As the third one day match of the World Series finals drew to a conclusion, the crowd of 52,990 inside the Melbourne Cricket Ground may have been excused for wondering what was going off out there. One thing was clear. The two teams involved were evenly matched; tied at 1-1 in the best of five series, the latest Australia and New Zealand contest was going down to the wire.
With three overs remaining, Australia looked well set. New Zealand, requiring 32 to surpass Australia’s 235/4 total, had potential match winners in Richard Hadlee and Ian Smith, yet with Dennis Lillee bowling the penultimate over, the wise money was on the hosts.
Trevor Chappell would bowl the overs either side of Lillee, conceding 11 off the 48th to reduce the equation to 21 off two overs. But with New Zealand only able to manage 6 from Lillee’s over, Chappell walked towards his mark with the visitors requiring 15 off the last six deliveries to nudge ahead in the series.
Hadlee struck the first ball for four but was then lbw off the next delivery; Smith hit a brace of twos before being bowled. With one ball remaining and New Zealand needing seven runs, there could only be one winner – assuming Chappell bowled a legal delivery – as Brian McKechnie walked to the crease. The fat lady had finished singing and had left early to beat the traffic.
One look at the career stats of McKechnie illustrates that in reality New Zealand’s race was run. The 27-year-old batsman was number ten in the order for a reason. Yes, he could get lucky and somehow strike a six to tie the scores. But no one else had managed to achieve hit a six at the MCG in the previous 599 deliveries, so the prospect of McKechnie achieving this was slim to none.
But it soon became apparent that Australian skipper Greg Chappell had a plan up his sleeve to ensure that his team would win at all costs. Discussions with brother Trevor, and umpires Peter Cronin and Don Weser, along with the double teapot of McKechnie and headshaking of Australian wicketkeeper Rod Marsh led to a startling realisation.
“Well, it looks to me as if they’re gonna bowl underarm off the last ball,” Bill Lawry explained on the Channel Nine coverage, as the stunning nature of the situation became clear. “But I’m sure he’s going to bowl an underarm delivery on the last ball, and bowl it along the ground and be sure that it has not been hit for six.”
Chappell walked forwards, approaching the crease in possibly the most reluctant manner of anyone to have bowled in international cricket. With the ball rolled along the pitch, all McKechnie could do was to block the delivery and throw away his bat in disgust. Chappell sheepishly collected his cap before jogging off; the boos sounded out around the MCG.
“That’s a disappointing finish,” Lawry declared in a rather reserved manner. Richie Benaud, summarising on Channel Nine, went further. “I think it was a disgraceful performance from a captain who got his sums wrong today and I think it should never be permitted to happen again,” a stern-faced Benaud said. “One of the worst the things I have ever seen done on a cricket field. Goodnight.”
No one ever liked to see Richie Benaud so angry. But his reaction said it all. The fallout from Greg Chappell’s decision would be messy, with all and sundry casting opinions on the subject. Player power, money, schedules, and the laws/spirit of the game were discussed ad nauseum. Even politicians got dragged into the affair.
Greg Chappell was immediately repentant. “In the cold light of day, I recognise my action as not being within the spirit of the game, even if it is within the laws,” Chappell announced. “I was under pressure at the time and took my decision in the heat of the moment. I regret it and it is something I would not do again.”
In an emergency conference call, the Australian Cricket Board criticised Chappell, but even though two states reportedly wanted him stripped of the captaincy, he held on to the position. “The board deplores Greg Chappell's action in instructing Trevor Chappell to bowl the last ball of the match underarm. Even if within the laws of the game, it was totally contrary to the spirit in which cricket has been, and should be, played.”
The board did make one decision; underarm bowling would be banned for the rest of the World Series finals, just as it had been in British one day matches since 1979. Strictly speaking, Chappell had acted within the laws; it was the invisible spirit of cricket line that he had overstepped.
Many British journalists pointed to the recent split in world cricket as the beginning of this evil. Henry Blofeld, writing in the Guardian, highlighted a decline in player behaviour since Kerry Packer’s involvement in the sport, citing examples of the West Indies in New Zealand during the 1980 tour, and Dennis Lillee’s aluminium bat during the 1979/90 Australia-England series. “Has the players’ revolution made the collection of money the ultimate satisfaction?” Tony Lewis asked in the Telegraph.
But perhaps the most stinging criticism Greg Chappell received was from his own brother. Writing in the Melbourne Sun, Ian Chappell enquired: “Fair dinkum, Greg, how much pride do you sacrifice to win $33,000? Because, brother, you sure sacrificed a lot in front of a huge TV audience and 52,990 people at the MCG yesterday afternoon.”
The hits just kept on coming. Harold Larwood labelled Chappell’s move as “bloody stupid”; “One-day cricket has died and Greg Chappell, as a captain, should be buried with it,” a furious Keith Miller declared. Australian PM Malcolm Fraser indicated that “Chappell made a serious mistake contrary to the traditions of the game”; “It was an act of cowardice and I consider it appropriate that the Australian team were wearing yellow,” New Zealand PM Robert Muldon noted.
Rumours circulated that Chappell was about to announce his intention to sit out the forthcoming Ashes tour due to family and business pressures, and so it would transpire. In fact, Chappell has since admitted that the whole underarm incident was as a result of the mental and physical stress he was under due to the relentless schedule of the Australian team.
Speaking on the ABC documentary, Cricket in the 80s, Chappell defended himself, pointing out that the demands made on players was just too much. “They weren’t going to get six off the last ball of the game. It was my statement. My cry for help was: ‘You’re not listening, this might help you sit up and take notice.’”
Drained he may have been, yet putting the boos aside at the SCG two days later, Chappell scored 87 as Australia won by six wickets to clinch the World Series Cup. He had also hit 90 in the controversial underarm match. A classy player undoubtedly; sadly, praise for his superb batting was in short supply at the time.
The incident was remembered in 2004 when Glenn McGrath pretended to bowl to Kyle Mills along the ground during the inaugural T20 international match. There were smiles then, as umpire Billy Bowden issued a red card to McGrath. Not many were laughing in 1981, though. Too soon, Glenn. Too soon.
No comments:
Post a Comment