Underarm bowling incident of 1981
Encyclopedia
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...
match, the third of five such matches in the final of the Benson & Hedges World Series Cup
World Series Cup
The World Series Cup was the name of the One Day International cricket tournament that took place in Australia every season between Australia and two touring teams from 1979-80 to 1995-96. The tournament was renamed the World Series from 1990-1. This was the very first of the One Day International ...
, at the Melbourne Cricket Ground
Melbourne Cricket Ground
The Melbourne Cricket Ground is an Australian sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne and is home to the Melbourne Cricket Club. It is the tenth largest stadium in the world, the largest in Australia, the largest stadium for playing cricket, and holds the world record for the highest light...
. In order to prevent New Zealand from scoring the six they needed to tie, the Australian captain, 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...
instructed his bowler (and his younger brother), Trevor Chappell
Trevor Chappell
Trevor Martin Chappell is a former Australian cricketer, a member of the South Australian Chappell family which excelled at cricket...
to deliver the last ball underarm
Underarm bowling
In cricket, underarm bowling is as old as the sport itself. Until the introduction of the roundarm style in the first half of the 19th century, bowling was performed in the same way as in bowls, the ball being delivered with the hand below the waist...
, along the ground. This action was technically legal, but seen as being totally against the spirit of cricketing fair play.
Events leading up to the delivery
The series was tied 1-1, with New Zealand having won the first match, and Australia the second. At the end of the third match, the batsman at the non-striker's end, Bruce EdgarBruce Edgar
Bruce Adrian Edgar was a cricketer from Wellington and one of the best batsmen New Zealand has ever produced. An accountant by profession, in the 1980s, he played 39 Tests and 64 One Day Internationals, altogether he played 175 first-class matches...
, was on 102 not out, and his innings has been called "the most overlooked century of all time".
This match was already controversial: in the Australian innings, Martin Snedden
Martin Snedden
Martin Colin Snedden played 25 Tests, between 1981 and 1990, and 93 One Day Internationals, between 1980 and 1990, for New Zealand...
took a low outfield catch off the batting of 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...
when Chappell was on 52. It was disallowed by the umpires, although TV replays clearly showed it was a clean catch. Some commentators believed that Chappell should have taken Snedden's word that the catch was good. Chappell went on to score 90, before he was caught by Bruce Edgar in similar fashion. This time, Chappell walked.
In the confusion before the final ball was bowled, one of the fielders, Dennis Lillee
Dennis Lillee
Dennis Keith Lillee, AM, MBE is a former Australian cricketer rated as the "outstanding fast bowler of his generation"...
, did not walk into place, meaning that the underarm ball was technically a no-ball, because Australia had one too many fielders outside the field restriction line.
Delivery and post-match reaction
New Zealand needed six runs to tie the match from the final ball, with eight wickets down. Greg ChappellGreg 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...
, the Australian captain, ordered the bowler (his brother Trevor
Trevor Chappell
Trevor Martin Chappell is a former Australian cricketer, a member of the South Australian Chappell family which excelled at cricket...
) to bowl underarm, rolling the ball along the ground to prevent the Number 10 New Zealand batsman (Brian McKechnie) hitting a six from the last ball to tie the match. Bowling underarm was within the laws of cricket, but perceived as unsportsmanlike.
As the ball was being bowled, Ian Chappell
Ian 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...
(older brother of Greg and Trevor, and a former Australian captain) who was commentating on the match, was heard to call out "No, Greg, no, you can't do that" in an instinctive reaction to the incident, and he remained critical in a later newspaper article on the incident.
Australia won the game, but were booed off the field by spectators. The New Zealand batsmen walked off in disgust, McKechnie throwing his bat to the ground in frustration. Incidentally, McKechnie was censured for bringing the game of cricket into disrepute by doing so.
After the incident, the then Prime Minister of New Zealand
Prime Minister of New Zealand
The Prime Minister of New Zealand is New Zealand's head of government consequent on being the leader of the party or coalition with majority support in the Parliament of New Zealand...
, Robert Muldoon
Robert Muldoon
Sir Robert David "Rob" Muldoon, GCMG, CH served as the 31st Prime Minister of New Zealand from 1975 to 1984, as leader of the governing National Party. Muldoon had been a prominent member of the National party and MP for the Tamaki electorate for some years prior to becoming leader of the party...
, described it as "the most disgusting incident I can recall in the history of cricket", going on to say that "it was an act of true cowardice and I consider it appropriate that the Australian team were wearing yellow". Even the Australian Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Australia
The Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia is the highest minister of the Crown, leader of the Cabinet and Head of Her Majesty's Australian Government, holding office on commission from the Governor-General of Australia. The office of Prime Minister is, in practice, the most powerful...
, Malcolm Fraser
Malcolm Fraser
John Malcolm Fraser AC, CH, GCL, PC is a former Australian Liberal Party politician who was the 22nd Prime Minister of Australia. He came to power in the 1975 election following the dismissal of the Whitlam Labor government, in which he played a key role...
, called the act "contrary to the traditions of the game."
Commentating for Channel 9
Nine Network
The Nine Network , is an Australian television network with headquarters based in Willoughby, a suburb located on the North Shore of Sydney. For 50 years since television's inception in Australia, between 1956 and 2006, it was the most watched television network in Australia...
at the time, former Australian captain Richie Benaud
Richie Benaud
Richard "Richie" Benaud OBE is a former Australian cricketer who, since his retirement from international cricket in 1964, has become a highly regarded commentator on the game....
described the act as "disgraceful" and said it was "one of the worst things I have ever seen done on a cricket field." According to Benaud, Greg Chappell "got his sums wrong" and instead of using Dennis Lillee
Dennis Lillee
Dennis Keith Lillee, AM, MBE is a former Australian cricketer rated as the "outstanding fast bowler of his generation"...
for the last over, he was forced to use his brother Trevor, a considerably less talented bowler. The fact that Trevor Chappell managed to dismiss two batsman in his final over was not enough to convince the captain to allow an overarm final delivery. In limited-overs cricket, a bowler can only bowl a certain number of overs in an innings, and in this match, Lillee had already bowled the maximum number of overs allowed.
Although both Chappell brothers have publicly stated their embarrassment, Brian McKechnie bears no ill will over the incident. Thirty years later the Chappell brothers are still reluctant to discuss it and the result of the game has never been cancelled or altered. Unfortunately for Trevor Chappell, he remains best remembered for the "Underarm '81" incident.
Legacy
As a direct result of the incident, underarm bowling was banned in limited overs cricket by the International Cricket CouncilInternational Cricket Council
The International Cricket Council is the international governing body of cricket. It was founded as the Imperial Cricket Conference in 1909 by representatives from England, Australia and South Africa, renamed the International Cricket Conference in 1965, and took up its current name in 1989.The...
as "not within the spirit of the game."
The following year, the Australians went on tour to New Zealand. There was a boisterous crowd of 43,000 at Eden Park, Auckland
Eden Park
Eden Park is the biggest stadium in Auckland, New Zealand. It is used primarily for rugby union in winter and cricket in summer . The ground also occasionally hostts rugby league matches. To accommodate all three sports, the cricket pitch is removable...
for the 1st One Day International of the tour. As Greg Chappell came out to bat, a crown green bowls
Bowls
Bowls is a sport in which the objective is to roll slightly asymmetric balls so that they stop close to a smaller "jack" or "kitty". It is played on a pitch which may be flat or convex or uneven...
wood was rolled from the crowd on to the outfield mimicking what had happened at the MCG the previous year. That day Greg Chappell scored a century in a losing cause.
New Zealand cricketer Warren Lees
Warren Lees
Warren Kenneth Lees played 21 Tests and 31 One Day Internationals for New Zealand between 1976 and 1983, all as wicket-keeper....
recounted the underarm incident on New Zealand's 20/20 current affairs show, on Thursday 17 February 2005. He said that after the affair there was a long silence in the dressing room, which was broken suddenly and unexpectedly by fellow player Mark Burgess
Mark Burgess (cricket player)
Mark Gordon Burgess was a New Zealand cricketer, and a captain of the New Zealand cricket team from 1978 to 1980. He was a right-handed batsman, and bowled right-arm off break. He was raised in the Auckland suburb of Remuera and attended Remuera Intermediate School...
smashing a teacup.
Also on 17 February 2005, over 24 years after the original underarm delivery, Australian fast bowler Glenn McGrath
Glenn McGrath
Glenn Donald McGrath AM , nicknamed "Pigeon", is a former Australian cricket player. He is one of the most highly regarded fast-medium pace bowlers in cricketing history, and a leading contributor to Australia's domination of world cricket from the mid-1990s to the early 21st century...
light-heartedly revisited the incident in the first ever Twenty20
Twenty20
Twenty20 is a form of cricket, originally introduced in England for professional inter-county competition by the England and Wales Cricket Board , in 2003. A Twenty20 game involves two teams, each has a single innings, batting for a maximum of 20 overs. Twenty20 cricket is also known as T20 cricket...
international, played between Australia and New Zealand. In the last over of the match, a grinning McGrath dummied an underarm delivery to Kyle Mills
Kyle Mills
Kyle David Mills is a New Zealand cricketer. Kyle is right-arm pace bowler who can also score quick runs in the later stages of one day innings; in October 2009 he reached his peak position of 1st on the Reliance Mobile ICC ODI Bowling Rankings.Having been injured in Australia in February 2007,...
, which prompted New Zealand umpire Billy Bowden
Billy Bowden
Brent Fraser "Billy" Bowden is an international cricket umpire from New Zealand. He was a player until he began to suffer from rheumatoid arthritis and took up umpiring...
to produce a mock red card. This drew a large reception from the crowd, which was mostly made up of New Zealand fans.