Sir Donald Who?
The ongoing Super Series gives us an opportunity to look back at the memorable clash between Australia and the Rest of the World in 1971-72
Siddhartha Vaidyanathan
10-Oct-2005
The ongoing Super Series gives us an opportunity to look back at the memorable clash between Australia and the Rest of the World in 1971-72. Here, we pick out five offbeat incidents from that series, which featured a galaxy of superstars, some exceptional individual displays and team-mates coping with news from the battlefields of home.
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The mother of all slips
In a list containing the biggest faux pas in cricketing history, Tony Greig and Hylton Ackermann would probably feature right on top. Both landed at Adelaide airport and were greeted by a small man wearing a button-up brown cardigan who introduced himself in non-specific terms. Both Greig and Ackermann handed him whatever they were holding, visited the washrooms and then joined the man in the coffee shop. A lively cricket conversation followed and Greig nonchalantly turned to the host and asked: "Do you actually have anything to do with cricket around here?", to which the man replied, "Well we sort of run the local scene."
In a list containing the biggest faux pas in cricketing history, Tony Greig and Hylton Ackermann would probably feature right on top. Both landed at Adelaide airport and were greeted by a small man wearing a button-up brown cardigan who introduced himself in non-specific terms. Both Greig and Ackermann handed him whatever they were holding, visited the washrooms and then joined the man in the coffee shop. A lively cricket conversation followed and Greig nonchalantly turned to the host and asked: "Do you actually have anything to do with cricket around here?", to which the man replied, "Well we sort of run the local scene."
Right then, Garry Sobers walked in, looked past both Greig and Ackermann and greeted their host: "Sir Donald, good morning."
Greig, who was speechless at that point, recalled the incident in Mike Coward's book The Chappell years: Cricket in the `70s: " ... we certainly didn't know our history. And of course, in South Africa we didn't have television, and pictures of Bradman weren't something we were too au fait with. Bradman never let me forget that ... It gave me a special little relationship with the great man, which was fun."
As war raged ...
War broke out between India and Pakistan in the middle of the tour and the players - Intikhab Alam, Sunil Gavaskar, Asif Masood and a few others - followed the events on the radio. Ackermann cheered up the players by imagining some bizarre situations such as Intikhab and Farookh Engineer facing each other with bayonets; Gavaskar in a fighter plane, with Asif at his tail; and Bishan Singh Bedi and Zaheer Abbas trying to run away. In his autobiography, Sunny Days, Gavaskar says there was "no tension at all between the Indian and Pakistani players, despite what was happening. Almost every evening we went out for a meal to a restaurant owned by a Pakistani."
War broke out between India and Pakistan in the middle of the tour and the players - Intikhab Alam, Sunil Gavaskar, Asif Masood and a few others - followed the events on the radio. Ackermann cheered up the players by imagining some bizarre situations such as Intikhab and Farookh Engineer facing each other with bayonets; Gavaskar in a fighter plane, with Asif at his tail; and Bishan Singh Bedi and Zaheer Abbas trying to run away. In his autobiography, Sunny Days, Gavaskar says there was "no tension at all between the Indian and Pakistani players, despite what was happening. Almost every evening we went out for a meal to a restaurant owned by a Pakistani."
Collision of two irresistible forces
When Garry Sobers saw Dennis Lillee bowling for the first time, he was amused by his excessively long run-up and chuckled about it to Ray Lindwall. However, it didn't take too long for Sobers, then 35, to realise Lillee's firepower and he was soon at the receiving end of a barrage of bouncers. Like the rest of the line-up, Sobers was clueless against Lillee's deadly spell in the second game at Perth and was dismissed for a duck by one that shaped away. More short bowling followed at Melbourne, the venue for the third match, and Sobers, getting into the stroke too early, fell again to Lillee, once more for a duck. That evening, Sobers walked into the Australian dressing-room and told Ian Chappell: "I want you to tell him [Lillee], or let him know, that I can bowl short; I can bowl quick and I can bowl bouncers too." And he lived up to his word as Lillee came in to bat the next day, when he dug in a short one outside the off stump and forced him into a false shot in the next ball. Sobers wasn't going to surrender so easily. But could he hit back with the bat?
When Garry Sobers saw Dennis Lillee bowling for the first time, he was amused by his excessively long run-up and chuckled about it to Ray Lindwall. However, it didn't take too long for Sobers, then 35, to realise Lillee's firepower and he was soon at the receiving end of a barrage of bouncers. Like the rest of the line-up, Sobers was clueless against Lillee's deadly spell in the second game at Perth and was dismissed for a duck by one that shaped away. More short bowling followed at Melbourne, the venue for the third match, and Sobers, getting into the stroke too early, fell again to Lillee, once more for a duck. That evening, Sobers walked into the Australian dressing-room and told Ian Chappell: "I want you to tell him [Lillee], or let him know, that I can bowl short; I can bowl quick and I can bowl bouncers too." And he lived up to his word as Lillee came in to bat the next day, when he dug in a short one outside the off stump and forced him into a false shot in the next ball. Sobers wasn't going to surrender so easily. But could he hit back with the bat?
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Scripting a masterpiece against all odds
In one of the most emphatic statements in cricketing history, Sobers savaged his way to a mind-blowing 254 in the second innings and prompted the great Don Bradman to call it the best innings played in Australia. The innings assumed greater significance because of the personal trauma that Sobers was going through at that point, with his wife Prue having left him. Tony Greig tells the poignant story in The Chappell Years: "My lasting memory of the man was when he walked off the ground ... The whole stadium, including Bradman, were on their feet to cheer him off, except his wife who was sitting right in front of us. He went straight downstairs, met his wife and the two reconciled. It was a very, very special moment for all of us."
In one of the most emphatic statements in cricketing history, Sobers savaged his way to a mind-blowing 254 in the second innings and prompted the great Don Bradman to call it the best innings played in Australia. The innings assumed greater significance because of the personal trauma that Sobers was going through at that point, with his wife Prue having left him. Tony Greig tells the poignant story in The Chappell Years: "My lasting memory of the man was when he walked off the ground ... The whole stadium, including Bradman, were on their feet to cheer him off, except his wife who was sitting right in front of us. He went straight downstairs, met his wife and the two reconciled. It was a very, very special moment for all of us."
Stranded ... gutted
Greg Chappell produced a splendid unbeaten 197 in the fourth game at Sydney but all the Australian players were desperately disappointed that he couldn't manage a double hundred. Under the tour commercial sponsorship, any player who made a double-century was awarded with 1000 dollars and the Australian players, who pooled together all such windfalls, were naturally geeing Chappell from the dressing-room. He kept losing strike to Lillee, the last man in, and was finally stranded three runs short, leaving many team-mates a tad disappointed.
Greg Chappell produced a splendid unbeaten 197 in the fourth game at Sydney but all the Australian players were desperately disappointed that he couldn't manage a double hundred. Under the tour commercial sponsorship, any player who made a double-century was awarded with 1000 dollars and the Australian players, who pooled together all such windfalls, were naturally geeing Chappell from the dressing-room. He kept losing strike to Lillee, the last man in, and was finally stranded three runs short, leaving many team-mates a tad disappointed.
Siddhartha Vaidyanathan is staff writer of Cricinfo