Jeremy Coney is barking with laughter recalling the story of winding up England\u2019s Phil Edmonds at Trent Bridge 40 years ago.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe needed about 70-odd runs to win the match and go 1-0 up in the series. Edmonds was bowling to myself and Martin Crowe with this rather garish sponsored wristwatch on.\u201d<\/p>\n
Having drawn the first match of the series at Lord\u2019s in 1986, Coney\u2019s semi-professional and delightfully ramshackle New Zealand side were about to go 1-0 up with one match to play. They had won their first ever Test match in England three years previously but now had the prospect of a first full series win in their sights.<\/p>\n
\u201cMartin asked the umpire if he could ask Edmonds to take his watch off as it was distracting him, which he duly did and Edmonds begrudgingly complied. Martin clipped a single and then I was on strike.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe only needed a few more and I decided to have a bit of fun. There was a white streak on Edmonds\u2019 wrist where the watch had been and the sun hadn\u2019t. I think I pulled away in his run up and politely asked the umpire if he wouldn\u2019t mind asking Philip to put the watch back on as the translucent patch on his wrist was dazzling me \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
The incident is testament to a rankling between the two sides created in the aftermath of the first Test at Lord\u2019s that ended in a draw after Graham Gooch hit 183 in England\u2019s second innings. What happened next was often cited to have come from Gooch\u2019s mouth. Coney, however, confirms it was the England captain, Mike Gatting, who made the remark that belittled the bulk of the New Zealand bowling attack and alluded to the gulf in standard between the core and their spearhead, Richard Hadlee.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone has heard it by now but Gatting said that batting against us was like playing against the World XI at one end, meaning Richard, and Ilford Second XI at the other, meaning the rest. Coney and his side took umbrage \u2013 \u201cnobody likes to be belittled\u201d \u2013 and decided to embrace the slur wholeheartedly, ordering T-shirts with \u201cIlford Seconds\u201d emblazoned on the front and referring to themselves as Ilford in the field for the rest of the tour.<\/p>\n
In his early 70s now, Coney is a much-loved and respected broadcaster and will be commentating on the BBC\u2019s Test Match Special this summer. It isn\u2019t lost on him how Tom Latham\u2019s New Zealand side of today exist in \u201calmost a totally different universe\u201d to the one at his disposal in 1986. With only three professional players in the squad, the 1986 Kiwis were a mix of labourers, teachers and, in the case of John Bracewell, a gravedigger from Dunedin. \u201cPlayers weren\u2019t scared of Brace because of what he did back home, but they were scared of him when he opened his mouth!\u201d he says of the off-spinning all-rounder.<\/p>\n
Jeremy Coney with the Cornhill Trophy at the Oval in 1986. Photograph: Patrick Eagar\/Popperfoto\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
Coney\u2019s tourists flew economy class and played in sponsor-less kit but they had shown they were not to be underestimated, with historic home and away victories against Australia leading into the England tour. Nevertheless, they were weakened by the redoubtable seamer Ewen Chatfield pulling up injured upon arriving and the tour manager, Bob Vance, returning home with illness not long after. Chatfield dutifully stepped into the role of managing the tour before regaining fitness for the final Test at the Oval. It was symbolic of the team spirit in the side. \u201cThere was never a question of Chats moping about, he appeared with a whistle and just got on with it,\u201d says Coney.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were an odd bunch on paper,and certainly to look at, but we knew that we had been given the opportunity to play cricket and to a man everyone wanted to seize it. What we lacked in professionalism we more than made up for in heart and skill.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t get me wrong,\u201d he adds. \u201cWe had some big personalities and a wild mix of backgrounds. Everything was debated in team meetings. There were lots of arguments, lots of heated discussion. We\u2019d be talking about how we were going to play Edmonds if he comes over the wicket into footmarks for example and someone would chime up, \u2018Well, I\u2019m going to sweep him!\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018Are you? Interesting idea \u2026\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018I\u2019m going to block him out, play French cricket!\u2019 someone else would chirrup.<\/p>\n
\u2018And I\u2019m going to smack him!\u2019 came another.\u201d<\/p>\n
A former teacher himself, Coney found the transferable skills came in handy as he kept his men focused on the task in hand. The whole tour fizzed with a chaotic, homespun energy, with its early morning team runs along the Thames, orienteering sessions in hotel lobbies and many social functions as a result of it being Hadlee\u2019s benefit year.<\/p>\n
\u201cWrighty [the left-handed opening batter John Wright] was always good value in those situations,\u201d says Coney with a laugh. \u201cI have a vivid recollection of a black-tie dinner and him rather exuberantly telling a group of people dressed in their finery, many of them laden with jewellery, that he was in fact a moa catcher. You\u2019ve never seen a more confused assortment of expressions.\u201d [Moa being massive, long-necked and flightless birds, native to New Zealand that have been extinct since 1445].<\/p>\n
The final Test at The Oval ended in a rain-affected draw, meaning Coney and his men had become the first New Zealand side to win a Test series in England. Forty years on, the final result and the enduring character of his side give Coney immense pride. A flinty emphasis momentarily undercuts his usual mellifluous tone.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know, we had fun but we played bloody hard \u2026 and bloody well.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jeremy Coney is barking with laughter recalling the story of winding up England\u2019s Phil Edmonds at Trent Bridge…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":712695,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[64,63,740,85],"class_list":["post-712694","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cricket","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/712694","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=712694"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/712694\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/712695"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=712694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=712694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=712694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}