00:00:06
Speaker 1: You're listening to the Weekend Sport Podcast with Jason Fine from Newstalks EDB.
00:00:12
Speaker 2: We start this hour with a look back in time a quarter of a century ago, twenty five years since one of the most famous innings and our Test cricket hastory point.
00:00:24
Speaker 1: He's gone for a sink bet.
00:00:26
Speaker 3: Start at a A two going towards the boundary four uns.
00:00:32
Speaker 2: That is two hundred. What a moment for him to choose it.
00:00:36
Speaker 4: Yeah.
00:00:37
Speaker 2: In the nineteen ninety nine Boxing Day Test against the West Indies at the Basin Reserve, Matthew Sinclair scored two hundred and fourteen on Test debut, still the highest score by a New Zealand batter on their Test debut and it helped New Zealand to an innings victory over the West Indies. Matthew Sinclair is with us for a bit of a wander down memory lane twenty five years ago. Matthew, hard to believe. How often do you think back to that innings and that Test match?
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Speaker 3: Enough? I don't mate it.
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Speaker 4: I think I think social media is pretty good for that nowadays, you know what I mean? But Nah, it's sort of it sort of felt like yesterday. Funny enough, you know what I mean, just all the emotions and all the all sort of I guess the good will that happened with it, and I mean obviously it's in the past now sort of stuff, but still good to bring up and be lucky enough.
00:01:27
Speaker 3: To be part of it.
00:01:27
Speaker 2: Yeah, I love reminiscing about this sort of thing. Before that series, did you feel like you were in the frame for selection into the New Zealand team?
00:01:36
Speaker 3: Not really.
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Speaker 4: I mean like I had relative pretty good domestic form for Central Districts leading up to that, and as it turned out, I mean, I only really got my opportunity through an injury through Matt Horn, so he broke his hand and then obviously got the call up home. Sidrich Adien said Matt, you're in the You're in the Test match, and I said, wow, okay, cool.
00:01:58
Speaker 3: Way it went from him.
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Speaker 2: So you came into the New Zealand side with them, you know a couple of guys who've been around for a while. Stephen Fleming was the captain, Chris Kens was in that team, adam PERORI and others. Was it an intimidating team to come into or were you sort of welcomed and what was the story there.
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Speaker 4: No, I think it was pretty it was pretty welcoming. I mean, obviously, here's a guy from the middle of nowhere, you know what I mean. And when I mean nowhere, I mean like central districts as as such. You know, we are considered the country boys of first class cricket, and I guess the opportunity to get on and play with the big boys was certainly really overwhelming.
00:02:31
Speaker 3: But I mean they embraced me.
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Speaker 4: They obviously had played against quite a few of them over the first class sort of time domestic period as well, so and I was just like, wow, thankful for the opportunity.
00:02:41
Speaker 2: Really, So in hindsight, how helpful was it to bat first? Because West did He's won the Tass I've forgotten this sent you in? Was that for you as a debutante knowing you were batting three? Was that helpful rather than having a couple of days in the field or a day in the field, or would you preferred the other way around?
00:02:58
Speaker 4: I think probably it was a great chance just to get out there straight away. Really, I mean, I mean, I have some people preferred the opportunity to give yourself a bit of time to get into it, get the feel of it sort of thing. But now it was for me, it was just to get out there and just just get amongst it.
00:03:12
Speaker 3: Really.
00:03:12
Speaker 4: It was obviously pretty nerve wracking for obvious reasons, but I guess, you know, my lone mindset. It was just to try and get off the mark. That was my That was one of my sort of strategies. And then and I got a French cut. And then and I think I remember walking down. I think Craig Spearman was batting me with me at the other end and said, matt Or skippy A you know aka so nickname, this is going to be your day. And it's like, well, okay, away from there, as.
00:03:38
Speaker 2: You were waiting to beat Yeah, yeah, Craig sperm and Gary Stead was the was the other opener. Rah, So he gets out, you're as you're waiting to bat I mean, are you are you nervous? What are the emotions like at that time?
00:03:50
Speaker 1: Yeah?
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Speaker 4: I mean I'm sort of quite a talkative sort of guy. Like if my emotions are more like if I feel like I'm nervous, I tend to talk too much, so and that tend to happen quite a bit with me, unfortunately. But I guess you know, I was sitting next to a friend of mine who had played I think through age group cricket, and I just sort of talked away through to him and and just so of just went about my normal business, to be honest, And I guess the other thing about it, like I am. You know, we talked about crick had been a big mental game, and I guess for me it really was to be given the opportunity to obviously play from his zeel against very good with Indy side, and I just kept self talking myself up and said, hey, look I can do this, I can do this. And funny enough, the next day I just went out and just the mindset was just such that I could do this. And that's pretty much how it ended up being.
00:04:36
Speaker 2: Yeah, and you, I mean, Craig Speaman got out, Stephen Fleming comes and you had a good partnership with him, and then following that a good partnership with Nathan Astell as well. How how helpful were they as you built your runnings?
00:04:49
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think the key was the partnerships. And there's nothing better batting with batting and partnerships, and obviously with like Nathan being there being in the team for a while as well, and obviously better with Steven as well, just sort of coursing me through the through the trials and tribulations of Test match cricker really, so they were real massive help. And I guess the other thing was nothing better than just keep scoring runs, you know what I mean. We had the imputus of good partnerships and the opportunity to keep scoring runs, so we just kept sort of bringing it onto them.
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Speaker 2: So you get to thirty, you get to forty, you bring up your half century. Are you starting to feel comfortable at the stage?
00:05:23
Speaker 3: Ah, slightly, I like.
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Speaker 4: But the ability to get off the mark was my first initial thing, and then I guess it just sort of kept going from there. When you sort of talk about sort of sportsmen getting in the zone sort of thing, I started really pretty much getting into that zone and was starting to feel slightly comfortable with what was going on, and which is like really reveling and obviously a big crowd as well, so that pumped me up.
00:05:47
Speaker 3: And yeah, it was.
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Speaker 4: Just showing my showcases, really just showing my skills. And I guess the ball a lot of majority of the times was in my areas and I just maximized on it.
00:05:56
Speaker 2: Tell us about the moment you brought up your hundred.
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Speaker 4: Yeah, that was pretty special. I mean they talk about the nervous nineties and that sort of thing. It was just like, well, yeah, that was definitely my mind. But you know, at the end of the day, it was just like I think I remember talking to John right funny enough prior to the Test match and he said to me in the change said, Matt, you know, look at the big squad up there and look at it, you know, Ms Sinclair one hundred. And then it was like wow, okay, so and then yeah, there it was ended up being like that in that stage. So yeah, it was very special to bring obviously, you know, obviously one hundred it's a pinnacle of most cricketers obviously. But then it was like, well, no, I just want to keep going.
00:06:35
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I was going to ask you about that because I guess having scored or even having scored thirty or forty, I haven't failed on my Test Dayboo. You bring up one hundred, and man, I've scored one hundred on Test day boo. But then what sort of internal conversations are you having with yourself to say right, this isn't enough. I'm carrying on here.
00:06:50
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think it's built around I guess a lot of you know, make Haywall sunshine sort of thing. And I guess through my domestic career, you know, I was always about when I do get you know, hundreds or we call it big scores, and I just wanted to keep going and going, you know, I mean, I just wanted to be someone different in that respect, you know, you hear, like you said before, a lot of people getting thirties and forties, you know, and I try and teach sort of guys and the kids and those going through firstas cricket. You know, that's only that's sort of part of the so called problem. Let's get the solution, the solutions to keep.
00:07:22
Speaker 3: Going and going.
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Speaker 4: Really, I mean, we should really be seeing the ball like a absolute beach ball, you know what I mean. So, and I guess may it was just like, well, I'm just going to keep going here because we were in a good position. I had a lot of partnerships with various other guys through the through the endings, and we just kept going on with that and keep rolling with it.
00:07:39
Speaker 2: Wasn't I think my memory is right.
00:07:41
Speaker 4: Here.
00:07:41
Speaker 2: It is a long time ago. It was Nathan asked to run out as you tried to bring up your two hundred, isn't it.
00:07:45
Speaker 3: Yeah?
00:07:46
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, And I think Nathan will probably never forgive that. I will say that it was his call, not mine. So but if Nathan's obviously listened, this is probably different instead of variation. But I mean that just sort of shows, you know, just the I guess the closest we had in the team, that we were pushing each other to do what we need to do and having a good parts with Nathan as well help that, and obviously trying to get me through to that as well.
00:08:09
Speaker 2: So shortly after that you did bring up the two hundred. What what is it like looking up at that school board and seeing ms and clear two hundred?
00:08:17
Speaker 1: Yeah?
00:08:17
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean obviously that was just I mean, other records just kept falling and falling. Really, I guess through the through the times and the period that I was kept batting, and I remember we break I had, you know what, I mean, Ken's was saying, hey, Skip, you know look what you've done. You're hitting, you're taking, you're pushing everybody else down sort of stuff. You know what I mean, just keep going, man. You know, typical bottlers a you know, have as much time on the sidelines as possible sort of things. So they were telling me all the way through it, hey, just just keep going, you keep breaking the records, and I just kept going. I mean like eventually fatigue sort of did start impact things on the ennings. I can't remember findy how long I bat it for probably eight nine hours.
00:08:53
Speaker 3: Sort of stuff. It was certainly up there sort of thing.
00:08:55
Speaker 4: But you know it was a sort of got on me, I guess really just for the mental sort of side of it. But yeah, to see that up on the scool would get there's something very special.
00:09:04
Speaker 2: Yeah, close to nine hours it was. So eventually, say, fatigue setting, you're out for two fourteen, So you walk back in. Are are you then?
00:09:11
Speaker 4: What?
00:09:11
Speaker 2: Sitting alone just reflecting in the in the changing room under the basin there for for a few months.
00:09:17
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was pretty cool.
00:09:18
Speaker 4: It was just like you know, when they bring up the highlights and it was just just awesome just to see the highlights and it was like, well it was that actually me, you know what I mean. And yeah, it just like I said before, it's like I was in the zone, you know. I mean I just felt like, no matter what you threw at me, I had an answer for it. And that was pretty special. And a lot of cricketers will talk to you about that. When they're in that zone and things are happening, it just ends to happen. And I guess that sort of that day day and a half for me was pretty much part of that.
00:09:45
Speaker 2: Your three Test centuries with that one two fourteen, two hundred and four not out and one fifty. I guess goes back to what you said before. But what was it in you that wanted to make big hundreds?
00:09:57
Speaker 4: I think just to never give in and to never give up. And like I said of mentioned before, like as batsman, you know, we you know, I just want to to keep going. You know, we talk about sort of the figures of getting one hundred or one fifty, two hundred. Well, I looked at us trying to get a big score. So I always kept sort of sayingmself, what's a big score? Keep getting a big score? And fow know, we talked about as various work mates. You know, he look like a Brian Lara, you know, the guy just kept batting for long periods of time, you know what I mean, And it's like, well, that's what he's renowned for, and that's that's the mental I guess I just had that mental attitude to keep going. I just never wanted to give in. I just wanted to keep going. And I guess that's my forte, I guess of all my cricket, I guess you know, when I did get a big score, I'd try to keep going and going, you know, because it's just the beauty about it.
00:10:44
Speaker 2: Well, the Western he's sledging you, chatting to you early in the innings, and I guess they would have quietened down later. But were they big chatter as the Windy's boys.
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Speaker 3: No, they weren't.
00:10:53
Speaker 4: I think initially when I got out there there was the odd short ball at my head sort of stuff, just to remind me, hey, welcome to Test match cricket, you know what I mean. So I had a little bit of an idea as to how I wanted to go about my innings as well. And I did play a game against the Western his team, I think it could have been in Taalpo, and that just gave me a bit of an insight into what they were like. I think I scored twenty eighth there and it was just like a one day warm warm up match sort of thing. So I had a bit of an idea as to what they were trying to bowl on how they're trying to go about it. So I mean I went into that Test match with a plant as well and my strength as my sort of first class players out there. No as, I like it through the off side, back of length through the off side, and I guess that was one of the ideas that I went in was Okay, well these guys are going to pitch anything on the front foot the boot, tall guys, you know, lanky, just a different type of scenarios of the ball that was getting was gonna be a lot different. So I ended up working around, okay, well this is what's going to be like in this is hung about scoring it.
00:11:48
Speaker 2: I remember in the lead up to the Test there was a bit of chat about the fact you were born in Australia and I remember the back page of the I guess it would have been the Dominion, Dominion Post whatever it was. The next day, he's a key we Now do you remember that he liked you?
00:12:01
Speaker 3: Yeah?
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Speaker 4: I do, as amazing it's almost like, you know, it was one of us, but he's yours now. But yeah, it's it's sort of quite It's quite funny how like that sort of tends to start happening, How they like to claim us as theirs when we do.
00:12:15
Speaker 3: Well when they're and we don't do well. I don't want to know about us, you know what I mean?
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Speaker 4: So I get that. But you know, here's a guy from northern Territory. Half of it, wouldn't know where I was born.
00:12:24
Speaker 3: Sort of stuff. Good quiz question.
00:12:26
Speaker 4: I think they need two international players that I've actually from northern Urrech for myself and Damien Martin. So if you ever find that on us spaces bottle cap or a too he cap tiny thing Damien Marson. So, but yeah, I mean like it was, you know, I got some the zentlements five years of age. I put a lot of my cricketing career down to going to very good schools Huntley School, especially in Palmers North Boys High School, and I just fell in love with the game. You know, I had no genealogy around, no family played cricket, and I just worked really really hard to be the best I could be and to be give an opportunity to obviously Writtensen and play for my country is as very very special and to do what I have done. Yeah.
00:13:04
Speaker 3: Sure.
00:13:04
Speaker 4: My whole career has had its ups and downs, and you know I read about those and I was like, yep, well, you know, unfortunately top sports is like that, you know what I mean, And that's why I guess you know, when I did have it in my day, I certainly made the most of it.
00:13:16
Speaker 2: Absolutely. We'll tell you what. No one can ever take a double hundred or a couple of other hundreds in your case away from you. So what's your what's your involvement in cricket these days?
00:13:25
Speaker 4: So not a heac of a lot at the moment. I do have opportunities over in India where I go over there and actually sort of coach and sort of mentor a lot of kids over there. I do have a cricket academy, so I try and get the opportunity to get over there as much as possible. I must admit it. It's really hard point me. I mean, I've got a brain sitting in here of thirty two years I've experienced playing here in New Zealand on every conditions. I know half the parks around here off the back of my hand, and you know, I'm really keen to sort of and put a lot of that knowledge onto to a lot of the guys nowadays. You know, we we were laughing about it before. You know, I was looking at on the TV nineteen eighty three what it used to be like back then to what cricket is now. You know what I mean, It's like it's always evolving, but yet always comes down to simple thing. It's a bat and a ball, you know what I mean. So, and I guess for me, it's just like I still enjoy watching the game and I still partake. I still played Premier cricket as best I can on a Friday night for twenty twenty. So I guess that competitiveness is always.
00:14:22
Speaker 3: Going to be there, and I don't think they'll ever leave me.
00:14:25
Speaker 2: Well, I hope that others can get the benefit of your experience. I'm sure they do. I'll tell you what else this did for me was bemoan now, the lack of a boxing day test. I know they started it and Dawley got seven for in the first one. You got your double hundred, and it kind of you went on for a few years and then sort of faded away. I get the fact that white ball is the name of the game these days, but the Boxing Day test there was something special about it, even for a short time.
00:14:50
Speaker 4: I totally agree, and I wish they could bring it back. I guess the thing is it's trying to get teams over to New Zealand here around that time because Christmas is quite special for a for a lot of teams and players sort of stuff. But I would love to bring it back here. I think should be a fixture every year. The Australians do it, and look how well they're doing with it, you know what I mean. It's like a it's an iconic thing over there that that's what they do. So you know, we should embrace it and we should start looking into it. Yes, the od I sort of side of it. The twenty twenty is starting to take a take a big impact onto the game. But there's nothing better, guys than you're sitting down there on a nice day when you've got the Berhoda car was behind you around Christmas time and just having a few bevies and just watching cricket and sunshine.
00:15:31
Speaker 3: There's nothing better.
00:15:32
Speaker 2: Yeah, Look, I well twenty five years on. I remember sitting high in the vance stand for a bit, on the bank for a bit watching you smash the windy stall parts copy. It was just such a such a brilliant moment in our history. Hey, thanks for reminiscing it. But with his made and wandering down memory lane. Always enjoyed chatting.
00:15:47
Speaker 4: I'm joy chatting cricket all the time, my friend. So thanks opportunity, now.
00:15:49
Speaker 2: Thanks for joining us. Matthew. Matthew Sinclair twenty five years on from his double one hundred on debut and the Boxing Day Test of nineteen ninety nine New Zealand against the West and he's that was the second Boxing Day Test. The first one nineteen ninety eight New Zealand beat India by four wickets. I think Simon Doll got seven for in that Test. But this one in nineteen ninety nine. They look at the New Zealand team, Craig Spearman and Gary Stead opening the batting, then Sinclair at three, Stephen Fleming, Nathan ast Or, Craig McMillan, Chris Kens, adam PERORI, Dion Nash batting at nine, Daniel Vittori and Shane O'Connor that was the lineup. Sinclair two hundred and fourteen, Nathan Nastell ninety three, Stephen Fleming got sixty seven and other contributions from others five hundred and eighteen for nine declared the Western He's bowled out for one hundred and seventy nine in their first innings, with Chris Kens taking five for forty four, and following on all out for two hundred and thirty four in their second innings with Dion Nash taking four for thirty eight. So it was all over on the fourth day, an innings victory for New Zealand in the Boxing Day Test of nineteen ninety nine. They should bring it back, shouldn't they. I know we've got cricket tonight in Mount Monganui, but a T twenty International isn't quite the same. And I look at the scenes in Melbourne and I know it's different over there, and it's been going for a lot longer. But that's the thing. If you're going to start it, carry it on, and New Zealand cricket did for a while. There was a Test in two thousand, two thousand and one, then in two thousand and two it was replaced by a one day back to a Test match in two thousand and three. I remember that one. Pakistan beat US and Shabaktar was frightening in that test, charing in and just bowling at one hundred and fifty clicks. Maybe that's why they decided not to have them anymore, because there wasn't a boxing day Test after two thousand and three until twenty fourteen, at which point it moved to Hagley Oval Test against Sri Lanka, which New Zealand won by eight wickets, and then twenty eighteen, also at Hagley, I went over Sri Lanka by four hundred and twenty three runs. And the last time we had a Boxing Day Test was in twenty twenty when Pakistan were here. I went by New Zealand by one hundred and one runs. As I say, be great to have it back. I don't know whether we ever will. The white ball cricket seems to pay the bills, doesn't it. But having started the tradition at the back end of the nineteen nineties, I just I don't know where the New Zealand cricket and hindsight with which they had carried it on. I certainly wish they had and just kept it at the basin as well, just as the Boxing Day Test and Australia is always at the MCG. Speaking of which, Australia have picked up a wicket reesharb Pant caught by Nathan Lyon off the bowling of Scott Boland for twenty eight India one ninety nine for six. They still trail by two hundred and seventy five runs out there in the middle Ravendra Jadasia He's on ten, joined by Natish Kumar Ready who is unbeaten on seven. So still a bit of work to do for India if they are to avoid the follow on in the Boxing Day Test at the MCG.
00:18:59
Speaker 1: For more from Weekend Sport with Jason Fine, listen live to News Talk zed B weekends from midday or foll of the podcast on iHeartRadio
Speaker 1: You're listening to the Weekend Sport Podcast with Jason Fine from Newstalks EDB.
00:00:12
Speaker 2: We start this hour with a look back in time a quarter of a century ago, twenty five years since one of the most famous innings and our Test cricket hastory point.
00:00:24
Speaker 1: He's gone for a sink bet.
00:00:26
Speaker 3: Start at a A two going towards the boundary four uns.
00:00:32
Speaker 2: That is two hundred. What a moment for him to choose it.
00:00:36
Speaker 4: Yeah.
00:00:37
Speaker 2: In the nineteen ninety nine Boxing Day Test against the West Indies at the Basin Reserve, Matthew Sinclair scored two hundred and fourteen on Test debut, still the highest score by a New Zealand batter on their Test debut and it helped New Zealand to an innings victory over the West Indies. Matthew Sinclair is with us for a bit of a wander down memory lane twenty five years ago. Matthew, hard to believe. How often do you think back to that innings and that Test match?
00:01:07
Speaker 3: Enough? I don't mate it.
00:01:08
Speaker 4: I think I think social media is pretty good for that nowadays, you know what I mean? But Nah, it's sort of it sort of felt like yesterday. Funny enough, you know what I mean, just all the emotions and all the all sort of I guess the good will that happened with it, and I mean obviously it's in the past now sort of stuff, but still good to bring up and be lucky enough.
00:01:27
Speaker 3: To be part of it.
00:01:27
Speaker 2: Yeah, I love reminiscing about this sort of thing. Before that series, did you feel like you were in the frame for selection into the New Zealand team?
00:01:36
Speaker 3: Not really.
00:01:37
Speaker 4: I mean like I had relative pretty good domestic form for Central Districts leading up to that, and as it turned out, I mean, I only really got my opportunity through an injury through Matt Horn, so he broke his hand and then obviously got the call up home. Sidrich Adien said Matt, you're in the You're in the Test match, and I said, wow, okay, cool.
00:01:58
Speaker 3: Way it went from him.
00:01:59
Speaker 2: So you came into the New Zealand side with them, you know a couple of guys who've been around for a while. Stephen Fleming was the captain, Chris Kens was in that team, adam PERORI and others. Was it an intimidating team to come into or were you sort of welcomed and what was the story there.
00:02:12
Speaker 4: No, I think it was pretty it was pretty welcoming. I mean, obviously, here's a guy from the middle of nowhere, you know what I mean. And when I mean nowhere, I mean like central districts as as such. You know, we are considered the country boys of first class cricket, and I guess the opportunity to get on and play with the big boys was certainly really overwhelming.
00:02:31
Speaker 3: But I mean they embraced me.
00:02:33
Speaker 4: They obviously had played against quite a few of them over the first class sort of time domestic period as well, so and I was just like, wow, thankful for the opportunity.
00:02:41
Speaker 2: Really, So in hindsight, how helpful was it to bat first? Because West did He's won the Tass I've forgotten this sent you in? Was that for you as a debutante knowing you were batting three? Was that helpful rather than having a couple of days in the field or a day in the field, or would you preferred the other way around?
00:02:58
Speaker 4: I think probably it was a great chance just to get out there straight away. Really, I mean, I mean, I have some people preferred the opportunity to give yourself a bit of time to get into it, get the feel of it sort of thing. But now it was for me, it was just to get out there and just just get amongst it.
00:03:12
Speaker 3: Really.
00:03:12
Speaker 4: It was obviously pretty nerve wracking for obvious reasons, but I guess, you know, my lone mindset. It was just to try and get off the mark. That was my That was one of my sort of strategies. And then and I got a French cut. And then and I think I remember walking down. I think Craig Spearman was batting me with me at the other end and said, matt Or skippy A you know aka so nickname, this is going to be your day. And it's like, well, okay, away from there, as.
00:03:38
Speaker 2: You were waiting to beat Yeah, yeah, Craig sperm and Gary Stead was the was the other opener. Rah, So he gets out, you're as you're waiting to bat I mean, are you are you nervous? What are the emotions like at that time?
00:03:50
Speaker 1: Yeah?
00:03:51
Speaker 4: I mean I'm sort of quite a talkative sort of guy. Like if my emotions are more like if I feel like I'm nervous, I tend to talk too much, so and that tend to happen quite a bit with me, unfortunately. But I guess you know, I was sitting next to a friend of mine who had played I think through age group cricket, and I just sort of talked away through to him and and just so of just went about my normal business, to be honest, And I guess the other thing about it, like I am. You know, we talked about crick had been a big mental game, and I guess for me it really was to be given the opportunity to obviously play from his zeel against very good with Indy side, and I just kept self talking myself up and said, hey, look I can do this, I can do this. And funny enough, the next day I just went out and just the mindset was just such that I could do this. And that's pretty much how it ended up being.
00:04:36
Speaker 2: Yeah, and you, I mean, Craig Speaman got out, Stephen Fleming comes and you had a good partnership with him, and then following that a good partnership with Nathan Astell as well. How how helpful were they as you built your runnings?
00:04:49
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think the key was the partnerships. And there's nothing better batting with batting and partnerships, and obviously with like Nathan being there being in the team for a while as well, and obviously better with Steven as well, just sort of coursing me through the through the trials and tribulations of Test match cricker really, so they were real massive help. And I guess the other thing was nothing better than just keep scoring runs, you know what I mean. We had the imputus of good partnerships and the opportunity to keep scoring runs, so we just kept sort of bringing it onto them.
00:05:18
Speaker 2: So you get to thirty, you get to forty, you bring up your half century. Are you starting to feel comfortable at the stage?
00:05:23
Speaker 3: Ah, slightly, I like.
00:05:26
Speaker 4: But the ability to get off the mark was my first initial thing, and then I guess it just sort of kept going from there. When you sort of talk about sort of sportsmen getting in the zone sort of thing, I started really pretty much getting into that zone and was starting to feel slightly comfortable with what was going on, and which is like really reveling and obviously a big crowd as well, so that pumped me up.
00:05:47
Speaker 3: And yeah, it was.
00:05:48
Speaker 4: Just showing my showcases, really just showing my skills. And I guess the ball a lot of majority of the times was in my areas and I just maximized on it.
00:05:56
Speaker 2: Tell us about the moment you brought up your hundred.
00:05:59
Speaker 4: Yeah, that was pretty special. I mean they talk about the nervous nineties and that sort of thing. It was just like, well, yeah, that was definitely my mind. But you know, at the end of the day, it was just like I think I remember talking to John right funny enough prior to the Test match and he said to me in the change said, Matt, you know, look at the big squad up there and look at it, you know, Ms Sinclair one hundred. And then it was like wow, okay, so and then yeah, there it was ended up being like that in that stage. So yeah, it was very special to bring obviously, you know, obviously one hundred it's a pinnacle of most cricketers obviously. But then it was like, well, no, I just want to keep going.
00:06:35
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I was going to ask you about that because I guess having scored or even having scored thirty or forty, I haven't failed on my Test Dayboo. You bring up one hundred, and man, I've scored one hundred on Test day boo. But then what sort of internal conversations are you having with yourself to say right, this isn't enough. I'm carrying on here.
00:06:50
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think it's built around I guess a lot of you know, make Haywall sunshine sort of thing. And I guess through my domestic career, you know, I was always about when I do get you know, hundreds or we call it big scores, and I just wanted to keep going and going, you know, I mean, I just wanted to be someone different in that respect, you know, you hear, like you said before, a lot of people getting thirties and forties, you know, and I try and teach sort of guys and the kids and those going through firstas cricket. You know, that's only that's sort of part of the so called problem. Let's get the solution, the solutions to keep.
00:07:22
Speaker 3: Going and going.
00:07:22
Speaker 4: Really, I mean, we should really be seeing the ball like a absolute beach ball, you know what I mean. So, and I guess may it was just like, well, I'm just going to keep going here because we were in a good position. I had a lot of partnerships with various other guys through the through the endings, and we just kept going on with that and keep rolling with it.
00:07:39
Speaker 2: Wasn't I think my memory is right.
00:07:41
Speaker 4: Here.
00:07:41
Speaker 2: It is a long time ago. It was Nathan asked to run out as you tried to bring up your two hundred, isn't it.
00:07:45
Speaker 3: Yeah?
00:07:46
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, And I think Nathan will probably never forgive that. I will say that it was his call, not mine. So but if Nathan's obviously listened, this is probably different instead of variation. But I mean that just sort of shows, you know, just the I guess the closest we had in the team, that we were pushing each other to do what we need to do and having a good parts with Nathan as well help that, and obviously trying to get me through to that as well.
00:08:09
Speaker 2: So shortly after that you did bring up the two hundred. What what is it like looking up at that school board and seeing ms and clear two hundred?
00:08:17
Speaker 1: Yeah?
00:08:17
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean obviously that was just I mean, other records just kept falling and falling. Really, I guess through the through the times and the period that I was kept batting, and I remember we break I had, you know what, I mean, Ken's was saying, hey, Skip, you know look what you've done. You're hitting, you're taking, you're pushing everybody else down sort of stuff. You know what I mean, just keep going, man. You know, typical bottlers a you know, have as much time on the sidelines as possible sort of things. So they were telling me all the way through it, hey, just just keep going, you keep breaking the records, and I just kept going. I mean like eventually fatigue sort of did start impact things on the ennings. I can't remember findy how long I bat it for probably eight nine hours.
00:08:53
Speaker 3: Sort of stuff. It was certainly up there sort of thing.
00:08:55
Speaker 4: But you know it was a sort of got on me, I guess really just for the mental sort of side of it. But yeah, to see that up on the scool would get there's something very special.
00:09:04
Speaker 2: Yeah, close to nine hours it was. So eventually, say, fatigue setting, you're out for two fourteen, So you walk back in. Are are you then?
00:09:11
Speaker 4: What?
00:09:11
Speaker 2: Sitting alone just reflecting in the in the changing room under the basin there for for a few months.
00:09:17
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was pretty cool.
00:09:18
Speaker 4: It was just like you know, when they bring up the highlights and it was just just awesome just to see the highlights and it was like, well it was that actually me, you know what I mean. And yeah, it just like I said before, it's like I was in the zone, you know. I mean I just felt like, no matter what you threw at me, I had an answer for it. And that was pretty special. And a lot of cricketers will talk to you about that. When they're in that zone and things are happening, it just ends to happen. And I guess that sort of that day day and a half for me was pretty much part of that.
00:09:45
Speaker 2: Your three Test centuries with that one two fourteen, two hundred and four not out and one fifty. I guess goes back to what you said before. But what was it in you that wanted to make big hundreds?
00:09:57
Speaker 4: I think just to never give in and to never give up. And like I said of mentioned before, like as batsman, you know, we you know, I just want to to keep going. You know, we talk about sort of the figures of getting one hundred or one fifty, two hundred. Well, I looked at us trying to get a big score. So I always kept sort of sayingmself, what's a big score? Keep getting a big score? And fow know, we talked about as various work mates. You know, he look like a Brian Lara, you know, the guy just kept batting for long periods of time, you know what I mean, And it's like, well, that's what he's renowned for, and that's that's the mental I guess I just had that mental attitude to keep going. I just never wanted to give in. I just wanted to keep going. And I guess that's my forte, I guess of all my cricket, I guess you know, when I did get a big score, I'd try to keep going and going, you know, because it's just the beauty about it.
00:10:44
Speaker 2: Well, the Western he's sledging you, chatting to you early in the innings, and I guess they would have quietened down later. But were they big chatter as the Windy's boys.
00:10:52
Speaker 3: No, they weren't.
00:10:53
Speaker 4: I think initially when I got out there there was the odd short ball at my head sort of stuff, just to remind me, hey, welcome to Test match cricket, you know what I mean. So I had a little bit of an idea as to how I wanted to go about my innings as well. And I did play a game against the Western his team, I think it could have been in Taalpo, and that just gave me a bit of an insight into what they were like. I think I scored twenty eighth there and it was just like a one day warm warm up match sort of thing. So I had a bit of an idea as to what they were trying to bowl on how they're trying to go about it. So I mean I went into that Test match with a plant as well and my strength as my sort of first class players out there. No as, I like it through the off side, back of length through the off side, and I guess that was one of the ideas that I went in was Okay, well these guys are going to pitch anything on the front foot the boot, tall guys, you know, lanky, just a different type of scenarios of the ball that was getting was gonna be a lot different. So I ended up working around, okay, well this is what's going to be like in this is hung about scoring it.
00:11:48
Speaker 2: I remember in the lead up to the Test there was a bit of chat about the fact you were born in Australia and I remember the back page of the I guess it would have been the Dominion, Dominion Post whatever it was. The next day, he's a key we Now do you remember that he liked you?
00:12:01
Speaker 3: Yeah?
00:12:02
Speaker 4: I do, as amazing it's almost like, you know, it was one of us, but he's yours now. But yeah, it's it's sort of quite It's quite funny how like that sort of tends to start happening, How they like to claim us as theirs when we do.
00:12:15
Speaker 3: Well when they're and we don't do well. I don't want to know about us, you know what I mean?
00:12:18
Speaker 4: So I get that. But you know, here's a guy from northern Territory. Half of it, wouldn't know where I was born.
00:12:24
Speaker 3: Sort of stuff. Good quiz question.
00:12:26
Speaker 4: I think they need two international players that I've actually from northern Urrech for myself and Damien Martin. So if you ever find that on us spaces bottle cap or a too he cap tiny thing Damien Marson. So, but yeah, I mean like it was, you know, I got some the zentlements five years of age. I put a lot of my cricketing career down to going to very good schools Huntley School, especially in Palmers North Boys High School, and I just fell in love with the game. You know, I had no genealogy around, no family played cricket, and I just worked really really hard to be the best I could be and to be give an opportunity to obviously Writtensen and play for my country is as very very special and to do what I have done. Yeah.
00:13:04
Speaker 3: Sure.
00:13:04
Speaker 4: My whole career has had its ups and downs, and you know I read about those and I was like, yep, well, you know, unfortunately top sports is like that, you know what I mean, And that's why I guess you know, when I did have it in my day, I certainly made the most of it.
00:13:16
Speaker 2: Absolutely. We'll tell you what. No one can ever take a double hundred or a couple of other hundreds in your case away from you. So what's your what's your involvement in cricket these days?
00:13:25
Speaker 4: So not a heac of a lot at the moment. I do have opportunities over in India where I go over there and actually sort of coach and sort of mentor a lot of kids over there. I do have a cricket academy, so I try and get the opportunity to get over there as much as possible. I must admit it. It's really hard point me. I mean, I've got a brain sitting in here of thirty two years I've experienced playing here in New Zealand on every conditions. I know half the parks around here off the back of my hand, and you know, I'm really keen to sort of and put a lot of that knowledge onto to a lot of the guys nowadays. You know, we we were laughing about it before. You know, I was looking at on the TV nineteen eighty three what it used to be like back then to what cricket is now. You know what I mean, It's like it's always evolving, but yet always comes down to simple thing. It's a bat and a ball, you know what I mean. So, and I guess for me, it's just like I still enjoy watching the game and I still partake. I still played Premier cricket as best I can on a Friday night for twenty twenty. So I guess that competitiveness is always.
00:14:22
Speaker 3: Going to be there, and I don't think they'll ever leave me.
00:14:25
Speaker 2: Well, I hope that others can get the benefit of your experience. I'm sure they do. I'll tell you what else this did for me was bemoan now, the lack of a boxing day test. I know they started it and Dawley got seven for in the first one. You got your double hundred, and it kind of you went on for a few years and then sort of faded away. I get the fact that white ball is the name of the game these days, but the Boxing Day test there was something special about it, even for a short time.
00:14:50
Speaker 4: I totally agree, and I wish they could bring it back. I guess the thing is it's trying to get teams over to New Zealand here around that time because Christmas is quite special for a for a lot of teams and players sort of stuff. But I would love to bring it back here. I think should be a fixture every year. The Australians do it, and look how well they're doing with it, you know what I mean. It's like a it's an iconic thing over there that that's what they do. So you know, we should embrace it and we should start looking into it. Yes, the od I sort of side of it. The twenty twenty is starting to take a take a big impact onto the game. But there's nothing better, guys than you're sitting down there on a nice day when you've got the Berhoda car was behind you around Christmas time and just having a few bevies and just watching cricket and sunshine.
00:15:31
Speaker 3: There's nothing better.
00:15:32
Speaker 2: Yeah, Look, I well twenty five years on. I remember sitting high in the vance stand for a bit, on the bank for a bit watching you smash the windy stall parts copy. It was just such a such a brilliant moment in our history. Hey, thanks for reminiscing it. But with his made and wandering down memory lane. Always enjoyed chatting.
00:15:47
Speaker 4: I'm joy chatting cricket all the time, my friend. So thanks opportunity, now.
00:15:49
Speaker 2: Thanks for joining us. Matthew. Matthew Sinclair twenty five years on from his double one hundred on debut and the Boxing Day Test of nineteen ninety nine New Zealand against the West and he's that was the second Boxing Day Test. The first one nineteen ninety eight New Zealand beat India by four wickets. I think Simon Doll got seven for in that Test. But this one in nineteen ninety nine. They look at the New Zealand team, Craig Spearman and Gary Stead opening the batting, then Sinclair at three, Stephen Fleming, Nathan ast Or, Craig McMillan, Chris Kens, adam PERORI, Dion Nash batting at nine, Daniel Vittori and Shane O'Connor that was the lineup. Sinclair two hundred and fourteen, Nathan Nastell ninety three, Stephen Fleming got sixty seven and other contributions from others five hundred and eighteen for nine declared the Western He's bowled out for one hundred and seventy nine in their first innings, with Chris Kens taking five for forty four, and following on all out for two hundred and thirty four in their second innings with Dion Nash taking four for thirty eight. So it was all over on the fourth day, an innings victory for New Zealand in the Boxing Day Test of nineteen ninety nine. They should bring it back, shouldn't they. I know we've got cricket tonight in Mount Monganui, but a T twenty International isn't quite the same. And I look at the scenes in Melbourne and I know it's different over there, and it's been going for a lot longer. But that's the thing. If you're going to start it, carry it on, and New Zealand cricket did for a while. There was a Test in two thousand, two thousand and one, then in two thousand and two it was replaced by a one day back to a Test match in two thousand and three. I remember that one. Pakistan beat US and Shabaktar was frightening in that test, charing in and just bowling at one hundred and fifty clicks. Maybe that's why they decided not to have them anymore, because there wasn't a boxing day Test after two thousand and three until twenty fourteen, at which point it moved to Hagley Oval Test against Sri Lanka, which New Zealand won by eight wickets, and then twenty eighteen, also at Hagley, I went over Sri Lanka by four hundred and twenty three runs. And the last time we had a Boxing Day Test was in twenty twenty when Pakistan were here. I went by New Zealand by one hundred and one runs. As I say, be great to have it back. I don't know whether we ever will. The white ball cricket seems to pay the bills, doesn't it. But having started the tradition at the back end of the nineteen nineties, I just I don't know where the New Zealand cricket and hindsight with which they had carried it on. I certainly wish they had and just kept it at the basin as well, just as the Boxing Day Test and Australia is always at the MCG. Speaking of which, Australia have picked up a wicket reesharb Pant caught by Nathan Lyon off the bowling of Scott Boland for twenty eight India one ninety nine for six. They still trail by two hundred and seventy five runs out there in the middle Ravendra Jadasia He's on ten, joined by Natish Kumar Ready who is unbeaten on seven. So still a bit of work to do for India if they are to avoid the follow on in the Boxing Day Test at the MCG.
00:18:59
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