The last time I saw Michael Slater he cut a sad and lonely figure, confused by the game's great simplicity and baffled by his own withering decline.

The once dashing Test opener had been reduced to a shell-shocked novice, scratching around ineffectually as spectators, selectors and team-mates alike looked on with a mixture of shame and pity.

Shame that they were inexplicably drawn to the slow-mo car crash of Slater's very public implosion, and pity that it was happening to someone with such an obvious joy for life's vicissitudes.

The 32-year-old had looked shorn of confidence, skill and technique during his 11-ball duck for New South Wales (against South Australia) and his eventual dismissal brought relief rather than sadness.

Just hours later and state selectors John Benaud, Dion Bourne, Steve Smith and Jim Robson had seen enough to convince them that Slater, scorer of 14 Test centuries and still boasting an international average of 42.83, was a liability.

His omission from the subsequent state match, despite NSW already missing six players on international duty, came just six months after his whirlwind 77 had re-established Australian dominance at Edgbaston on the opening day of the Ashes.

It was Slater at his irresistible best, pounding England spearhead Darren Gough for four coruscating in boundaries in the opening over to irretrievably wrestle the series initiative into Steve Waugh's safe hands.

It was typical Slater and yet by the end of another one-sided series he had lost his test place, his marriage and his Channel 9 contract back in Australia. His lifestyle, batting technique and mental stability were all being questioned and one of the most naturally gifted players of his generation was in the dumps.

To compound matters Justin Langer scored a century as stand-in opener at The Oval and went on to consolidate his position with a string of double-hundred stands with Matthew Hayden.

Slater's state demotion was the final act for a desperate man and he immediately broke free and took a month's sabbatical from the game to clear his head. What he did during that time off largely remains a mystery but you can be sure he pulled out his guitar and strummed a few of his favourite Jon Bon Jovi songs.

He certainly had a few to choose from: 'Keep the Faith', 'Blaze of Glory' and 'Crossroad' spring readily to mind, but maybe he plumped for 'Who Said it Would Last Forever?' and 'Learning How to Fall'.

The latter's insistence that "I'll take my past and paint it black" might have been too harsh but Slater couldn't have failed to be hit by the relevance of its later lyrics: "Now the circus has left town/ This clown has got to get his feet back on the ground.../ I'm learning how to fall/ Learning how to take a hit.../ I was flying through the clouds/ Pucker up, it's time to kiss the ground."

And kiss the ground he did, this time on his comeback trail when he was struck above the eye by upstart quickie Aaron Bird. The tyro speedster, fresh from Australia's under-19 World Cup triumph, decked Slater as he tried to recover some form by playing for his club side University of NSW against North Sydney in February.

The 74-Test veteran was forced to retire hurt and immediately took out his frustration on a prying photographer, prompting further humiliation, a public apology and an anonymous quote from an un-named former team-mate saying: "Slater is a loose cannon and has lost the plot totally".

Slater had reached his nadir and Bon Jovi sprang to mind again. "I have suffered for my anger," he the leather-clad coffered one sang in 'Keep The Faith'. "I am broken like an arrow/ Forgive me, forgive your wayward son".

Could this be the same man that once so thrilled spectators throughout the world? The man who, aged 23 and in only his second Test, scored a textbook 152 on the opening day of the 1993 Ashes Test at Lord's?

That innings remains the most enjoyable six hours of batting I have yet had the pleasure and privilege to watch, an innings that Slater insists he visualised shot by wondrous shot the night before.

He's been through the entire international gamut since then, experiencing the highs and lows of Test cricket like no other sporting the Baggy Green in recent years. He has already successfully fought back from being dropped before (by Australia at the tail end of 1996) but now, beginning tomorrow, starts his greatest battle yet.

Fears that he would be cast aside and left to rot by NSW have proved wide of the mark following their decision not just to recall him, but to bring him back as captain for their final state game of the season.

International absentees have eased his path once more but The Blues' willingness to hand him the reins against Tasmania is a gesture not lost on Slater.

"I'm thrilled to be back in the side for the final game of the season," he said. "The selectors have shown faith in me, which is great. I was hoping this would happen. I am ready and raring to perform."

Perhaps there is a God after all, and maybe, just maybe, he listens to American soft rock. If so, he'll probably be piping yet another JBJ tune straight into Slater's head. "It's time to get back on your feet again," as his hero once said.

11 Mar, 2002