It's February 1985, and the West Indies, led by captain Sir Clive Lloyd, have been on tour Down Under since November of the previous year.

They had already won the Test series against Australia 3–1, as well as winning the Benson and Hedges World Series Cup of that summer.

They would now travel to Wangaratta to play their fifth and final country match of the tour.

February 24:

From Melbourne, the West Indies made their way to Wangaratta, just under three hours north–east of the state's capital. They were back in the region for the second time inside 14 months, after playing a match against Victoria Country at nearby Benalla between matches of an ODI tri–series in the previous year. As was the case in Loxton, manager Wes Hall and captain Clive Lloyd had also visited in 1968/69.

This time around they would take on North East Victoria Country, with Wangaratta cricketing veteran and current association president Greg Hoysted opening the batting for the country boys. A welcome barbecue was held, with Greg recalling a very "social" night with the visitors.

"It turned into a very big night the night before for a lot of them. I think it was a bit of a blowout for some of them, so for instance 'Dessie' Haynes was very very secondhand the next day and he got a duck."

The West Indies batted first, with Haynes the first man out to captain and Wangaratta fast bowler Gary Lidgerwood, who also took the wicket of Thelston Payne to leave them 2–10 early on. With plenty of grass left on the wicket there was movement on offer for the opening bowlers, and while Greg, who was just 23 at the time, was aware that Davis, Walsh, Garner and Marshall would get to return serve later on, he was pleased with the team's start.

Richie Richardson and Gus Logie came out with a goal of entertaining the capacity crowd of 10,000 that had gathered, with Greg recalling a six that Richardson hit just before his dismissal.

"'Wang' Showgrounds is a big ground, so the boundary itself would have been between 65 and 70 metres, then there's a cycle track, so that's another 10 metres, then the fence, and then the public walkway, another 10 metres, then you're into the grandstand, and the grandstand by country standards is quite a big building, so he's picked a ball up off his pads and hit it into the top deck of the grandstand."

Dujon was then dismissed for a duck once Logie and Richardson had been removed, reducing the tourists to 5–94. This brought Roger Harper and captain for the day Larry Gomes together, with Gomes focused on not slipping up against a country side, while Harper was eager to impress after spending much of the tour outside of the team. They put on 145, and helped them to 291 all out, with Harper finishing with 103 and Gomes 72.

After spending the innings in the field Greg knew he'd be out there straight away and, after electing to take strike, he recalls clearly having Winston Davis running in to deliver what Greg thought would be the first ball, however, the big Vincentian ran in at full pace, whipped through his action, but did not release the ball, much to the batter's bemusement.

Despite this, Greg and Francis O'Brien, who had captained Victoria Country against the Windies at Benalla, knuckled down and saw off five overs each from Davis and Walsh, but not without plenty of difficulty on the green wicket.

"[Courtney Walsh] decided that it was a bit disrespectful that I wasn't wearing a helmet, so he only bowled basically one ball in my half the whole spell.

"The one time he tried to pitch up after he'd had enough of that he thought he'd try and bowl me, so he bowled one full ball, but with his action it slid down leg–side. It hit me on the pad, and after I was out and I got in and took my kit off there was a bruise in the middle of the shin."

After the opening assault the job became a little easier for Francis and Greg, facing the medium pace of Richardson and Logie, before calls for "Big Bird" Joel Garner to have a bowl came loudly from the crowd.

"The crowd started to chant for Joel, so Joel came on and bowled off–spin, and I was on 44 so I thought, this is the only chance I'm ever going to get, I'm going to try to hit Joel Garner back over his head for six to get to 50, so I ran past one coming down the wicket and Jeff Dujon stumped me, so I reckon I might be one of the only people in world cricket who can say they've been out stumped Dujon, bowled Garner!"

After Greg's dismissal only one more wicket fell, as Gavin Rixon, brother of Test cricketer and 'keeper Steve, and Peter Tossol, who played 17 matches across three VFL seasons at the Melbourne Demons, came together at the crease. The pair put on 121, despite Tossol suffering an injured finger when Walsh came back on to bowl, as they fell just 17 runs short of the target of 292.

As a young man taking his cricket very seriously, but unable to take an opportunity playing with Melbourne University in Premier Cricket due to commitments on the family farm at home, and his teaching career, these opportunities were golden for Greg and his teammates.

"The coach of Melbourne Uni had come to me and said we want you to play... we want to start you in the seconds and we're hoping to get you in the firsts. "And I had to say to him, it's a really good offer, but I've got the chance of playing against the West Indies, so I turned him down to stay in the country."

The teachers from the tech department made Greg this foot–wide bat once they heard he'd been selected to protect him, and his stumps, from the West Indian pace bowlers.

It was through these opportunities to play against the West Indies in 1985, Zimbabwe in 1994 and for a fully–fledged Victoria side in the 1994/95 Country Championships, as well as his efforts as an A Grade batter for Benalla to this day, that helped him to be selected for Australia in the inaugural Over–60s World Cup.

Australia came third in this competition, with Greg having the opportunities to swap stories about Joel Garner with South African Over–60s manager and legendary all–rounder Mike Procter, showing the everlasting nature of getting to face the players of this particular West Indies team, as Procter did in County cricket while South Africa were exiled from the international game.

The match against the West Indies led to plenty of positive movements for cricket in Wangaratta.

The town hosted a Sheffield Shield match between Victoria and Queensland in 1986, as well as hosting domestic one day cricket, leading to an uptake in participation and interest in the sport that reached record levels in terms of local teams and competitions.

While this number may have reduced with time, Greg and his teammates still nod to the touring West Indies for their part in developing the sport in the region, and themselves as individual cricketers, as a result of playing in this match.

Bio: My name is Russ Haylock, I'm 20 years old and I'm currently studying journalism at the University of Wollongong.

I originally come from a farm near Cooma in the Snowy Mountains area of NSW and I've loved cricket, and the stories that go along with it, for as long as I can remember.

"When the Windies Came to Town" is my first feature–length written and audio piece, focussing on the legendary West Indies team and their 1984/85 tour to Australia and the matches they played along the way, particularly those played against country teams.

For the full written and audio versions go to https://russhaylockbcm.wordpress.com/2022/11/17/when–the–windies–came–to–town–the–australian–summer–of–84–85/.