Trevor Chappell

Trevor Martin Chappell (born 12 October 1952, Glenelg, South Australia) is a former Australian cricketer, a member of the South Australian Chappell family which excelled at cricket.^[1] He played 3 tests and 20 One Day Internationals for Australia, in which his batting was lacklustre but his bowling was strong enough to make him a bowling all-rounder for Australia.

His career was overshadowed, however, by an incident in 1981 in which he bowled an underarm delivery to New Zealand cricketer Brian McKechnie to stop the batsman from hitting a six.

After retiring from first class cricket in 1986, Chappell went on to coach the Bangladesh cricket team and became a fielding coach for the Sri Lankan cricket team. He is currently the national coach of the Singapore Cricket Team.

Early life

Chappell was the youngest of the Chappell cricketing brothers. He attended Prince Alfred College and was a schoolboy cricketer, meeting the high standards set for him by his brothers Ian Chappell and Greg Chappell, and their grandfather, former Australian test captain of the 1930s Victor Richardson.^[1] His childhood hero was Keith Miller.^[2] Over the summer of 1969/70 he toured the West Indies with the Australian Schoolboys XI, a team that also included Gary Gilmour, Gary Cosier and Ian Davis.^[3]

First Class Career

Chappell debuted for South Australia in the 1972-73 season, scoring 67 on debut.^[4] He made half centuries in his next two games, but struggled thereafter and was eventually dropped from the South Australian side.

Over the 1975-76 summer Chappell toured South Africa as part of DH Robins XI. When he returned to Australia he moved to Western Australia and played four first class games for that team in 1976-77, scoring two fifties at an average of 40. In 1976 and 1977 he played for East Lancashire in the Lancashire League.^[5]

World Series Cricket

In 1977 Chappell signed to play for World Series Cricket along with his brothers. In 1977-78 he played ten games for WSC Australia in the Country Cup, scoring 339 runs, more than any other Australian batsman, although his average was only 26.^[6] A highlight was a 110 he scored against the West Indies.^[7]

Over the 1978-79 season Chappell mostly played for the WSC Cavaliers, a team of players of various nationalities, who were not selected for the top three WSC teams, competing in the Cavaliers Cup. Chappell's highlights that summer included 93 against the West Indies^[8] and 126,^[9] 96^[10] and 72^[11] against the World XI. Chappell led the aggregates out of all players in the Country Tour, making 629 runs at an average of 33.1, including one century and four half centuries.^[12]

This form helped earn Chappell selection in the Australian XI one day team for the International Cup that summer (he played in three games with a top score of 14) and also on the Australian XI in the West Indies in 1979.^[13] Chappell was picked in the first four of the Supertests but was unable to reprise his Australian form in the Caribbean, his highest score in the test matches and one day internationals being 28.

Move to New South Wales

When World Series Cricket ended in 1979 Chappell started playing for New South Wales.^[1] He started brilliantly for his new state, scoring 150 against West Australia.;^[14] he later scored 144 against Tasmania.^[15] Chappell's bowling began to be increasingly used as a change option and his fielding came be regarded amongst the best in the country; he began to be discussed as an international prospect.

International career

In 1980/81 Chappell was selected in the Australian one day side.^[16] He was also picked in the team to tour England in 1981. Early success on the tour saw Chappell selected in the first three tests however his lack of solid performance led to his eventual dropping. He scored a total of 79 runs without once passing 30, and did not bowl.^[1]

In his One-Day International debut against New Zealand, Chappell managed only 12 runs and went wicketless.^[16] For the remainder of his ODI career, his batting would remain the same, he passing 20 only twice and passing 30 only once.^[16] That particular innings against India, however, ended on 110 - becoming his first and only century in international cricket.^[16] However, his bowling eventually improved and he ended his One-Day International career with a bowling average of 28.31.^[16] He took three wickets in a match twice, both in the World Cup.^[16]

Underarm incident

Chappell became infamous after bowling an underarm delivery when playing for Australia during a match against New Zealand in 1981, an incident still often described as the lowest point in the history of cricket. The teams were contesting the final of the Benson and Hedges World Series Cup. New Zealand needed to score six runs to tie the match from the final ball, something that was only possible by hitting the ball full-pitch over the boundary. Not wanting to risk this, Greg Chappell, Australia's captain and Chappell's brother, asked Trevor Chappell how his underarm bowling was. When Trevor Chappell replied that he didn't know because he had never bowled underarm, Greg Chappell said, "well there is only one way to find out"^[17] and then Trevor Chappell rolled the ball along the ground to batsman Brian McKechnie.

Underarm bowling, allowed at the time by the rules of the series, but already outlawed at the time in England's domestic competition, is no longer permitted in games under the playing regulations directly controlled by the ICC. In terms of The Laws of Cricket (Law 24.1b), underarm bowling is permitted in other matches provided that the captains agree to it prior to the start of the match.

Although it was not universally illegal to bowl underarm at the time, it was widely accepted to be contrary to the spirit of the game. A visibly agitated McKechnie could do little but block the ball to avoid being dismissed and so Australia won the game. It was described as "the most disgusting incident I can recall in the history of cricket" by then Prime Minister of New Zealand, Rob Muldoon.^[18]

Later career

In 1982-83 Chappell was an integral part of the NSW side which won the Sheffield Shield. His efforts earned him selection in the Australian side for the 1983 World Cup.

Later life

Chappell retired from first-class cricket in 1986, however he continued to play grade cricket with the North Sydney cricket club and went on to coach the Gordon Women's cricket club. He was also engaged with the Sri Lankan cricket team and Bangladesh cricket team in coaching. He was a fielding coach for Sri Lanka and had a short stint as national coach for Bangladesh.

In 2003, Chappell, along with his brothers, were honoured by the South Australian Cricket Association when a new stand in the Adelaide Oval was named the Chappell Stand after the cricketing brothers.^[19]

Chappell now coaches the 1st XI cricket team at The King's School, Parramatta and the Singapore National Cricket Team. From July to September 2009, he undertook a 50-day stint as coach of Singapore for its ICC World Cricket League Division 6 tournament, held in Singapore.

References

External links

• CricInfo article on Chappell
• Trevor Chappell at Cricket Archive

v t e Australia squad – 1983 Cricket World Cup 1 Hughes (c) 2 Border 3 Chappell 4 Hogan 5 Hogg 6 Hookes 7 Lawson 8 Lillee 9 MacLeay 10 Marsh (wk) 11 Thomson 12 Wessels 13 Wood 14 Yallop