Ian Redpath
Encyclopedia
Ian Ritchie Redpath is a former Australian cricket
er who played in 66 Tests
and 5 ODIs from 1964 to 1976. Greg Chappell
said he was one of only two players he knew who would kill to get into the Australian Test team, the other being Rod Marsh
.
for Victoria
in 92 matches scoring 6,103 runs with a highest score of 261 made in only his tenth first-class innings, scored in February 1962 against a Queensland
attack including Wes Hall
.
He made his test debut on New Year’s Day at Melbourne in the second test of the 1963-64 series against South Africa. Opening the batting with Bill Lawry
, the pair added 219 before Redpath was bowled on 97. Redpath was the last Australian Test cricketer to play as an amateur. He declined the match fee in his early tests in order not to jeopardise his amateur football career.
With his lean, gangly body and long neck, Redpath attracted the early nickname “Gandhi” among his team mates. However, when some concerns about this were expressed by local fans on the Australian tour of India in 1964-65, his colleagues permanently reverted to the simpler “Redders”. His career was erratic, being consistently dropped and recalled to the national side. Originally a sweet striker of the ball, Redpath turned into something of a stonewaller, with impressive powers of concentration and a sound technique. He matured late. It would not be until the Sydney test of February 1969 against the West Indies that he reached his maiden test century. In that same series, at Adelaide, he was infamously run out backing up at the bowler's end by Charlie Griffith
, without any warning from the bowler.
Having broken through with a big score, Redpath flourished and proceeded to score seven Test centuries in the second half of his career, including five in his final 15 Tests, and three in his final test series in 1975-76 whilst opening the batting against a vaunted West Indian fast bowling attack featuring Michael Holding
and Andy Roberts. It was not until his penultimate test that he struck his first six, advancing down the wicket to loft Lance Gibbs
over the fence. Having done so, he promptly hit another six in the same innings.
in 1974-75, and to Greg Chappell
in 1975-76. He was batting when the young Greg Chappell
made a century on debut against England in 1970-71, who later wrote
Redpath made his highest Test score of 171 before he was caught and bowled by Ray Illingworth
in his first Test innings, as they put on 219 for the sixth wicket. Redpath made 497 runs (49.70) in the series and the England fast bowler John Snow
wrote "I liked bowling to him least of all" and added that he was "a real nuisance batsman".
At Auckland in 1973-74, he carried his bat for 159* out of a total of 346 against New Zealand. Redpath shared a first-wicket century stand in Tests with four different partners – Bill Lawry, Keith Stackpole
, Rick McCosker
and Alan Turner.
Redpath was widely regarded as an affable individual. However during player payment negotiations in 1974-75, despite record takings at the gate, the Australian Cricket Board refused any thought of a player pay rise. When Australian Cricket Board administrator Alan Barnes told a dressing room of Australian cricketers that there were 50,000 others who would be prepared to play for Australia for nothing, the normally mild mannered Redpath reacted. According to Ian Chappell, Redpath grabbed Barnes around the throat and had him up against a wall, saying "You bloody idiot. Of course there are 50,000 out there who would play for nothing. But how bloody good would the Australian team be?"
Previously, when then captain Bill Lawry drafted a stinging letter to the board critical of the arrangements that players had been forced to endure on the combined tours of India and South Africa in 1969-70, Redpath proposed that all the players should sign it. Lawry demurred, signing it only in his own name. This sealed the fate of Lawry’s career. Redpath was one of the few to survive that disastrous tour of South Africa with a reputation intact, averaging 47.17 in the four Tests. During an innings on tour of 152 against Orange Free State at Bloemfontein, he scored 32 runs off a six-ball over, which remains a record for any Australian in first class cricket.
An outstanding fieldsman in the slips or at short leg, Redpath took 83 Test catches. His bowling was undistinguished; he was once called for throwing against Glamorgan in 1964.
Redpath retired from Test cricket in order to devote himself full time to proprietorship of an antique business in Geelong. He had already declined the 1975 Ashes tour to tend to this neglected enterprise. However his absence from top cricket was brief. After a season out of the game, he signed for World Series Cricket
, lured by a personal visit to Geelong by Kerry Packer
’s lieutenant Austin Robertson, and despite Packer’s initial reluctance to contract the Victorian. As with many of his colleagues, the personal costs of supporting the rebel entrepreneur were significant; after two decades of service to the South Melbourne Cricket Club, Redpath was made persona non grata. In an early world series match at VFL Park Waverley in 1977-78, Redpath snapped his Achilles tendon, an injury that ruled him out for the season. Packer declared that Redpath would be paid for the duration. The Victorian repaid the loyalty by returning again for 1978-79, playing mainly in World Series country cup games. He was recalled for once more, playing two supertests at the age of 37. At Sydney, against the by then fearsome West Indies XI attack, he took blow after blow on the body, holding out for 143 minutes to make 9, and adding 71 critical runs with David Hookes
which contributed to an improbable 10 wicket victory for the Australian XI.
He remains among Victoria's top ten run-makers of all time. After finally retiring from playing, he later coached Victoria. He was awarded an MBE
in 1975.
He is now retired from the antique business, but remains active at the Geelong Cricket Club.
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
er who played in 66 Tests
Test cricket
Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...
and 5 ODIs from 1964 to 1976. Greg Chappell
Greg Chappell
Gregory Stephen Chappell MBE is a former cricketer who captained Australia between 1975 and 1977 and then joined the breakaway World Series Cricket organisation, before returning to the Australian captaincy in 1979, a position he held until his retirement 1983...
said he was one of only two players he knew who would kill to get into the Australian Test team, the other being Rod Marsh
Rod Marsh
Rodney William Marsh MBE is a former Australian wicketkeeper.A colourful character, Marsh had a Test career spanning from the 1970–71 to the 1983–84 Australian season. In 96 Tests, he set a world record of 355 wicketkeeping dismissals, the same number his pace bowling Western...
.
Career
Educated at Geelong College, Redpath played first-class cricketFirst-class cricket
First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...
for Victoria
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
in 92 matches scoring 6,103 runs with a highest score of 261 made in only his tenth first-class innings, scored in February 1962 against a Queensland
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
attack including Wes Hall
Wes Hall
Wesley Winfield Hall is a Barbadian former cricketer and politician. A tall, strong and powerfully built man, Hall was a genuine fast bowler and despite his very long run up, he was renowned for his ability to bowl long spells. Hall played 48 Test matches for the West Indies from 1958 to 1969...
.
He made his test debut on New Year’s Day at Melbourne in the second test of the 1963-64 series against South Africa. Opening the batting with Bill Lawry
Bill Lawry
William Morris "Bill" Lawry, AM is a former cricketer who played for Victoria and Australia. He captained Australia in 25 Tests, winning nine, losing eight and drawing eight, and led Australia in the inaugural One Day International match, played in 1971...
, the pair added 219 before Redpath was bowled on 97. Redpath was the last Australian Test cricketer to play as an amateur. He declined the match fee in his early tests in order not to jeopardise his amateur football career.
With his lean, gangly body and long neck, Redpath attracted the early nickname “Gandhi” among his team mates. However, when some concerns about this were expressed by local fans on the Australian tour of India in 1964-65, his colleagues permanently reverted to the simpler “Redders”. His career was erratic, being consistently dropped and recalled to the national side. Originally a sweet striker of the ball, Redpath turned into something of a stonewaller, with impressive powers of concentration and a sound technique. He matured late. It would not be until the Sydney test of February 1969 against the West Indies that he reached his maiden test century. In that same series, at Adelaide, he was infamously run out backing up at the bowler's end by Charlie Griffith
Charlie Griffith
Charles Christopher Griffith is a former West Indian cricketer who played in 28 Tests from 1960 to 1969. He formed a lethal fast bowling partnership with Wes Hall during the 1960s...
, without any warning from the bowler.
Having broken through with a big score, Redpath flourished and proceeded to score seven Test centuries in the second half of his career, including five in his final 15 Tests, and three in his final test series in 1975-76 whilst opening the batting against a vaunted West Indian fast bowling attack featuring Michael Holding
Michael Holding
Michael Anthony Holding is a former West Indian cricketer. One of the fastest bowlers ever to play Test cricket, he was nicknamed 'Whispering Death' by umpires due to his quiet approach to the bowling crease...
and Andy Roberts. It was not until his penultimate test that he struck his first six, advancing down the wicket to loft Lance Gibbs
Lance Gibbs
Lancelot Richard Gibbs is a former West Indies cricketer, one of the most successful spin bowlers in Test cricket history. He took 309 Test wickets, only the second player to pass 300, the first spinner to pass that milestone, and had an exceptional economy rate of under two runs per over...
over the fence. Having done so, he promptly hit another six in the same innings.
Vice-captaincy
He was Australian vice captain to Ian ChappellIan Chappell
Ian Michael Chappell is a former cricketer who played for South Australia and Australia. He captained Australia between 1971 and 1975 before taking a central role in the breakaway World Series Cricket organisation...
in 1974-75, and to Greg Chappell
Greg Chappell
Gregory Stephen Chappell MBE is a former cricketer who captained Australia between 1975 and 1977 and then joined the breakaway World Series Cricket organisation, before returning to the Australian captaincy in 1979, a position he held until his retirement 1983...
in 1975-76. He was batting when the young Greg Chappell
Greg Chappell
Gregory Stephen Chappell MBE is a former cricketer who captained Australia between 1975 and 1977 and then joined the breakaway World Series Cricket organisation, before returning to the Australian captaincy in 1979, a position he held until his retirement 1983...
made a century on debut against England in 1970-71, who later wrote
My first innings in Test cricket was, as you might expect, a trying experience, but proved to be one of the best cricket lessons of my career, thanks to Ian Redpath. I came to the wicket with Australia reeling at 5/107 to join "Redders", who had watched three quick wickets fall at the other end. Illingworth and Snow, sensing that one more wicket would see them through our batting line up, stepped up their attack on the senior member of our partnership. "Snowy" concentrated his attack short of a length on "Redders" off-stump, with a liberal sprinkling of shorter pitched balls for good measure. Ian made a point of not playing at anything he didn't have to and ducked or swayed away from the shorter deliveries. Each time he swayed or ducked he came back to the upright position and sneered at "Snowy". It may not have looked all that pretty, but it was pretty effective as both Illingworth and Snow became more and more frustrated. Ian's example at the other end made me feel that if it meant that much to him to keep his wicket intact then I had better make sure I try just as hard at my end to keep mine intact. Fortunately we both succeeded and out partnership put us into a sound position, but from my point of view I had received an invaluable lesson in what Test match batting was all about from one of the most courageous batsmen ever to play for Australia.
Redpath made his highest Test score of 171 before he was caught and bowled by Ray Illingworth
Ray Illingworth
Raymond Illingworth, CBE is a former English cricketer, cricket commentator and cricket administrator. He was one of only nine players to have taken 2,000 wickets and made 20,000 runs in First class cricket, and the last one to do so...
in his first Test innings, as they put on 219 for the sixth wicket. Redpath made 497 runs (49.70) in the series and the England fast bowler John Snow
John Snow (cricketer)
John Augustine Snow played cricket for Sussex and England in the 1960s and 1970s. Despite being the son of a country vicar and publishing two volumes of poetry Snow was England's most formidable fast bowler between Fred Trueman and Bob Willis and played Test Matches with both of them at either end...
wrote "I liked bowling to him least of all" and added that he was "a real nuisance batsman".
At Auckland in 1973-74, he carried his bat for 159* out of a total of 346 against New Zealand. Redpath shared a first-wicket century stand in Tests with four different partners – Bill Lawry, Keith Stackpole
Keith Stackpole
Keith Raymond Stackpole Junior is a former Victorian and Australian cricketer who played in 43 Tests and 6 ODIs from 1966 to 1974, who is now a radio cricket commentator...
, Rick McCosker
Rick McCosker
Richard Bede McCosker is a former New South Wales and Australian cricketer.McCosker played in 25 Tests and 14 One Day Internationals in a career spanning 1975 to 1982 playing as a right hand batsman....
and Alan Turner.
Redpath was widely regarded as an affable individual. However during player payment negotiations in 1974-75, despite record takings at the gate, the Australian Cricket Board refused any thought of a player pay rise. When Australian Cricket Board administrator Alan Barnes told a dressing room of Australian cricketers that there were 50,000 others who would be prepared to play for Australia for nothing, the normally mild mannered Redpath reacted. According to Ian Chappell, Redpath grabbed Barnes around the throat and had him up against a wall, saying "You bloody idiot. Of course there are 50,000 out there who would play for nothing. But how bloody good would the Australian team be?"
Previously, when then captain Bill Lawry drafted a stinging letter to the board critical of the arrangements that players had been forced to endure on the combined tours of India and South Africa in 1969-70, Redpath proposed that all the players should sign it. Lawry demurred, signing it only in his own name. This sealed the fate of Lawry’s career. Redpath was one of the few to survive that disastrous tour of South Africa with a reputation intact, averaging 47.17 in the four Tests. During an innings on tour of 152 against Orange Free State at Bloemfontein, he scored 32 runs off a six-ball over, which remains a record for any Australian in first class cricket.
An outstanding fieldsman in the slips or at short leg, Redpath took 83 Test catches. His bowling was undistinguished; he was once called for throwing against Glamorgan in 1964.
Redpath retired from Test cricket in order to devote himself full time to proprietorship of an antique business in Geelong. He had already declined the 1975 Ashes tour to tend to this neglected enterprise. However his absence from top cricket was brief. After a season out of the game, he signed for World Series Cricket
World Series Cricket
World Series Cricket was a break away professional cricket competition staged between 1977 and 1979 and organised by Kerry Packer for his Australian television network, Nine Network. The matches ran in opposition to established international cricket...
, lured by a personal visit to Geelong by Kerry Packer
Kerry Packer
Kerry Francis Bullmore Packer, AC was an Australian media tycoon. The son of Sir Frank Packer and Gretel Bullmore, the Packer family company owned controlling interest in both the Nine television network and leading Australian publishing company Australian Consolidated Press, which were later...
’s lieutenant Austin Robertson, and despite Packer’s initial reluctance to contract the Victorian. As with many of his colleagues, the personal costs of supporting the rebel entrepreneur were significant; after two decades of service to the South Melbourne Cricket Club, Redpath was made persona non grata. In an early world series match at VFL Park Waverley in 1977-78, Redpath snapped his Achilles tendon, an injury that ruled him out for the season. Packer declared that Redpath would be paid for the duration. The Victorian repaid the loyalty by returning again for 1978-79, playing mainly in World Series country cup games. He was recalled for once more, playing two supertests at the age of 37. At Sydney, against the by then fearsome West Indies XI attack, he took blow after blow on the body, holding out for 143 minutes to make 9, and adding 71 critical runs with David Hookes
David Hookes
David William Hookes was an Australian cricketer, broadcaster and coach of the Victorian cricket team. An aggressive left-handed batsman, Hookes usually batted in the middle order...
which contributed to an improbable 10 wicket victory for the Australian XI.
He remains among Victoria's top ten run-makers of all time. After finally retiring from playing, he later coached Victoria. He was awarded an MBE
MBE
MBE can stand for:* Mail Boxes Etc.* Management by exception* Master of Bioethics* Master of Bioscience Enterprise* Master of Business Engineering* Master of Business Economics* Mean Biased Error...
in 1975.
He is now retired from the antique business, but remains active at the Geelong Cricket Club.