Trevor Chappell
Trevor Martin Chappell is a former Australian cricketer, a member of the South Australian Chappell family which excelled at cricket. He played 3 tests and 20 One Day Internationals for Australia. He won the Sheffield Shield with New South Wales twice, and scored a century for Australia against India in the 1983 World Cup. His career was overshadowed, however, by an incident in 1981 in which he controversially bowled an underarm delivery to New Zealand cricketer Brian McKechnie to prevent the batsman from hitting a six.
After retiring from first class cricket in 1986, Chappell went on to become fielding coach for the Sri Lanka cricket team in 1996, and in 2001 became coach of the Bangladesh cricket team. He later was the coach of the Singapore cricket team.
Early life
Chappell was the youngest of the Chappell cricketing brothers, his two elder brothers being Ian and Greg, and the grandson of former Australian captain Vic Richardson. Chappell grew up playing cricket in the backyard with his brothers, and like them was coached by Lynn Fuller and attended Prince Alfred College.Greg Chappell later recalled, "I was going to be every bit the tyrant to Trevor that Ian had been to me. But TC was his own man. Trevor was quiet and unassuming, but if you pushed him too far, he'd explode. That's TC through and through: very passive most of the time, easy going, but push him too far and there's an explosion coming."
Chappell's childhood hero was Keith Miller. Throughout his early playing career he was a batsman, although his excellent fielding at cover also brought him attention. "I figured the cover region was the area where the ball went more often than not, so I thought it was a good spot to field", he later said. "It keeps you occupied and always in the game."
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. During the tour he came down with chicken pox. He recovered to score 52 against St Kitts.
Chappell also played for South Australia in the Australian Schoolboys Cricket Council Championships in Sydney.
Early career: 1972–77
South Australia
Chappell debuted for South Australia in the 1972–73 season, replacing Ken Cunningham who had to drop out for business reasons. He later recalled:When I first got picked for South Australia, Ian said, "You got to decide what sort of a player you want to be – whether you want to be an aggressive, attacking player, or more like a grafting sort of player." I had to think about that and that I'm not really a free hitter of the ball, so the choice I made was I was going to be more of a grafter.
His career began well, scoring 67 on debut. He made half-centuries in his next two games, but struggled thereafter and was eventually dropped from the South Australian side. Chappell:
When I first played for South Australia, I did all right. Then I got injured right at the start of the second season – I broke my nose and cheekbone in a fielding accident. I damaged my shoulder as well. I couldn't throw very well. Fielding has always been one of my main skills and I lost confidence in the fielding. I wasn't getting any runs, I wasn't bowling much in those days, and I wasn't fielding terribly well either. I ended up playing all of the first-class season and had a bad season. I still couldn't get runs in South Australia the following season but I'd go to England and get runs. I got dropped from the South Australian team.
In 1975 Chappell played for Walsden in the Central Lancashire Cricket League over the English summer. It was a highly successful season for Chappell, who found his medium pace bowling effective on English wickets. He ended up making 1,268 runs at an average of 52.8 and taking 106 wickets at an average of 14 – the first "double" of 1,000 runs and 100 wickets in the Central League since 1961.
Over the 1975–76 Australian summer Chappell toured South Africa as part of DH Robins XI, a special invitational side managed by Richie Benaud. Chappell's teammates included David Steele and Geoff Howarth. Chappell later said "I... did all right" on the tour. Highlights included scoring 69 against Transvaal.
He returned to England in 1976 and enjoyed another successful English summer in the Lancashire League, this time for East Lancashire.
Western Australia
Chappell then received an offer to play for the Scarborough Cricket Club in Perth and moved to Western Australia. He had a run of strong games with scores of 48, 88, 43 and 76. This led to him playing four first class games for Western Australia in 1976–77, in which he scored two fifties at an average of 40.In 1977, he played for East Lancashire again in the Lancashire League.
World Series Cricket
In 1977, Chappell signed to play for World Series Cricket along with his brothers. He had failed to make the first team for WA for the 1977–78 season when Dennis Lillee approached him. Chappell later recalled, "Lillee said to me, "Bad luck about not making it in the WA team. Don't worry, something better might come along." I had no idea what he meant. And a few days later Robinson, Dennis' manager, rang and said, "Do you want to join World Series Cricket" and I said, "Yeah, where do I sign?""Chappell played ten games for WSC Australia in the Country Cup in 1977–78, scoring 339 runs, more than any other Australian batsman, although his average was only 26.
A highlight was a 110 he scored against the West Indies in Albury. He also scored 56 off 300 minutes against a World XI in a Lismore game which resulted in him being booed by the crowd for slow scoring. "Trevor Chappell batted exceptionally well and he did not deserve the rubbishing the crowd gave him", said Australian captain Ross Edwards.
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.
"We had a whole mixture and nobody probably really wanted to be there", recalled Chappell. "They would rather be in the main games. We had some surprising results. We won a few games we probably weren't expected to."
Chappell enjoyed good form that season, which he partly attributed to the captaincy of Eddie Barlow. "Eddie once said to me early on in the series, 'You gotta stop trying to play like Ian or Greg and play like you. Just be Trevor.' That definitely helped me through World Series."
Chappell's highlights that season included 93 against the West Indies and 126, 96 and 72 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.
This form helped earn Chappell selection in the Australian XI one-day team for the International Cup that summer and also on the Australian XI in the West Indies in 1979.
In the West Indies 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. During the first Test he was struck in the face by a delivery from Andy Roberts and required stitches.
Post-WSC
1979–80: Move to New South Wales
When World Series Cricket ended in 1979, Chappell moved to Sydney and started playing for the club Gordon. He started off the season with 55 for a Rick McCosker XI against a Ross Edwards XI in a trial game. This ensured his selection in the New South Wales side for the first Sheffield Shield match that summer, meaning Chappell had now played for three states. He was preferred to non-WSC-aligned batsman John Dyson, which caused some controversy at the time.Chappell was under pressure to justify his selection but responded with 150 against West Australia, helping New South Wales win. He later scored 144 against Tasmania 76 not out against Queensland and 80 against the touring English.
Chappell made 674 runs at 42.12. He started to bowl more, and his fielding by now was amongst the best in the country; he began to be discussed as an international prospect. In April 1980 one Sydney journalist suggested "he must be close to winning the remaining batting place" in the Australian squad to tour England in 1980.
1980–81: One Day International Player
Chappell began the 1980–81 summer scoring 110 in a grade match for Gordon. His bowling spell of 3–22 helped NSW defeat Queensland.In November, Chappell was selected in the Australian one-day side against New Zealand alongside Shaun Graf; although Chappell had only scored 121 runs at 31.5 in five innings his bowling and fielding were seen as benefits by selectors who wanted an all rounder. The Age called it a "shock selection". It was the first time three brothers had been selected for Australia.
Both Graf and Trevor Chappell were picked in the side. Australia lost the game. Chappell managed only 12 runs and took 0–21 with the ball, but he did run out Geoff Howarth. He did not bat or bowl in his second game, also against New Zealand.
Chappell was kept in the team to play India, taking 1–14 and scoring 14. His figures for his next game were 0–27 and 6, then 1–40,
Chappel's position in NSW's Shield team was under threat from Dirk Wellham after making 133 runs at 26 but Chappell then scored 111 for New South Wales against Queensland.
When the game ended Chappell discovered he had been picked in the Australian twelve to play the third test against New Zealand, replacing Shaun Graf. The Age wrote "in some ways Chappell's incursion is hard to explain. Despite his fielding brilliance, he is not a front line bowler and can hardly lay claim to first call on a vacant position as a Test middle order batsman", suggesting Graham Yallop, Peter Toohey or David Boon would be better. Chappell was made twelfth man for the test match. However Rod Marsh suggested Chappell and/or Graeme Beard could be selected on the 1981 Ashes as a specialist one day player, saying "I can't speak too highly for his fielding. There's no doubt he has lifted our performance in the field." Chappell had to make way for the next test – the first test against India – when Graf returned from injury, although Graf would only play as twelfth man.
He was dropped from the one-day side to make way for Jim Higgs, but soon returned. He took 2–42 against India, 1–21 and 0 in a narrow loss against New Zealand, 14 against India and 14 against New Zealand.
Chappell scored 100 as a temporary opener for NSW in a three day game again New Zealand. He managed to keep his place in the Australian ODI squad for the World Series Cricket finals against New Zealand. In the second final Chappell took 2–21. In February 1981, Ian Chappell listed his possible squad for the Ashes. He wrote "if another batsman is needed for any reason, then Trevor Chappell would be my selection because he can bat anywhere in the order and is the best cover field in Australia." This recommendation would be overshadowed by what happened in the third final.