THE YEAR THAT CRICKET CHANGED MY LIFE FOREVER
During my 14th year upon Planet earth, cricket scored me a life-changing bone shaker of a personal revolution. It was 1985, the year in which Greg Mathews )who later become New South Wales First XI captain and an Australian Test Star) first came to England on a cricketing sponsorship. During the week he was playing for Worcestershire and on weekends he played with a successful Birmingham League side skippered by my dad.

Part of the way though the season Greg's accommodation in Worcester seized up. My dad - himself a former Worcestershire opener - agreed to let him stay in our spare room for a few months. Our relatively normal suburban family home admitted a new member: a third son, an extra seating at the dinner table.

For me it was like living with a rock star. Greg sported wild clothes and a sandpaper stubble; he rolled joints at the dinner table and smuggled girls in late at night. He'd go out at midnight and return with the bleariest of eyes as we worked through our porridge. On days when I knew he'd be at home I would fake a death's door illness so I could be sent home and be around him. He introduced me to wild music and wild living and, one morning at breakfast, he introduced my dad to soft drugs. It happened like this: whilst my dad was busy chewing the last few chunks of his buttered toast, Greg informed him that the toast was spiked with a generous sprinkling of marijuana. Now, the only things my dad knew about drugs were what he had read in the Daily Mail, The Express and other skinny-minded, tabloid outrage pushers. To him, the word 'MARIJUANA' meant much the same as the words, 'HEROIN', 'PCP' and 'COCAINE'. It meant drugs, and to my dad drugs meant addiction, financial ruin, scabs under your nose, and death. To say that my dad was angry would be an understatement of immeasurable proportions (so put your slide rule away). To make matters worse Greg was laughing like a nut. Forget being lace, my old man was straight. He wore a suit and tie, worked in an office, was impeccably polite and played golf occasionally; and he was writhing about on the kitchen lino throttling an emerging cricket celebrity.

My dad spent the rest of the day waiting for a drug-induced oblivion to envelope him in a nightmare of hallucination and chemical terror. Of course, like Cliff Richard, it never came. My dad managed a nervous chuckle about the incident later -as we guffawed ourselves horizontal.

Our suburbanite neighbours sensed the danger in this young Aussie rascal. Curtains quivered when Greg prowled the street. The miserable old woman next door (the one with three elbows) even called the police one night when Greg locked himself out of the house and kipped down in his infamous pick-up truck. Quite soon our unassuming household was the subject of a whole catalogue of sex, drugs, porn and rock 'n' roll scandals. (The catalogue alone changed hands for several pence.) It was great.

But eventually, like optimistic thoughts about the outcome of an England international, the fun quickly ended. The cricket season was over and my hero had to leave. On the day of his departure I faked another G.P. baffling illness to excuse myself from High School so that I could see him off. Greg presented me with a Greg Chappel broad-brimmed hat (I still have it) which I wore as I waved a sad farewell. But, like Luke Skywalker when Obi One was slain by Darth Vader, I knew that Greg Matthews would always be in my heart. And I've been an irreverent scallywag ever since.

Gregory Richard John Matthews Born: 15 December 1959, Newcastle, New South Wales
Major Teams: Australia, New South Wales.
Known As: Greg Matthews
Batting Style: Left Hand Bat Bowling Style: Right Arm Off Break
Profile: The enigmatic Greg Matthews is one of New South Wales cricket's greatest ever contributors. A flighty off-spinner and determined left hand bat, Matthews, known as "Mo", has captured a record number of wickets for NSW and played a record amount of matches (including a record 107 shield appearances) for his beloved Blues. He has also represented Australia with distinction, particularly with the bat, playing some vital Test innings and scoring four Test tons. One of his more memorable moments was to claim the final wicket in the famous Madras tied test in 1986. Matthews has succeeded Phil Emery and Mark Taylor as NSW captain for 1996-97. Source: NSW Cricket Association