Trevor Chappell: The pain goes on forever

Funny about that.

Trevor Chappell came to New Zealand yesterday. No devilish horns protruding from his close-cropped grey hair. No horned tail curled up inside his smart slacks. Not a sign of a cloven hoof.

Here was the man whom New Zealanders vested with yellow-shirted infamy on February 1, 1981 after he finished a one-day win for Australia over New Zealand by six runs at the MCG by bowling the last ball underarm.

Now Chappell, every bit the journeyman cricketer, has returned for a longish stay in New Zealand as coach of the Bangladesh side which will play first-class matches at Wanganui and Auckland and Tests at Hamilton and Wellington.

No place for him to hide, to live down the endless procession of shock-horror dissertations by every Australian cricket after-dinner speaker who has visited New Zealand in the last 20 years.

Chappell, who has played cricket for South Australia, Western Australia, New South Wales, and coached in Sri Lanka and now in Bangladesh, has been in New Zealand since 1981, to play in benefit matches for Bruce Edgar (102 not out on THAT day) and Gavin Larsen.

He promises not to talk about the under-arm incident while here, and would probably prefer that everyone else dropped the cone of silence on that boring-boring piece of cricketing history.