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| Sunday, 23 October 2005 |
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No nonsense Greg Chappell - atlas of Australian cricket by A. C. de Silva Former Australian skipper Greg Chappell is a no nonsense man. This has clearly be seen in the confrontation with Indian skipper Saurav Ganguly which finally resulted in the Indian skipper being sidelined for the one-day games against Sri Lanka. The one-day games will be played in India between October 25 and November 12 followed by a three-match Test series. There is no need to introduce Greg Chappell. He is known the world over as his performances on the cricket field will amply prove his capabilities. He can be called " The atlas of Australian cricket" Towards the tail-end of his career, he came off with some stunning performances that are even talked about these days. In the course of his farewell performance, he became the highest run-getter for Australia then eclipsing Don Bradman's record. At the start of the match, Chappell needed only 69 runs to overtake the then 35 years-old record of 6,996 runs and made them on the third day - January 5th 1984. On 72, he completed 7,000 runs, the sixth player in the world then to do so. The others to have done so are: Gavaskar (8,394 from 99 Tests), Geoff Boycott (8,114 from 108 Tests), Sir Garfield Sobers (8,032 from 93 Tests), Colin Cowdrey (7,624 runs from 114 Tests), and Wally Hammond (7,249 runs from 85 Tests). That was his 87th Test and after that game, Chappell had 7,110 runs, with 151 innings, 19 times not out, 24 centuries and 31 fifties for an average of 53.86. Chappell made his debut against England at Perth on December 14th 1970_ it was the second Test of the 1970-71 series, It was the first ever Test at Perth and Greg scored 108. He bowled too and had Cowdrey caught and bowled for 40 in the first innings and went wicketless in the second. By scoring 182 in his last Test, he became the third batsman in the world after Reggie Duff and Bill Ponsford - both of Australia, to score a century in his first and last appearance. There are two others who have scored a century in their last appearance Andy Ganteaume of the West Indies and Rodney Redmond of New Zealand. Chappell holds the world record of scoring most runs in a Test match. He amassed 380 runs (247 not out and 133) at Wellington against New Zealand in 1973-74, improving on the then 35-year-old record of Andrew Sandham 375 (325 and 50) for England against the West Indies at Jamaica in 1929-30, only three others have scored a double century and a century in the same match - Doug Walters, Sunil Gavaskar and Lawrence Rowe. He also holds the world record of taking most catches (by a non-wicket-keeper) in a Test match. He shares the record with India's Yajuvindrasingh. At Perth against England in 1974-75, Greg caught D. Lloyd, M. H. Donnes and C. M. Old in the first innings and took four more catches in the second Innings. D. Lloyd, A. W. Greig, A. P. W. Knott and Fred Titmus. He was also a useful medium pace bowler and claimed 47 wickets (Av. 40.70). His best was 5 for 61 against Pakistan in the first innings of the third and final Test in Sydney in 1972-73. Chappell can be described as one of the finest fielders and is the only fieldsman in the world to take 50-plus catches against one country. He has taken 61 catches against England from 35 Tests. A tall naturally graceful right-hander, his batting is cool and composed, without being casual: he has mastered even the best bowlers in the worst batting conditions records the Complete Who's of Test Cricketers. The words do convey a true picture of Chappell's batting. What took his gifts above all. So far as upright batting is concerned, few can equal Chappell's approach. There was no shot in the book he could not play including a 'brave and faultless hook' Apart from early brittleness - which sadly was a counterpoint to the brilliance of his prime in Test cricket - in the later part of his career, any innings of Chappell represented the fine art of batting. Hailing from a background of the 'Australian answer to the Grace family,'
Greg Chappell's success could be assumed. Chappell was inevitably swept away
by the Packer wave. In fact, he had to admit he played a leading role in
fuelling the defections. |
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