Gee I cant really remember that Aus A match but wow wouldve been great to see that. If memory serves I wouldve been up the coast during school holidays. Did he play in the other Aus A game that summer? I remember Steve Waugh played for Australia A that summer after coming back from injury.
That World 11 game at the MCG wasnt great timing but looking at that video, looks as though they used the likes of Lee, Slater and Gillespie who didn't in the final, Dizzy was a late call up for McDermott.
Deano showing them he still had it back then.
Just watched his interview with Crash Craddock, and he admits the period from 31 yo till about 37 when he retired from first class cricket, was the best he played.
I mean a lot of players past the age of 30 seemed to get better and its a such a shame he never got that opportunity again after he got dropped in 92.
That will always remain one of Australian cricket's greatest mysteries: why Deano was permanently dropped from the test team after having the highest Australian batting average for the 1992 tour of Sri Lanka at the age of 31 (which is very young for a batsman by today's standards).
I know there's been a lot of speculation floating around on various internet forums regarding the reason, however that omission from the test team was the beginning of the end of his time in the Australian team. He then got snubbed from the '93 Ashes tour squad to England, wasn't named in the initial 93/94 World Series ODI squad, was rushed back into the starting XI during the 2nd half of the World Series (scored 98 in his comeback match, followed by another 2 fifties), was unceremoniously dumped from the final match of the ODI series in South Africa, and that was it. Australia then had to go and play in an ODI tournament a few days later in Sharjah, which ushered in a new era for the Aussies after that South African tour was the final one for Border/Hughes/Jones.
Although it was Steve Waugh's comeback match from injury, most of the media build-up revolved around Deano's selection, his possible chance of making the '96 World Cup squad, and also reigniting his rivalry with Curtly Ambrose (coincidentally at the SCG, same venue he had that duel with Curtly 3 years earlier). That rivalry didn't disappoint at all, but a poor LBW decision from Ross Emerson all but put an end to the dream. I still stand by what I thought at the time, that it was a mistake having Michael Slater in the squad as he was horribly out of form in ODIs (got dumped during the World Series after only scoring 51 runs @ 8.5) and Deano's record and experience on turning pitches in hot subcontinent conditions could've been the difference.
You're correct, the innings for the World XI on a difficult pitch showed he still had at nearly 35, but that Australia A game 3 months earlier was realistically his final chance. After the '96 World Cup, Australia's top 6 batting lineup had pretty much been settled, not to mention the emergence of Darren Lehmann, Greg Blewett and Adam Gilchrist over the following 12 months.