The blond left-hander had forced his way into a strong Australia side, taking 29 runs from an over by Victoria leg-spinner Colin Thwaites during his maiden century for South Australia.

Hookes, 21, his bat held together by scraps of white tape, showed no sign of nerves in posting a half-century despite a verbal baiting from the towering England captain.

"When a youngster comes into a big match like the Centenary Test, obviously everybody's looking to see how the captain of the opposition will try to put him off," Greig commented on Monday.

"But I can tell you that Hookesy handled himself very well."

Greig, who is now a television commentator based in Sydney, said Australians reminded him every day of the way the 21-year-old Hookes had brought spectators at the Melbourne Cricket Ground to their feet.

Hookes was an automatic signing for Kerry Packer's rebel World Series Cricket circuit which split the international game in 1977-78.

But his career was badly affected when West Indies fast bowler Andy Robert broke his jaw with a vicious bouncer and he never fulfilled at Test level the potential he had shown in his maiden Test.

MODEST AVERAGE

After World Series Cricket was dissolved, Hookes played 23 Tests for Australia, averaging a modest 34.36. His last Test against India in December, 1986, was Steve Waugh's first. The Australia captain retired his month after the fourth Test against India.

The fifth-highest runscorer in the Australia interstate four-day competition with 9,364 runs in 120 matches including a highest score of 306 not out, Hookes retired from first class interstate cricket in 1991-92 with an average of 47.78.

He holds the record for the fastest century in Australia interstate four-day cricket, taking 34 balls to reach his hundred for South Australia against Victoria in 1982-83.

He capitalised on the short boundaries square at South Australia's Adelaide Oval and relied heavily on his hand-eye co-ordination rather than precise footwork which may explain his relatively unimpressive test average.

Hookes went on to become a lively radio commentator and Victoria state coach, complaining that the national selectors were favouring Waugh's home state, New South Wales.

"When they give out the baggy blue cap in New South Wales, they give you a baggy green in a brown paper bag as well to save making two presentations," Hookes said.

A forward thinker to the end, one of 48-year-old Hookes's last acts in the game was to appoint 20-year-old leg spinner Cameron White as Victoria's one-day team captain.

The Hookes-coached Victoria side lead the four-day competition and will need no extra motivation to win the state's first domestic four-day title since 1990-91.