Greg Chappell: 15 little-known anecdotes involving the Australian legend

Greg Chappell, born on August 7, 1948, is one of the greatest batsmen to have represented Australia. Hailing from a sporting family, Chappell went on to represent Australia in 87 Tests and 74 One-Day Internationals (ODIs). He was one of the leading batsmen in the world in the 1970s and the early 1980s, forming a vital cog of a dominant Australian side. His brothers Ian and Trevor also represented Australia at the highest level. Post retirement, Chappell became a coach — albeit a controversial one. Nishad Pai Vaidya picks 15 little known anecdotes about the Australian great. 

1.  Beginning in the backyard — Australia vs England

Chappell began playing the sport in the backyard of his house in Adelaide. It was quite a competitive setting for the brothers as they battled hard for victory. The age difference between them also played a part. Greg’s elder brother Ian is five years his senior and Trevor is four years younger. Being the middle brother, he got a chance to play against the older Ian and then dominate the junior Trevor.

2.  Ashes rivalry between the brothers

As a child, Chappell was dominated by his older brother Ian in their backyard Test matches. Speaking to this writer in 2014, Chappell recalled, “Those Test matches were played very seriously and were games between Australia and England — the Ashes Test matches. The bad news for me was that Ian as the older brother was Australia and I had to be England. That was my first real conflict — whilst I didn’t want to be beaten by my older brother, I didn’t really have my heart in winning for England.”

3.  No sympathy from Ian

In his book Cricket: The Making of Champions, Chappell recalls an interesting anecdote from their days in the backyard. Greg’s older brother Ian was much bigger and stronger than him and would try to bowl short stuff to intimidate him. The brothers played without pads or protection and one occasion, Greg was hit on the fingers. He sat down in tears, wincing in pain. “Normally, Ian stood about 10 metres away and glared at me until I got up, but on this occasion, he’d come right up the pitch. I thought, ‘at last, a bit of compassion from the older brother.’ So I looked up, tears in my eyes and he said, ‘I wouldn’t worry about the fingers if I was you, it’s your head next.’”

4.  Shot off the hips

Greg Chappell has often said that backyard cricket gave him good grounding in his early years and helped him develop his game and character. The setting was quite interesting as the house was on the off-side and they couldn’t hit the ball there for the danger of breaking windows. On the leg-side, there were various fruit trees and they had to stay clear of them as well. However, between those trees, there was a small gap — around square-leg. Chappell developed the ability to clip the ball off his hips and play it through the vacant area. As he played that shot at the highest level, an intrigued Mike Brearley asked him about the shot’s origins. “I said, “I don’t know, but I am assuming it is because of the fruit trees in front of square-leg and the almond trees behind square-leg. Any gap was just through there.” So, obviously, I had decided that it was a place where I could score boundaries,” Chappell once told this writer recalling that exchange.

5.  Bradman’s advice

In 1967, Chappell was a youngster trying to make a mark in Sheffield Shield. Ahead of a tour game against the visiting Indians, Sir Don Bradman gave him a crucial piece of advice. Spotting a flaw in his batting grip, Bradman corrected Chappell and famously told him that he had given the same tip to another player, who wasn’t in the scheme of things any more. Allan Sheill, the said player, told Mid-DAY, “Greg Chappell loves telling that story. Greg and I were roommates when he first came into the South Australia side in the mid 60s. Sir Don had a similar piece of advice for Greg. That’s why Greg kept telling me, ‘I better take the advice, because the last bloke who didn’t take Sir Don’s advice isn’t playing cricket anymore.’”

6.  Leggie turned batsman

In his young days, Chappell bowled leg-spin, but a growth spurt put paid to his hopes of emulating Richie Benaud. In a column for the Guardian, Chappell wrote, “My leg-spin didn’t survive the journey as I never overcame growing six inches in one summer holiday period as a teenager, but luckily my batting allowed me to follow his [Benaud’s] footsteps into Test cricket.”

7.  Help from baseball

Chappell was one of the best players of fast bowling in his time and he countered some of the best bowlers with remarkable technique. Along with his brothers, he had developed a training method involving bowling baseballs on a concrete surface to get used to pace. The practice started when Ian Chappell was picked for Australia to tour England in 1968. Trevor Chappell told ESPNCricinfo, “Greg and I, with Dad, would throw brand new baseballs at Ian, because they would skid on and bounce up. The concrete that’s not glazed rips the balls apart and stops them. When it’s shiny it skids on like on a mirror.” That helped the brothers get used to pace and deal with the short-stuff.

8.  Corporate career

Though Greg Chappell won fame as a cricketer, he was able to carve a successful career off the field as well. In later years, he moved into business after starting off as an employee. In his book, Chappell says that during his off days while playing county cricket in England, he got a lot of time to read many books. He was drawn to sales and marketing and started off as an insurance agent with AMP Society in his early 20s. He later worked for Coca-Cola. Chappell credits those experiences for teaching him the importance of leadership.

9.  Heavy bat

In his early days, Chappell used bats that weighed around two pound four ounces. During a game, he saw Graeme Pollock hit the ball sweetly with a heavy willow. In a chat with Pollock, he found out that the bat weighed around three pounds. When Chappell tried to lift it, he found it too heavy but he had made up his mind to use a heavier willow. In a column for The Hindu, Chappell wrote, “I wasn’t as strong as Graeme, so I started with bats that were two pound 12 ounces, but found that while they were okay for vertical bat shots, I struggled when I was forced to play cross-bat shots such as the pull, cut and hook shots. In the end I settled on two pound 10 ounces and found that they allowed me to hit the ball harder, without compromising my ability to move freely and play the horizontal bat strokes.”

10.  Under-arm heat

In 1981, Chappell was involved in a bitter controversy when he directed his brother Trevor to bowl an underarm delivery to finish a One-Day International (ODI) against New Zealand at Melbourne. Though no laws had been broken, Chappell’s actions were widely condemned by the cricketing community. That evening, Dennis Lillee and Chappell made their way to Sydney in order to escape the ruckus. In his book My Life in Cricket, Lillee recalled, “Greg said to me, ‘Could be a good idea to get out of that hotel… could be a few bombings tonight!” So off we went with the Sydney-based players, what wanted to have the night at home.”

11.  Dr Rudi Webster

Dr Rudi Webster, a renowned sports psychologist, has guided numerous cricketers to success over the years. Chappell benefitted immensely from Webster’s guidance during a tough phase that saw him score seven consecutive ducks in international cricket. In his book, Think Like A Champion, Webster wrote, “At that stage Greg did not know why he was playing so poorly. When I told him that I thought he was ignoring the most important fundamental in batting — watching the ball out of the bowler’s hand — the penny dropped and he went into the nets to see if that was in fact the case. He immediately rectified his problem and soon after played some magnificent innings for Australia against New Zealand.”

12.  Guiding young Allan Border

Chappell had moved to Queensland and captained them in the Sheffield Shield. He had an influence on a young Allan Border, who had also moved to the state from New South Wales. Border wrote in his autobiography, “He [Chappell] told me it [move to Queensland] had been very hard for him to wrench himself away from Adelaide, but he had to think of what it meant to him in the long term. He suggested I think along similar lines.” Border grew under Chappell’s tutelage not only as a player but also as a leader.

13.  Giving up milk products

In his book, Chappell writes that he started consuming a lot of milk as a youngster to grow stronger. That habit continued through his international days, when he was often affected by a sore throat. He found out that his consumption of milk and dairy products could have been the reason. Chappell also got to know that athletes had reported that their fitness levels had improved once they cut down on milk products. “That was in 1979. Since that day I have not knowingly touched milk, cheese or any other form of dairy product — and I’ve rarely eaten red meat,” he wrote.

14.  Centuries against the odds

Chappell was one of the toughest cricketers produced by Australia. For starters, he scored a century on Test debut to showcase his nerves of steel. He also ended his Test career with a hundred. In 1974, he went through a rough phase as the floods in Brisbane had damaged his house and his wife had suffered a miscarriage. Chappell was strong enough to put that aside while batting as he went on to score two centuries in a Test against New Zealand in March 1974. In 1980-81, he had scored a double century against India despite suffering from an illness. Sunil Gavaskar recalled a humorous incident which happened during that game at Sydney. He wrote in his book Idols, “Halfway through that innings, he [Chappell] asked me if he could have some water and I told him only if he had some Scotch in it. He was hammering our attack and the only way to get him out was if he would be intoxicated enough to try an over-ambitious shot.”

15.  Bouncing Viv Richards

During a World Series Cricket game against West Indies, Chappell once hit the great Viv Richards on the head with a bouncer. Chappell was not a very quick bowler, but the surface at the Sydney Showgrounds was fast. “I said to him at the time, “Don’t worry, I was just making a point. I won’t bowl many more of them. This is the fastest I have ever played on.” I wasn’t trying to hit him; I was just trying to beat him for pace. I hit him on the cap and he didn’t have the helmet on,” Chappell told this writer in 2014.

(Nishad Pai Vaidya is a Mumbai-based cricket journalist and one of the youngest to cover the three major cricketing events — ICC World Cup, World T20 and under-19 World Cup. He tweets as @nishad_45)