Famouos Cricketers No 92 - Ian Chappell

The Chappellinis not only looked the part but played it as well. The quieter New Zealanders found the Australians a handful when the first trans-Antipodean Tests for 27 years were played in the winter of 1973/74. The DB New Zealand Cricket Annual had contrasting views of the Chappell approach. “The key word in describing Ian Chappell’s attitude and approach to cricket is ‘ferocious’” was the editorial line. “He is an unusual realist who seems to see things as they are. He achieves … wins by establishing an all consuming hate, on the field, for the opposition … His teammates would follow him to hell and back.” Cricket journalist Alan Richards put a different view in the same pages. “Whether the manner in which Australian captain Ian Chappell often conducted himself on the field was within the best tradition of the game is seriously open to doubt. Chappell is unquestionably a very fine player and most astute tactician,” he wrote. “Off the field his public relations are excellent and his rapport with the press is admirable. But it is no secret that the alleged outbursts of foul and abusive language which he was prone to direct at the Kiwis from time to time in the middle were not accepted by their recipients as merely coming within the context of legitimate tactics.” The ‘ugly’ tag was exacerbated by the Ashes series of 1974/75, billed as a battle between high-scoring batsmen but ending up with the domination by two of the finest bowlers the world has ever seen, sometimes on bad wickets. England’s unhelmeted batsmen took a battering and were goaded by the Australian tabloid press who quoted Jeff Thomson as wanting ‘blood on the wicket’ and other propaganda. The Australians were equally surprised and needed to do little more than hold on to their slip catches. “I watched in awe,” the captain admitted, after confessing his original plan had been to let Walker share the new ball with Lillee. He only threw the ball to Thomson on the spur of the moment. The fast bowlers took him through England in 1975 and a successful first World Cup, where Australia were beaten finalists despite making no concessions in their style of play. Chappell announced his retirement as captain at the end of the series. “The prospect of another tough series against West Indies did not excite me,” he said. His lack of appetite had been hinted at when he handed the captaincy to his brother in some county matches even though he was playing himself. What might have been his last home season was described by Wisden as “a troubled, almost mutinous summer”. The biggest trouble was a near-strike by the South Australian team over what today is seen as an almost incomprehensible row involving which players and how many were to go on the end of season tour. Mainly it was about Chappell, as captain, not being consulted. “I was fed up with their childishness,” he said of the South Australian Cricket Association. The conflict between Chappell and what he saw as Bumbledom would have faded from people’s memories but for an unexpected cricketing revolution. Chappell was one of the Australian cricketers signed up by Kerry Packer for his World Series Cricket. He was the natural captain of the WSC Australia and led them for two seasons in Australia and one in West Indies. It gave him the appetite for one more series as a player after the ‘truce’ between Packer and the ICC. Ian Chappell had officially retired from cricket when he was recruited to lead the Australian team in Kerry Packer’s World Series cricket. He took no part in the Australian season of 1976/77. Packer, proprietor of Australia’s Channel 9 TV, had commissioned market research which indicated that the largely untapped TV potential of Australian Test cricket was a lucrative field. The TV station bid for 6