Threats, grubs, vitriol: The Shield's greatest comeback

In late February 2002, not a year after India had ambushed Australia in their famous follow-on triumph in Kolkata, a similarly miraculous contest was about to be played out in the Sheffield Shield.

Hosts Victoria welcomed Western Australia at the MCG. Between them, the team had 15 cricketers who had played for Australia, or would go on to do so.

Across four days, while harbouring rivalries and feuds both old and new, they fought out an intense, bitter contest, which resolved itself in thrilling fashion on the final afternoon.

Throughout, there was abuse and aggression, verbals and threats of violence, and one career-making individual performance.

Not before, or since, has a comeback of such magnitude been achieved in first-class cricket on Australian soil.

Matthew Mott (Vic opener): The MCG has an aura about it, whether there's one person in the crowd or 80,000. It's got a sense of history, it's such a grand place, and everything about it is massive – the dressing rooms, the playing surface, when you look up into the stands. In Shield games if someone yelled out, it would reverberate around the whole ground. The sledges used to travel, too, especially the way I batted: (mock yells) Get on with it! Have a go!

Jo Angel (WA paceman): We lost the toss and they batted first on a pretty flat old wicket, and we didn't have a lot of joy with the ball.

Ryan Campbell (WA 'keeper-batter): The Melbourne Grand Prix was on, and you could hear the cars going round and round – it was driving us nuts.

Michael Clark (WA paceman): There were a few things going against us from the start. We couldn't book a hotel because of the Grand Prix, so we had to stay at this little self-contained place and our team manager had to cook us our breakfasts and dinners.

Matthew Nicholson (WA paceman): Victoria had a strong batting line-up, and they made the most of that wicket. Matthew Elliott took the game away from us in the first session on the first day. He played with impunity.

Mott: Elliott at his best was incredibly intimidating, because he was so tall and he picked up length so well. If you were half an inch full he would smash you through the covers, and if you were just too short, he had an amazing pull shot. If you speak to any of the bowlers in that era, he was just revered for his ability to hit bowlers off their length. He was an underrated player of spin as well; he had huge reach, and he was a good sweeper if he needed to be. I've played with some great players, and I put him right up there.

Angel: Both (Brad Hodge and Elliott) were fantastic players. Elliott always seemed to score runs against us and in that first innings we just couldn't take a trick. I didn't feel like we bowled particularly badly, but on a pretty flat wicket we didn't have much joy.

Jon Moss (Vic allrounder): Hodge and Elliott were two guys with so much natural talent, and hunger – hunger to make big scores every time they walked to the crease. They were absolutely at a different level, and to think they only played about 25 Tests between them, well, in any other era they each would've played 50-plus.

Bryce McGain (Vic spinner, playing his second first-class match): Hodgey remains the best batsman I've played with, because he made things look so simple. And Elliott just had so much more time than us mere mortals. I remember Matthew Mott having a laugh about that, saying when he was batting with him, (Elliott) would just elegantly work the ball around, and (Mott's) just doing what he used to call 'blapping them round the park'. But he did a lot of the grunt work in that partnership, and he was still there when the score was almost 200.

Mott: (Elliott) was also probably the most engaging batter I've ever batted with. It was like having a coach and mentor out there with you. He'd talk to you about your process, what your good options were, and he'd really want you to buy into the partnership. He was incredibly positive.

Victoria surge to 2-313 at stumps on day one, with Hodge (100no), Elliott (88) and Mott (84) all making merry. On the second morning, Hodge and Moss resume.

Moss: I remember being at the other end from 'Hodgey' and almost watching on in awe. Brad Williams was bowling absolute heat, and all I was trying to do was get up the other end. But Hodgey was pulling him in front of square for fun.

Brad Hodge (Vic batter): I grew up with Brad (Williams). We played at Melbourne together. He lived down in the Mornington Peninsula and his brother used to take us to Melbourne Cricket Club training. For many years we were good, close friends, and for all those years I tried to dodge him in the nets, because he was frighteningly quick. But you can't escape it when you're out in the middle of the MCG.

Mike Hussey (WA opener): Jo Angel was the elder statesman in that attack but with the new guys coming through – Matthew Nicholson, Michael Clark, Brad Williams – it was definitely a team in huge transition.

Hodge: It was always nice to get hundreds, but the standard of batsmen in the Shield was so high. I remember Allan Border saying to me when I was playing for Australia A: 'Hodgey, you're a good player but when you get hundreds, you're getting out. You need to be scoring 160, 170, 180 – 200. If you don't reach those targets, you're not going to be in the mix'.

Moss: Hodgey hit one to midwicket, called 'Yes' and I was halfway down the wicket when he said 'No'. Completely sizzled me. It was 'Nicho' (Nicholson) who'd ran me out, and we'd been mates since we were 15, so he was pretty happy.

With Moss (59) and Hodge (131) falling in quick succession, Vics debutant Nick Jewell, who had previously forged a brief career in the AFL, comes to the middle. He makes just five in his 22-minute stay, but his willingness to engage with the opposition raises eyebrows among the WA players.

Nick Jewell (Vic batter): On debut, usually you're meant to just sit in the corner and be quiet, but I started copping it as I was walking to the crease – before I'd even faced a ball – so I thought: Oh well, may as well give something in return.

Umpire Richard Patterson: Most debutants were fairly demure, but Nick's one of those people who's out there all the time. He's not backward in coming forward. I had no problems with Nick over (umpiring) many games at St Kilda and Victoria, but every now and then you had to pull him into line.

McGain: St Kilda had been a dominant side in Melbourne Premier Cricket and Nick was a big part of that. In some respects, they were so successful that – and I know a lot of other Premier Cricketers would say this – they really made you feel inadequate being out there. They were just a dominant, arrogant, star-studded team, and they'd challenge you with that 'mental disintegration'. So for Nick it was, 'Oh well, this is Sheffield Shield cricket, I'll just do what I've always done'.

Will Carr (Vic paceman): Nick Jewell was an antagonist at the best of times. I got along well with him, but he certainly polarised a few. It was in that game that he got the nickname 'Tugga', after Steve Waugh.

Jewell: (During the Vics' first innings) we came off at a break and (Victoria veteran) Darren Berry said, 'What's going on out there?' and Ian Harvey said, 'There's a bit of chat – Nick's giving it to them a bit, and copping it'. 'Chuck' (Berry) looked at me and said, 'Who do you think you are mate? You carry on like you've played 100 Tests, like Steve Waugh, when you've played one first-class match'. And from that moment I got 'Tugga', and I still get it today. My kids even call me Tugga. I haven't been able to shake it.

McGain: I think it was a bit of a shock to some of the old-school guys like Berry and Elliott that a younger bloke would be coming in and going at the opposition like that. But Nick was a bit different. It wasn't looked at too favourably by the other states though, I can assure you.

Vic first inns 6d-450 (Hodge 131, Elliott 88, Mott 84; Hogg 3-95)

Vics captain Elliott calls the innings closed midway through day two. In reply, WA stumble to 4-40 inside 16 overs, before wicketkeeper-batter Ryan Campbell finds an ally in Chris Rogers, who is playing his 10th first-class game.

Campbell: We noticed Nick Jewell had gone straight to first slip, and we thought, Whoa. There was a feeling you had to earn your stripes with things like that, but he walked straight there and started giving it to our blokes.

Mick Lewis (Vic paceman): At the MCG back then, you really had to make good use of the new ball. There was a bit of tennis-ball bounce in the wicket and that was something we were quite used to, but a lot of states weren't, and they struggled. It was a new-ball wicket though; if you didn't make early inroads, you were usually in for a long day.

Campbell: I reckon I was batting the best I'd ever batted. I'd started my career as a dashing opener but with 'Gilly' (Adam Gilchrist) away I became the full-time wicky. Generally if you were a wicketkeeper you had to bat number seven, and I felt that was just wrong. We had some long discussions about that, and I batted at number five that year and really enjoyed it.

Moss: The MCG for me was the best of both worlds as a top-order bat and a medium-pace bowler. If it was flat, great for batting, but it was also not bad for my bowling because you could get a bit of reverse swing and 'Chuck' (Berry) would come up to the stumps … and we might get a leg-side stumping.

McGain: A lot of the guys said: 'You don't have to attack. Just do what you do well on these wickets'. Because there was no help from the surface, I had to concentrate on drifting and dropping the ball, moving the ball in the air.

Campbell: I was trying to hit boundaries wherever I could, but I kept saying to myself, 'We have to get overs into their bowlers'. Every over from their fast bowlers would be one more over of fatigue at the end of day three. During that innings I actually did a groin, and it meant I couldn't wicket-keep in the second innings.

McGain: I think a lot of the WA players got frustrated, a bit anxious – I mean Chris Rogers getting out stumped, I don't think he's left his crease since. We had to play that way at the MCG at the time, just tightening the screws with Moss. We'd set a catching midwicket, catching cover, it was everyone in front of the wicket and attack the stumps. I just had to bowl tight and challenge their frustrations.

Brad Hogg (WA spinner): If I look back at my career, I'd have liked to have done better with the bat. I made my WA debut as a batsman, so whenever I did get the chance, I wanted to contribute. To do it under pressure made it all the better.

Campbell (63), Rogers (26) and Hogg (30) all make meaningful contributions to push the score to 8-170, but at the fall of the ninth wicket, an interesting subplot to the contest quickly becomes a central theme. McGain has Williams caught, and he is given an almighty send-off by Jewell.

McGain: As Brad was walking off the field, that's when it all kicked off. I got him out, but I'm not used to that happening after. I'm standing in the middle of the pitch thinking: What's going on here? It was all just really fired up. Brad clearly had some history with some of the Victorian players.

Nicholson: (Jewell) was carrying on as much as I'd ever heard anyone on a cricket field, with personal things and generally below-the-belt sort of sledging. We thought: Who is this bloke? He's on debut. He's never done anything.

Hussey: He had a crack at Brad Williams, and it was a bit below the belt – something to do with his girlfriend.

Brad Williams (WA paceman): I thought it was a bit grubby, to be honest.

Campbell: I think it had something to do with an ex-girlfriend.

Williams: Yeah … I think (Jewell's) brother, apparently, yeah … that's a long time in the past now and a lot of muddy water under the bridge since.

Hogg: I learnt very early in the piece – don't upset 'Willo'. He got very angry with me a couple of times in the WACA nets, and it wasn't too pleasurable.

Nicholson: I was annoyed at our batting performance. We made 175 and it felt like we'd thrown away an opportunity on a flat wicket.

Lewis: It was rare for a side to get 300 against us in the first innings at the MCG. I didn't lose too many games there over my nine, 10-year period with the Vics.

WA first inns 175 (Campbell 63, Hogg 30; Lewis 3-40, McGain 3-46)

Ahead by 275 on the first innings, Victoria enforce the follow on. Two wickets before stumps and another early on day three leave WA 3-39 – still 237 runs from even making Victoria bat again.

Matthew Elliott (Vic opener, captain): We had them on toast. We were like, 'We're not going to even have to bat again here – we're gonna knock them over'.

Carr: Simon Katich was at the top of his game then. I bowled a rising delivery that just got steep and big on him, and it took the outside edge. It was a good one. They're three-for-not-many and we're thinking: How good is this?

Simon Katich (WA batter, captain): I missed it by a mile. He squared me up from around the wicket, it hit the sleeve of my left arm and went through to the keeper. It obviously looked bad for the umpires because there was a deflection where it flicked my shirt.

Elliott: I remember (WA coach) Mike Veletta being really animated. It really stirred them up. At one stage they were opening the (viewing area) door, and yelling out.

Katich: 'Waggy' (Veletta) was a pretty intense character. I do remember those old viewing rooms, the doors would open and you could hear everything because the MCG was like a ghost town. Once we saw the replays (of his dismissal on the big screen), we're like, 'Hang on', but you have to get off. Mike got pretty animated about it.

Hussey teams up with 22-year-old North, who shoulders arms to his first ball from Carr and survives a huge lbw shout. The pair navigate their way through the morning session as rain threatens Victoria's pursuit of the seven wickets they need to keep their season alive.

McGain: Mike Hussey was hard to move. When I coach spinners now and talk about batting against spin bowling, I always mention Hussey. He would come out of the wicket so much further than anyone else … he was pretty tall and he was so quick and agile getting out of the crease; it felt like you'd just released the ball and he was already there. Then once he'd gotten to you on the half volley or on the full, and forced you to bowl a bit shorter, he was so good at getting right back to his stumps. You'd end up thinking: How do you bowl to this guy?

Jewell: Hussey was an amazing player. I remember going to the WACA with 'Hookesy' (David Hookes) when he was coaching us. We had the nets but Huss came over with one of his hitting coaches and asked if he could use a spare net. He was in there for about 45 minutes. Hookesy called us in at the end and said, 'What do you think he's working on?' We said, 'He's just having a few throwdowns'. He said, 'No, he's working on his cover drive, and he probably only hit about 10 or 15 that whole time – the rest of them he either let go or didn't go through with the shot'. He trained with absolute intent and purpose. He didn't just go in there to hit balls. It was a real eye-opener for me. I tell kids that story now when I'm coaching local sides.

Shortly after Hussey reaches 50, rain brings a 30-minute halt to play midway through the day. Afterward, a wet outfield begins making life difficult for Victoria's bowlers. Though Hussey falls for 61 before another short rain delay, North pushes on, and finds good support.

Mott: The ball got wetter and wetter. It ended up like a piece of soap.

McGain: It wasn't ideal spin-bowling conditions. Each time we'd go out there we'd be thinking: OK, we've had a little break, now this is our chance to break through. But they were building some good partnerships.

Mott: (North) was a prodigy. He was at the Academy (with Mott), a beautiful player, really nice on the eyes, but he'd probably failed to nail it down. He had a reputation at that stage as a player who scored runs sporadically. I reckon his career average at the time would've been below 30 (NB: it was 26).

Chris Rogers (WA batter): The thing about 'Northy', because of the high back-lift, he just needed to get in. Sometimes he'd miss out and get low scores … but once he got in, he was a bit Brian Lara-esque: the high back-lift, the beautiful flourish, the clean hitting. He was always a gifted player and that day it just clicked for him; on a low, slow wicket with a lot of fielders in front of the bat, he had the ability to hit the ball through the gaps, and succeed where others couldn't.

With North on 55, Victoria launch a huge appeal for a leg-side stumping by Berry off Moss. Without a third umpire, square leg umpire Patterson gives the batter not out.

Umpire Patterson: Marcus criss-crossed his feet, so he's gone forward and instead of the back foot going back in, he's got the front foot in, but it was all that fast that there was no way known I could've given it out. I spoke to Mossy later and he said, 'I had no idea, I was just appealing because Chuck (Berry) did'. And Chuck said to me, 'I was too fast, wasn't I?'. I'm not sure it didn't cost Victoria 150 runs. The biggest thing was that Ryan Campbell was at square leg because he had a runner. And then the next day in The Herald Sun he's (quoted saying): 'I thought he was out'. Thanks Ryan (laughs).

Carr: North was out there a long time. We were using the furthest wicket on the table, closest to the City End of the MCG, so from the Southern Stand End, the boundary was relatively short on his leg side. When he was in, he was able to take just about any ball and whip it towards that boundary. I felt like I was bowling 50kph – he had that much time.

Jewell: (North) used to make runs for fun against us. Didn't matter if it was at the WACA or the MCG, he used to flog us. His bat was about as wide as the dunny door.

Hussey: You could tell he had something a bit special about him. But the way he played, with a lot of flamboyance, what maybe people couldn't see was that it was such a mental game for him. I remember talking to him after his first couple of Shield games, and he'd got starts but hadn't gone on, and he was so nervous, he was like, 'I just wanna grab this chance' and I was like, 'Northy, mate, don't worry – you're a fantastic player, you've just got to go out there, play your way and you'll be fine'.

North shares 50-plus partnerships with Campbell (29), Rogers (15) and Hogg (18), and at stumps on day three, WA are 6-278 – three runs ahead of Victoria with four wickets still in hand. The young left-hander is 127no.

Nicholson: It was a coming-of-age innings. Realising the wicket was still good, and realising we needed a big score, he put his head down, and his focus through such a long innings was incredible.

McGain: He batted unbelievably well. He would be blocking the ball around and then all of a sudden he would go 'bang' out of nowhere. He hit a lot of boundaries but he was very patient, and so measured.

Carr: I remember saying to 'Harvs' (Ian Harvey), before I bowled the first over (of day four), 'Mate, I am really, really sore'. It was my second game of first-class cricket, and that was the first time I'd been involved in a follow-on. I said to Harvs, 'I might struggle to get through here'. Then third ball, I got one in the right area and (Hogg) nicked it through to Matty Elliott in the slips.

Nicholson: (He and North) were rooming together – we roomed together a fair bit, we were pretty good mates. We said, 'Let's just try and get a partnership going'. But before I'd even scored, I got caught in close off McGain, I squeezed one to Jewell at silly point and he scooped it up on the half-volley. They all appealed and the umpire gave me out. We were only just in front and we only had Brad Williams and Michael Clark to come, so it wasn't looking too good. But it was clearly a half-volley.

Jewell: I thought I'd caught it, but I would've had my eyes closed … and 'Nicho' started walking off.

Nicholson: I may have taken a step, but then I thought: Hang on a second, that's bounced – I'm not going. I always tried to play the game with respect for the umpires, but I could see clearly it had bounced … the details might be a little sketchy but I do remember Motty saying, 'No, it wasn't out'.

Mott: Nick had dived forward and turned his head away, so he didn't know, but Chuck Berry, which might surprise people, he and myself were like, 'Nah, nah that's not out'. Chuck was never renowned for that side of his game, and I remember later, when they beat us, he sort of said, 'I won't be doing that again'. Nicho ended up whacking us around. He was a good late-order, aggressive player, and he was a great foil for Northy.

Nicholson: We thought if we could get 100 in front, we might be able to do something. We ended up getting an 80 or 90-run partnership.

Elliott: In the end (to try to break the partnership) we started doing the things you've seen done many times before. You put the fielders out (for North) to give him one on the third or fourth ball (of the over) so you've got the fifth or the sixth ball at the tailender. And you stop actually trying to get the in batter out. Then the (tailender) only has to face a couple of balls, and he starts to get some momentum, and all of a sudden it just bites you on the arse.

Nicholson eventually falls for 49, and when Williams is out for a four-ball duck, WA are 9-363 – their lead just 88. No.11 Michael Clark, with just five first-class runs to his name and another with an Aussie Rules background, strides to the middle.

Clark: I was copping abuse everywhere. They were into me. Berry, Harvey – they were just abusing the hell out of me: 'Big, tough footballer, yeah, good onya mate'.

Cameron White (Vic allrounder): When I first started, there was quite a lot of verbal in most games Victoria played in. Darren Berry was probably leading the way from our end.

Elliott: We love Chuck, but he's got this uncanny knack of helping other teams get excited.

Nicholson: Northy started to expand his game, and Michael Clark wasn't the best player, but he hung around, and as that little lead is building, the whole spirit in the room starts to lift as we're thinking: Hang on, we might have something to bowl at here. And I can imagine the Vics were feeling the opposite: Hang on, we've bossed this game, and if it wasn't for Marcus North, we would've won two days ago.

Clark: We put on 40-odd, of which I made a good six, but I think Northy was pretty happy I hung around with him, and I remember being out there when he got his 200.

Elliott: I was always a huge Marcus North fan, and he batted unbelievably well.

Hussey: That innings from really proved to himself, and everyone in domestic cricket, that he was good enough to be there. It was an unbelievable innings, it really was. One of great shot-making, but also concentration, and I know the Vics gave him a fair roasting out there.

Clark: We didn't know then just how important it would be, but sometimes a little partnership like that can have a big say on how things play out.

Nicholson: By the time that innings finished, we had a total we could do something with. It was unlikely – we probably had about a five per cent chance of winning – but we had something to build on. The whole mood of the group started to lift.

Elliott: In the end we were left with this weird little 140-run chase, (similar to) Australia-versus-South Africa at the SCG (in 1994). And we managed to do as well as the Aussies did that day.

After almost eight-and-a-half hours at the crease, North finishes 200no from 378 balls. It leaves Victoria needing 136 to win in a little under two sessions.

WA second inns 410 (North 200no, Hussey 61, Nicholson 49; Carr 4-77, Moss 3-35)

Carr: That last afternoon was really dark and cold. The lights had come on and the rain wasn't far away.

Nicholson: We had a big talk before we went out about maintaining our belief that we could win the game. We basically committed to each other that if we didn't believe we could win it, it wasn't going to happen.

Angel: I said to Brad Williams and Matty Nicholson we wanted them to really let themselves go and see what happened. Brad was a hell of a bowler when he got his tail up, and Matty Nicholson was the same. They both had express pace, and bit of x-factor about them.

Nicholson: I was always being asked to conform to the modern-day, top-of-off (stump) style of bowling and it wasn't how I enjoyed playing, so it was nice to get let off the leash every now and then, and just attack.

Campbell: Simon Katich came to me and said, 'Look, I know you're injured, and 'Huss' is going to 'keep, but I really need you to come out, field at first slip, and maybe be a bit aggressive towards some of their blokes'. I said, '100 per cent mate, I'm with you fully on this'.

Katich: And he certainly was (laughs).

Campbell: For the first three days of that game, the Vics were extremely happy with themselves, and they weren't short of a word. They were giving it to us.

Hussey: That last innings was the most aggressive I've ever seen a Western Australian team from a verbal sense, which was probably spurred on by a few comments made by the Victorians.

Umpire Patterson: Mike Hussey epitomised fairness, and the way the game should be played, so if he says they were going hard, they must've been going hard.

Hussey: 'Willo' came out with steam coming out of his ears. He had those scary eyes. A few of us, myself included, jumped on board. I remember having a bit of a go at Matthew Mott. He was in and out of the Victorian team and I said if he was a senior player he'd get the team home, but he's shown over the years that he can't finish the job. Something along those lines.

White: The wicket was still extremely flat, and WA were obviously quite desperate at the start, so they'd set this pretty audacious field, including a leg slip.

Mott: I went out there reasonably confident because I'd got a few in the first innings. Brad Williams started around the wicket to me first ball, and I thought: This is a crazy plan. No-one back then was using a leg slip. The ball was angled in, and I clipped it off my legs without even thinking about it.

Campbell: No-one ever gets caught at leg slip, but he literally hit it straight to him. All of a sudden they were 1-0 and there was a feeling of: You just never know.

Mott: Not that I was the key wicket by any means, but you just sensed it was the start of something. I remember looking up at Matty Elliott, and the astonishment on his face – his jaw just dropped and it was like: Jesus, here we go…

Hussey: I'm not a big sledger at all – I've only sledged a couple of times in my life, and generally they've gone on to play match-winning innings. So I must've just got caught up in the emotion of Brad Williams being fired up, and then when we did get (Mott) out cheaply, everyone jumped on board. It was the perfect start.

Katich: (Hussey) was probably one of the quietest guys on the field, because he didn't want any pressure put back on when he was batting. I think we generally played our cricket like that, but on that occasion, it wasn't just one or two (sledging), it was everyone hunting as a pack. The game situation brought that out in the group – it was quite a young group, and I was a young captain.

Elliott: I remember Brad Williams bowling to me in that second innings. It was a fantastic wicket to bat on, but you could feel the momentum, you could feel the thing turning, and there was this pressure. It felt like the ball was doing a bit more, and it felt heavier when it hit your bat. We only had to chase 140, but it felt like a long way away.

Elliott is joined by Moss, in at No.3 ahead of Hodge, who is set to bat only if required after being struck on his hand in the first innings. They put on 45 inside 10 overs before Elliott (23) picks out North in the gully. Entering the fray at No.4, with 91 runs needed, is Jewell.

Katich: It was game on against him (Jewell) when he came out. Ryan Campbell stopped proceedings, and said, 'You've already screwed up one career – hopefully it's not two this afternoon'. And the boys are all chuckling.

Jewell: Ryan Campbell gave me a fair touch-up when I got to the crease. Something about, because I'd played footy previously, what am I going to take up next? 'You're no good at footy, you're no good at cricket, maybe take up tennis next, champ'.

Campbell: Willo was angry at the best of times, and because Nick had chirped him about (his ex-girlfriend), you knew it was going to be on.

Hussey: Brad Williams said in the huddle, 'I wanna kill him'.

Jewell: He said that to me as well. Something along those lines.

Williams: He'd certainly got me going – although it didn't take much to get me going. But that (earlier) incident had taken me to a whole new level.

Jewell: I didn't sleep much the night before, thinking I might be batting again. When I got pushed up to number four, that was even more fuel on the fire. The bloke on debut was coming in ahead of Brad Hodge. But those sorts of moments, you've got no choice – if you want to survive, you dig in and push back, or be prepared to throw the first punch.

Hussey: I think Willo might've even bowled a beamer to him when he first came out.

Umpire Patterson: There was a waist-high full toss that Brad Williams bowled at Nick Jewell, which we called as a no-ball, but we perhaps should have taken Brad out of the attack. From memory it was around chest height.

Moss: Brad was bowling a thousand kilometres an hour and Nick decided to start sledging him. I went down to Jewelly and said, 'Mate, you're not really thinking about your partner at the other end here – I'd like to keep my head intact'. He was bowling so quick. Just rapid.

Hodge: That was smart of Nick, because we really wanted Brad fired up (laughs). But I'll give Nick credit – he never backed away from a confrontation. He was a bloody tough cricketer. But it probably wasn't the wisest thing to do – he already bowled 145kph, we didn't need him bowling 150.

Jewell: It's probably not the smartest move, especially when they're high-quality bowlers. These guys had all played Test cricket. With grade cricket, you're used to having maybe one bowler per game who you have to keep an eye on, and then you get a breather. But an attack like that, there was no relief. I had to get in the contest, try to get the bowlers off their game. Hodgey and Elliott could do it with their skill, but I had to do it with my mind, I suppose.

Lewis: I think he thought if he got Brad Williams fired up enough, he'd start bowling short and try to kill him, instead of putting the ball in the right area and nicking him off. But it was stupid – it didn't work.

Rogers: Willo had history with the Vics, and he was a vicious bowler. He would follow through, get in your face and be telling you you're not very good. Even in the nets, he would bounce you and say, 'Mate, I'm toughening you up'. You look back now and think: You know what, he actually did. But he was an all-action bowler, and when he was on, he was a nightmare – awesome to have on your side.

Angel: If you were a batter facing Willy, I reckon the last thing you'd want to do is get him fired up. That to me is like baiting a bear. But it was entertaining to watch.

Williams removes Moss (21) with the score still on 45. Suddenly Victoria have two new bats at the crease. With tea 15 minutes away, Williams continues tearing in.

Campbell: We knew Brad bowled fast, but I'm not sure I'd seen him bowl a faster spell. If you got under his skin in certain ways, he could find a second gear, and that was a whole different kettle of fish.

Jewell: If I was writing an instruction manual today, it wouldn't include a lot of things that I did in terms of getting in the face of the opposition when they're bowling 150kph. Look, it was probably a bit of fake confidence, trying to pretend you belong at that level in your first game. But if you do chirp up like that, you've got to back it up, and not give your wicket away easily.

Hussey: (Jewell) actually showed some guts, because Willo came so hard at him. To his credit, he dug in and fought it out pretty well.

Katich: Willo was as quick as there was in Shield cricket, and even potentially international cricket for a few years there when he was fully fit. He was aggressive, he hated batsmen, and being an ex-Victorian, and having been welcomed with open arms by our boys, he certainly made it known he wanted to impose himself on the contest.

Hussey: When we got Ian Harvey run-out right on the stroke of tea, that gave us another hit of belief.

Rogers: Harvey was coming back for two and Brad Williams ran around from fine leg and threw down the stumps from two-thirds of the way to the boundary. That was a big moment. We'd had a catch at leg slip, then a direct hit run-out from the boundary. It was almost like Mother Cricket just said, 'Yeah, you guys can have it your way today'.

Hogg: Jewell was in at teatime as we came off the field. We'd copped a gobful from them, and we were reciprocating in that last innings. We got about 20 metres from the fence when the umpires said, 'Right boys, there's a few kids in the crowd, so stop it now. But when you come back out, it's open slather'.

Williams dismisses White for a duck shortly after tea and Victoria are wobbling at 5-56. But the injured Hodge emerges as a reassuring presence, and he and Jewell begin a fightback.

White: It was the flattest wicket in the world, but Brad Williams was bowling at the speed of light. The momentum just kept piling up with WA, and we couldn't stop it.

McGain: It was like, 'Gee, they're all over us here', but Hodgey and Jewell had a little partnership that got us back on track, and we started to relax a bit as they settled in. At 5-90, with Hodgey scoring quickly and Nick Jewell just absorbing the verbal barrage – it was unbelievable, just every ball they were at him – it seemed like we were going OK.

Williams: Hodgey was hanging in there, but we knew if we could get him out we were in with a really good show of winning the game.

Hodge: 'Nicho' was very quick at that stage, too. Those two, along with Jo Angel, what a great attack. Angel was one of the toughest to face in the Shield. He was quicker than you'd think and he had the height. He was similar to Glenn McGrath in that you felt rushed with your time, and you weren't sure where you were going to score.

Nicholson: They're 5-90 and the ball has just started to reverse. That was exciting for me because growing up in Sydney, playing on abrasive wickets, it was my bread and butter. I'd been learning how to bowl with that reverse-swinging ball since my early teens.

Angel: Matty had one of those actions that really did lend itself to reverse swing. I could get them to go, but he could get them to go a lot more than I could. It's something you'd learn as you went along because (conditions for reverse swing) varied from state to state.

McGain: At the MCG, the couch grass and the worn old wickets on the centre square would get so abrasive that the ball would start to reverse swing. Matt Nicholson really started to get it hooping around. I was watching it on the monitor thinking: OK, what am I going to do here when it's my turn? Because I hadn't faced a lot of it.

Nicholson: As great a player as Hodgey was, lbw was maybe the way you could get him out, and it's when the ball first starts to go that you're a big chance of getting a good player out; I know it's just starting to go, but he doesn't know it yet. So I've got probably one or two overs to execute the plan. If I don't, he starts to realise, Hang on, something's happening here. He starts to notice the way I'm holding it, or sees it swinging towards the shiny side. And he tells his mate, then the whole changeroom knows and everyone's awake to what's going on. So I probably had an over or two to get him out, and luckily enough it came off. And at 6-90 with Hodgey in the pavilion and just a few bowlers to come, we knew we were right in it. And then Nick Jewell plays a big sweep shot off Hoggy that goes straight up in the air, and we're right in the box seat.

Elliott: You're sitting in the changeroom and you're watching, and you can just feel it happening. Someone makes the call – 'everybody's gotta get up here!' – and so you're up in the changeroom, and then you're just creating more tension and it's manifesting itself in everybody, and then the batter going out, he's under so much pressure. It's what I genuinely love about cricket – it's exactly the same as park cricket; the same things just resonate all the way through.

McGain: Everyone was so tuned in. We were all up watching, supporting, nearly clapping every run. Riding every bump as if we were out there.

Nicholson: When you're bowling with good pace, and you're reversing the ball, there's nothing harder to bat against. So as a fast bowler, your confidence goes up; you know you can knock blokes over, and particularly tailenders coming in.

Lewis: It was quite suffocating when you walked out there. Everywhere you looked there was a yellow hat, and they felt so close to you … Ryan Campbell, Huss, Hoggy running around like a chook with his head cut off. Walking past them when they were in their huddle, and they're giving out 'advice', it was quite daunting.

McGain: Darren Berry was absorbing a lot of the heat by then, and Brad Williams was all over him because he was always pretty vocal behind the stumps. It was just incredibly vocal, every ball. I'd actually never experienced anything like it. Send offs and the whole lot.

Lewis: Chuck just said, 'Try and watch the ball, and get behind it'. I said, 'Thanks mate'. I watched it alright – I watched it cannon into my off stump.

McGain: It happened in such a hurry. We were so relaxed there for a while … we'd had this partnership with Hodgey and Jewell, and then suddenly it was bang, bang, bang, and I'm in, and it was frantic.

Lewis: I just remember walking off and thinking: Wow, what happened then? I was quite disappointed, because I used to take a lot of pride in my batting, being a nightwatchman. But the reversing ball compared to the new ball, it's a totally different game. 

McGain: Chuck said to me, 'We can do this – just watch the ball'. But I got an absolute belter first up, it smacked me on the big toe, and it blew up twice the size later on. But it had taken my feet out from under me, so I'm stumbling, then my spikes get caught and I'm staggering off towards point. The umpire put his finger up, pointing down the pitch, then he turned towards cover where I was by then, and pointed his finger there too. It was one the most ungainly ways I've ever gone out – I felt like a real goose – but it was probably one of the best balls I faced. Nicholson was a serious class act.

Carr: I came out on a hat-trick ball and Matty Nicholson was bowling fast. I just plonked the front shoe down the track and let the ball go, and it wouldn't have mattered where he pitched it, that was what I was always going to do. So it was more good fortune than good batting that I survived.

Moss: Once they got into our tail – with Mick Lewis, Bryce McGain and Will Carr – we were gone. Those last few wickets fell in a real hurry.

Carr: Trying to keep my composure, under lights, with two Australian bowlers bowling good wheels and the ball still pretty new, it was all a bit much for me. They just had to get it full and straight and they were a good chance.

Williams: We were so pumped up. It was just a matter of taking that last wicket, and I had the easy task at the end – like with most tailenders, you either try and knock their head off or you hit them on the toes, so I went for the latter and I clean bowled Will Carr.

Carr: The picture was back page of The Herald Sun the next day – my head looking towards the heavens and my off stump pointing straight back.

Vic second inns 98 (Elliott 23, Hodge 22; Williams 4-34, Nicholson 3-13)

From nowhere, WA had won by 37 runs. The hosts had lost 9-53 to end on the wrong side of the biggest follow-on comeback in Shield history. As the Vics copped a dressing down from interim coach Mick O'Sullivan in the bowels of the MCG, WA celebrated to the sounds of U2's classic 'Sunday Bloody Sunday'.

Nicholson: I don't think we realised at the time how special the win was. That last afternoon was just helter skelter, and at the end it wasn't so much jubilation, it was almost a sense of wonderment, like: How did we do that?

Angel: It was a good celebration that night, I'll tell you. Those sorts of wins, when you come from nowhere, they're pretty rare. You remember those ones. They're up there with Shield finals.

Hussey: After the game we got this fantastic photo – I've still got a copy of it – of us celebrating the win and getting around Northy, and I remember how happy he was afterward.

McGain: There were so many stories to come out of it. The sledging and all that. Even just sitting around in Premier Cricket, talking shit years later, guys would say, 'What about that game where you got bowled out chasing bugger all against WA?'

Nicholson: It's probably fair to say Nick Jewell was a big part of us being so up to win that game. Evidently, Nick's a lovely bloke – I don't know him, to be fair – but he provided us with a huge spur to win that game of cricket.

Jewell: After the game, Darren Berry said to me, 'If that's how you're going to play the game, that's OK, but one, be prepared to cop it, and two, grab a six pack and go into their rooms right now – the game is over, and that's the end of it'.

Campbell: That era of cricket, I hate to say 'the good old days', but you would fight hard on the pitch and at the end of the day you would have a beer with everyone. And you would search that guy out if you'd had a stoush … I'm sure I had at least five beers with Nick after the game, and we laughed about it. We knew he was a talented sportsman – not too many people play two sports at the elite level.

Jewell: I was never big on drinking with the opposition – I always felt like I wanted to make them the enemy. But under strict instructions from Chuck, I went in there with a six pack. I stood at their door and thought, What do I do here? And Simon Katich saw me, called me over and I sat down with him, Huss and Hoggy. They were all AFL supporters so they more wanted to talk about the Tigers, and Dad (Tony Jewell, who coached Richmond to a premiership in 1980). They were terrific blokes. I think they enjoyed the battle, and said, 'It's over now, sit down and have a beer'. But it was a hell of an introduction to first-class cricket.

Campbell: Simon Katich and I went to a Richmond footy game about a year later, because Simon is a massive Tigers fan. We were in their rooms afterward, and Nick's father came up to us, started chatting about cricket. He said, 'By the way, who is this Ryan Campbell bloke who absolutely gave it to my son?' And I said, 'Oops, sorry, that's me!' He found the humour in it.

Williams: I did suffer from white-line fever, and I certainly had some bad cases of it. I remember late in my career seeing an old team sheet the Vics had left in the sheds. It seemed they'd learnt not to sledge me, because next to my name they'd written: Do not fire up!