The Mole: How Aussie great Mike Whitney made Sir Richard Hadlee cry 28 years after iconic Boxing Day Test
Some 39 years ago on Tuesday, the whole of Australia and New Zealand witnessed one of the most dramatic finishes to a Boxing Day Test in cricket history.
So much so, that the remarkable aftermath brought legendary Kiwi hardman Richard Hadlee to tears over two decades later.
The scene was the MCG, day five, 1987 (when Test matches went for five days).
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Mike Whitney was a larrikin fast bowler who gave his heart and soul with ball in hand but always came in at No.11, often appearing he had a toothpick in his hand instead of a cricket bat.
Australia were nine wickets down as the clock approached 6pm - but Whitney and fellow 'bunny' Craig McDermott had to survive an excruciating final half hour to deny the Kiwis the Trans Tasman Trophy.
Somehow they held on, ball after agonising ball, mostly from Hadlee, then regarded as the world's premier fast bowler with five wickets in each innings already to his name.
Richard Hadlee congratulates Mike Whitney and Craig McDermott. Sun Herald
After blocking the final delivery, Whitney raised his fist in triumph, and Kiwi wicket-keeper Ian Smith tossed him the ball, saying "You deserve this mate, well played".
The ball became one of Whitney's most prized possessions - a piece of Australian cricket memorabilia - until the pair met at a function several years later.
"We started chatting and Richard said to me 'Have you still got that ball? You know I took five wickets in an innings 36 times in Test cricket… but I've only got 35 of the balls to show for it'," Whitney told Wide World of Sports.
"And then it hit me - that ball meant as much to him as it did to me - maybe moreso - and it was the only one missing from his collection.
Sir Richard Hadlee Getty
"I said to him 'Oh geez… but Ian Smith gave it to me'… and that was that.
"A couple of years later we met up again and he said with a steely grin 'How's my ball going?'… I could see how much it meant to him.
"I went away and thought about it - do I give the ball back to him to complete his collection?'," said Whitney.
"I'd owned it for so long, I loved that ball. But I thought how important that ball would be to me as a bowler, he took a five-for with it ... you give blood and guts for that.
"Fast forward to 2015, a couple of days before the World Cup final between the Aussies and the Kiwis in Melbourne, I decided to fly down to Melbourne - and give him back HIS ball.
"There was a massive function on before the game and no one knew I was even there. I got up on stage and asked Sir Richard, as he was then, to come up," Whitney said.
Craig McDermott and Mike Whitney pose with the Trans-Tasman trophy on December 30, 1987 in Australia. Getty
"I'd had that ball for 27 years, but I knew his life would never be complete until I handed it back to him.
"I gave him the ball and he stared at it, and then put it in his bowling hand as if he was about to bowl an outswinger, and I saw a tear run down his cheek.
"For weeks after that, I got phone calls from politicians and media types in New Zealand saying 'What you've done for Trans Tasman relations is amazing' and the like.
"Bottom line - it's only five and a half ounces of cork and leather… but Sir Richard and I know it's a lot more than that."
