The underarm odour

From Cricinfo's 'All Today's yesterdays'
February 1 1981

A one-day final, and the opponents need six off the last ball just to tie. If you were an Australian, you'd back yourself to win, wouldn't you? Greg Chappell didn't. He was so scared of New Zealand's Brian McKechnie (one-day career: 54 runs in 14 matches) that he ordered his bowler - who just happened to be his brother, Trevor - to bowl the last ball underarm. It did the trick and Australia won the match. But they lost a lot of friends at the same time - the tactic caused much consternation and was quickly banned. Ian Chappell, brother of Trevor and Greg, was commentating at the time and said: "No Greg, you can't do that."

Video
Click here to see a video of that delivery.



The Repercussions


From Wisden 1982

"Not surprisingly this prompted widespread charges of poor sportsmanship. The
Australian Cricket Board, "meeting" by telephone hook up. at once agreed that the playing conditions should be changed "to prohibit the use of underarm bowling in the remaining matches of the competition". They also decided that, as no existing rule had been infringed, the Melbourne result,however regrettably achieved, must stand."

"Mr P.L. Ridings, chairman of the Australian board, said his board 'deplored Greg Chappell's action' and had 'advised him of their strong feelings on the matter and of his responsibility as Australia's captain to uphold the spirit of the game at all times'. Chappell said himself it was something he would not do again. Even the Prime Ministers of the two countries had things to say,Australia's Mr Malcolm Fraser claiming that Chappell had 'made a serious mistake, contrary to the spirit of the game'. New Zealand's Mr Robert Muldoon was more outspoken, describing the underarm delivery as 'an act of cowardice'. It was appropriate, he said, that the Australian team should have been dressed in yellow, a reference to the coloured strip favoured by Australia in these one-day matches."

"Mr Bob Vance, chairman of the New Zealand Cricket Council, described it as'the worst sporting action' he had ever seen. 'Victory at this cost', he said. 'was at the sacrifice of Australia's tremendously proud cricket heritage'. Sir Donald Bradman 'totally disapproved' of what had happened. Richie Benaud referred to a 'disgraceful happening . . . one of the worst things I have seen on a cricket field'. Harold Larwood, aged 77 and living in retirement in Sydney, said it was 'a bloody stupid thing to do', adding that 'no-one in my time would have done anything like that'. A Sydney radio station said that several callers had urged that Australia's ambassador to New Zealand be recalled as an expression of national shame. There were charges, too, that the substantial prize money was changing players' attitudes."


And Greg Chappell on the infamous incident. Extracted from http://www.abc.net.au/rn/talks/8.30/sportsf/stories/s1034248.htm

Greg Chappell: The underarm was on a Sunday, the 1st February, 1981 I seem to remember. The following Saturday, so the 7th February, was to be the start of the final Test match against India. We had another final to play in the one-day series on the Tuesday against New Zealand. If we won that, then we wouldn’t have to play another one on the Thursday. So the end of the season, long season, I was pretty well worn out physically and mentally. A number of our senior players, Dennis and Rod in particular, had niggles that they were carrying. We were starting to feel the pinch, I was certainly feeling the pinch. I’d been having meetings for at least two seasons, on a regular basis with Australian Cricket, who claimed they couldn’t do anything about conditions at the MCG, so they would take us to meetings with Victorian Cricket, who claimed that it was out of their control. So we had meetings with the Melbourne Cricket Club, who claimed that there wasn’t a problem anyway, that what did it matter, the wicket was the same for both teams, which missed the point completely. And the fact that we played at the MCG twice as often as anyone else meant that it wasn’t the same for all teams.

All of the things that were wrong with the programming, all of the things that were wrong with the playing conditions, all of the things that were a problem with the new system, was impacting much more on the Australian team than it was on anyone else. And nobody either seemed to care or could do anything about it, or claimed they could do anything about it. And on that day, there’d been an incident earlier in the day where a catch had been claimed in the outfield by Martin Snedden, and I have no doubt that he felt that he’d caught the ball. From where I was, I couldn’t tell, so I wasn’t going to go unless the umpires gave me out. The umpires decided not to give me out, so that was quite a controversy in the morning session. I think I’d made 90-odd or something, 94, 96 or something in our innings. It had been a particularly hot day, I’d bowled my 10 overs in the bowling innings as I always did. And it was a particularly tight match. Bruce Edgar, John Wright, but Bruce Edgar in particular, Bruce Edgar I think made it 100 for New Zealand on that day and had batted beautifully. And New Zealand probably should have won the game.

I brought Trevor on to bowl late in the game to bowl out the last overs which generally it was me who bowled in the last 10 overs, but because it was a tight game and I’d come in to bowl my first spell in the middle overs, and was bowling reasonably well, I decided to keep bowling out my 10 overs because I knew I had Trevor up my sleeve to bowl the last few overs.

The wicket was so low and slow and so uneven, that someone like Dennis Lillee was the worst bowler from our point of view, to bowl in those last overs, because he got normal bounce and came onto the bat. Blokes who were military medium, like myself and Trevor, and didn’t bounce very much, were much more difficult to get away. It was always intended that Trevor was going to bowl those last overs.

Trevor did such a good job in the last overs that he picked up three or four wickets that actually brought us back into the game. And he’d picked up at least one wicket in that last over.

At that stage, we’d fielded particularly poorly in that session as well, we’d mis-fielded quite a few balls, and in those last couple of overs, there’d been a number of mis-fields that had really got to me, and I wasn’t fit, I mean I was mentally wrung out, I was physically wrung out, and I was fed up with the whole system. Things that seemed to be just closing in on us, and I suppose in my own case I felt they were closing in on me, and it was a cry for help. I was sitting on the ground at deep mid-on, Brian McKechnie came in to bat, I’d never seen him before. He’d come over as a replacement player. All I knew about him was that he was a Rugby Union player, he’d represented New Zealand, he was an All Black Rugby player, he’s a big strapping boy. The fact that he was batting No. 11 probably suggested he wasn’t that good. But at that stage, I didn’t really care. I hadn’t thought about it before looking up and seeing him walk through the gate, and I thought, I’ve had a gutful of this, and this is what I think of it. And I walked up to Trevor and I said, How are you bowling your underarms? And he said, I don’t know. And I said, Well you’re just about to find out. And with that I turned to the umpire at the bowler’s end and told him, who I’m reliably told, I mean when I told Trevor that he was bowling underarm, his eyes rolled back in his head. When I turned to the umpire at the bowler’s end, his eyes rolled back in his head, and I’m reliably informed that when he told the umpire at square leg, the same thing happened. So they were all taken aback by it, but there was nothing they could do about it. It was legal. I had conformed with all the requirements of informing the umpires, who then informed the batsmen, and I wandered back to deep mid-on knowing that it wouldn’t be all that well received, but probably unaware of the furore that was just about to unleash. And at that moment, I couldn’t have cared less.

The Art of Sehwag

Comp probs have meant that I haven't been updating the blog regulary. From here on, I plan to post often, infact daily. Lets see... Here is a writeup on Virender Sehwag. Sometime back I had written on his one day blues. Here I have tried to concentrate on his technique.

The Art of Sehwag

"My standout shot was off Rana Naved, when he hit a perfect good length ball for a straight drive. It went like a bullet to the fence and nobody, including Sehwag, moved"- Imran Khan on Virender Sehwag.


It was quite a sight. Even as the ball rose from the dust, Sehwag's back lift had reached its apogee and his back foot moved a little behind - straight back as opposed to back and across- and as the red cherry sped towards him, down came the flashing blade in a smooth downswing and met the ball flush in the middle. All this while, his head was still, absolutely still.

Greg Chappell has credited Sehwag's brilliance to an uncluttered mind and its product- an uncomplicated technique. It's worth analyzing his technique in detail. Although he modeled his game on his idol Sachin Tendulkar, his game depends more on eye-hand coordination. The back lift is higher; there is more of the wrist-cock which results in high bat speed that brings it down in a flurry and imparts momentum to the ball at the point of contact. And the movement of the feet or the almost lack of it is the most crucial one. His head is absolutely still and there is no movement of the feet till the ball is delivered. Then depending on his swift perception of the length of the ball, he moves or prefer to stays rooted. If it's short, he goes back, his back foot usually moves almost straight back as opposed to conventional back and across which is the vital element in his technique. That leaves him beside the line of the ball – some batsmen prefer getting behind the line - and his square-on position creates room, where none exists, for even a ball at stumps. If it bounces, he just sways back, balancing his weight to his right foot and uses his wrists for his dashing fierce upper-cuts and slashes. And if that short ball is on the stumps, even on the middle, he brings his bat almost parallel to the ground, bat face open towards the ball and uses his arms and firms his wrists to punch it over the slips.


The judicious movement of the feet, allied of course with his quick eye, allows him even to hit the good length balls on the up. Tendulkar moves towards the ball with a minimal back-lift and it's the fierce punch at the moment of the impact which allows him to drive on-the-up. Sehwag on the other hand, doesn't hurry his movements towards the ball, rather waits on his crease, with a little movement back and since he never gets his left feet across his downwards backswing comes down unimpeded and smoothly like a golf swing. This generates tremendous bat speed and transfers furious kinetic energy to the ball.


His uncluttered footwork also helps him negotiate the reverse swing adeptly. His left foot –the front foot - never comes across, as it does for many batsmen, and so he is never cramped when the final blast of in swing starts and the bat comes down unimpeded. The swing finishes its late movement and red cherry goes past his front foot and when about to pass the back foot, his blade crashes against its head and a fluent drive results.


If he treated the pacers nonchalantly against spin he is at his explosive best. Danish Kaneria, who Pakistan wisely held back for the second Test to prevent Sehwag denting his confidence, was merrily attacked in his short spell at Lahore. Three men prowled behind a silly point on the offside ring and Kaneria threw it up on the off and middle stump, turning it away, occasionally spinning back in but Sehwag scorched the area between cover and long off. Against the spinners there is an initial front foot movement as he mostly transfers his weight to the left foot and if it's in his driving range, the bat will crash through the line of the ball. If it dips and falls short of his perceived length, he will slog sweep it over on the onside or just go through the line of the ball and on most occasions his extravagant flourish will take it over the infield easily. If it's of shortish length, he will rock back to cut.


Only the fast, short pitched stuff aimed at his ribs disconcerts him. I was witness to an Irani Trophy game in 2003 – involving Mumbai and Rest of India – in Chennai. Tendulkar, who captained Mumbai, pitted his wits against Sehwag. He placed a leg slip, a man behind square and another just in front and with a man prowling at long leg and instructed Ajit Agarkar to operate round the wickets and pitch it short at Sehwag's ribs. Alas Agarkar couldn't quite get his radar right but couple of balls were on target; Sehwag jumped and shut his eye, thrusting his bat out. The balls popped up but just fell short of the waiting men. The West Indians first hit upon it, in a series in India, as their bowlers dug a few into his ribs and found to their immense delight Sehwag just tamely pushing out a weak swivel-pulled catches to backward short leg or square-leg. He however has worked on it a lot – with plastic and synthetic balls- and although he still doesn't possess a proper pull, his swivel shots are not that weak and he manages to use his wrists to get the ball down, even if he looks a bit ungainly while doing that. That still is his weak area but one needs express pace and accuracy- something seen rarely in the cricketing world today- to target and exploit. It would be fascinating to watch if Shoaib Akhtar manages to get his radar right in the second Test at Faisalabad where hopefully a sporting track awaits us.

There is an interesting story - on footwork - that I should mention here. Not on Sehwag but that involving Majid Khan, the stylish former Pakistan batsman, told by his Glamorgan colleague Peter Walker in his fantastic book Cricket Conversations. The incident occurred during a nets session after a game against Sussex where Jim Parks jr had put the Glamorgan bowlers – including Don Sheperd - to sword. Majid Khan's team-mates reckoned it was the speed and precision of Park Jr's that helped him bled their attack. Majid, a silent spectator to the discussion, spoke at the end, "You don't need any footwork in batting, just hands and eye". That astonishing statement was contested hotly and his team-mates demanded him to prove it on field. Over to Walker: "Within fifteen minutes, three of our front-line bowlers, including Sheperd, lined up in a net outside with Majid padded up at the other end about to have his theory demolished. For twenty minutes, on a rough, unprepared, and quite-impossible-to-bat-on wicket where the ball flew, shot, seamed and turned, Majid Khan stood absolutely motionless, parrying the ball as it lifted, cutting or hooking unerringly if it were wide, driving with frightening power if over pitched and swaying out of harm's way when it lifted unexpectedly. Unless he allowed it, not a single ball passed his bat, not a chance was given, not a false stroke made. The bowlers were at full throttle, yet by our own reckoning afterwards that twenty-minute session must have yielded the young Pakistani around 75 runs! He had just defied every known textbook instruction, improvised strokes that just did not exist and, without uttering a word, had emphatically made his point. In the presence of genius, no rules apply."


Sehwag is similarly gifted, not just a butcher, and his footwork is not a lackadaisical or absolutely non-existent. He knows his game so well that all he looks for with his foot movement, as any batsman should, is to maintain a perfect balance that helps with his style of play. It would be however very interesting to see him operate once his quick eye slows up a bit but for that we have to wait a few years, till then we can relax back in our couch and enjoy the fabulous Sehwag show.

Amit Varma's Pakistan tour diary

Amit Varma, the Interactive editor of Cricinfo and an avid blogger, is currently touring Pakistan to cover the cricket series for The Guardian. His tour diary can be read at his blog India Uncut Keep visiting that blog.