Inevitably he was defined by his hard yakka work in India, including the 1998 tour that almost broke him.
One night I rang him in his room and he confessed that minutes earlier he had broken down and cried on the phone to home, so physically and mentally distressed was he feeling. His voice sounded croaky and weak. I thought he was shot for the tour. Somehow he got through to win Australia the last Test. It was some effort.
He was branded a subcontinent specialist but once, with a West Indies tour looming, hinted to the selectors, "I do like pina coladas and coconuts as well, not just curries."
