, led by Sunil Gavaskar, who scored 90 in his 100th consecutive Test match.
Eccentric off-spinner Greg Matthews taunted the crowd and the Indian team by bowling almost no variation on the final day. He took the ball in a sweater to ease the burden of the hot weather.
ABC Sport Daily podcast
ABC Sport Daily is your daily dose of sport. We dive into the day’s biggest headlines and keep you up to date with all the other breaking news.
“I don’t know if this is to prove how strong he is or how silly he is,” Bright said.
Bright took the wickets of Gavaskar and another star batsman, Mohammad Azharuddin, but was then dismissed himself.
“I couldn’t think clearly at that point, so I thought I needed to go away, try to clear my head and come back if I needed to, but I wanted the guys to get the job done,” Bright said.
Instead, the Indian team had the upper hand and everyone was getting agitated. Umpire Dhara Dotiwala ordered Bode to speed up the game. Bode told Dotiwala what he thought about the request. Dotiwala threatened to sack the captain. Not-out batsman Shastri tried to calm the situation as further delay would be bad for the Indian team. The players of the opposing team argued during the water break.
“We had played a three-Test series in Australia (against India) earlier that year and in those Test matches there wasn’t a lot of enthusiasm between the two sides,” Bright said.
“There were times when they were just hitting the ball for the sake of hitting it.
“Off the field, there wasn’t a lot of socializing or anything like that.
“This continued until September [of that year].
“It wasn’t one of the friendliest Test matches I’ve ever played in, far from it.”
An extraordinary finish to a famous Test
India were approaching their target with wickets in hand. Shastri signalled for more excitement in the crowd, which grew rapidly throughout the day as word spread of the strength of the Indian team. Mathews’s great effort saw him take 10 wickets for the Test match, but he needed help from his spin partner.
“I said to Dave Gilbert, ‘Does AB need me to play again?'” Bright said.
“Dave gave a very stern order to ‘get that weakling out’.
“Dave’s explanation is a little more concise than what AB said.”
After facing defeat, the Australian team celebrated the final blow that resulted in a tie in the second Test match of cricket. (ABC: The Madras Magic: The 1986 Test Tie)
Back in the game, Bright scored three quick runs and the Test match took another turn. The match ended in a thrilling finale, with India needing four runs to win and Australia needing only one. Shastri scored two and one to level the scores.
Batsman No. 11 Maninder Singh was in strike – with two balls left. Singh was hit on the shin pads by Matthews and was out. Matthews ran off like he had scored the winning goal in a FIFA World Cup final, with his jubilant teammates chasing him.
“I don’t think anybody really knows what the score is,” Bright said.
“I thought we had won but we’re happy with the draw because it could have been a draw.”
The only Test match in the sport’s history to be a tie was the 1960 Test between Australia and the West Indies in Brisbane. Simpson had the unique experience of playing in the first tie-breaking Test and coaching in the second.
Decision disputed by India
From a non-batsman’s perspective, Shastri insisted that Singh should not have been awarded a leg-stop. The all-rounder claimed that Indian umpire V Vikram Raju wanted to be a part of history and likened him to a gunslinger in the Wild West.
“Oh yeah, he fouled, the referee was from Texas and he had his hands up before the appeal was over,” Shastri said.
Can’t get enough cricket from Grandstand?
Listen to the latest cricket news, interviews and analysis from the ABC team on the Grandstand Cricket Podcast.
Shastri stormed into the umpires’ room and told Vikram Raju what he thought about the leg-volley decision.
“I spoke some decent Aussie words in that room and thank God there was no match referee then or I would have missed a few games,” Shastri said.
Vikram Raju was not chosen to referee another match and he feels he has been made a scapegoat for a correct decision.
“The bat never went near the pads, the bat never went near the ball, so I was confident that he was right in front of the wicket,” Vikram Raju said in an interview for Madras Magic: The Draw Test 1986.
Bright believes that focusing only on the final victory does not accurately reflect the five days of exciting competition in Chennai.
“Let’s not forget that throughout the match, India took 12 wickets, Australia took 20, and there were about eight or nine other bad wickets,” Bright said.
“There was no neutral referee at the time, so the referee’s decision might have been slightly biased towards the home team.
“If there was a little bit of an inside advantage, I’d think it was just a little bit of karma, right.”
The legacy of the Tied Test
The other two Test matches in the series ended in a draw, and the subcontinental experience would prove invaluable to Border’s men. The following year, seven members of the T-11 Test series joined the team that won Australia’s first Men’s World Cup in India.
Bright said the 1986 tie-break Test match also played a key role in shaping the rivalry between Australia and India into the showdown it is today.
“This series is now on par with the Ashes and I don’t think it’s at that level yet, but for India it might have been at that level.”
The biggest Australia-India moments
Throughout the summer we’ll be looking back at some of the best stories and sharing our own favourite moments in Australian and Indian cricket history.
Join us as we continue the discussion in our summer live blogs and broadcasts before our readers’ top 10 is revealed ahead of the fifth Test at the SCG on January 3.
Select five options to ensure your vote is counted.
The ABC of SPORT
Sports content that makes you think.. or makes you not think. A newsletter sent every Saturday. Your information will be processed in accordance with the ABC Privacy Collection Statement.