Jeremy Wilshire completed a cadetship with News Limited and was a sports journalist and features writer for various newspapers, agencies and magazines, before forging a career in sports marketing, public relations and events. His first book, One of Those Days, about a single day in the career of Australian sporting heroes, was published in 2002. He lives with his family near Kiama, on the NSW south coast. CONFESSI ONS OF JEREMY W I L S H I R E Echo Publishing An imprint of Bonnier Publishing Australia 534 Church Street, Richmond Victoria 3121 Australia www.echopublishing.com.au Copyright © Jeremy Wilshire, 2016 All rights reserved. Echo Publishing thanks you for buying an authorised edition of this book. In doing so, you are supporting writers and enabling Echo Publishing to publish more books and foster new talent. Thank you for complying with copyright laws by not using any part of this book without our prior written permission, including reproducing, storing in a retrieval system, transmitting in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, or by photocopying, recording, scanning or distributing. First published 2016 Cover design by Design by Committee Page design by Shaun Jury Front cover images, left to right: Greg Chappell, Sydney, Australia, 1980 (Patrick Eagar/Patrick Eagar Collection via Getty Images); Richard Hadlee, Headingley, England, 1990 (Bob Thomas/Getty Images); Adam Gilchrist, Sydney, Australia, 2005 (Hamish Blair/Getty Images); Muttiah Muralidaran, Galle, Sri Lanka, 2010 (Lakruwan Wanniarachchi/AFP/Getty Images) Back cover image: Final dismissal, tied Test, Brisbane, Australia, 1960 (Central Press/ Hulton Archive/Getty Images) Part title image: Shutterstock Typeset in Newzald and ITC Officina Sans Printed in Australia at Griffin Press. Only wood grown from sustainable regrowth forests is used in the manufacture of paper found in this book. National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry Creator: Wilshire, Jeremy, author. Title: Test of character: confessions of cricket legends / Jeremy Wilshire; introduction: Sir Peter Cosgrove ; commentary: John Cleese, Kerry O’Keeffe & Harsha Bhogle. ISBN: 9781760404321 (paperback) ISBN: 9781760404338 (epub) ISBN: 9781760404345 (mobi) Subjects: Cricket--Anecdotes. Cricket--History. Cricket players--Anecdotes. Other Creators/Contributors: Cosgrove, Peter, 1947- writer of introduction. Cleese, John, 1939- writer of added commentary. O’Keeffe, Kerry, 1949- writer of added commentary. Bhogle, Harsha, writer of added commentary. Dewey Number: 796.358 @echo_publishing @echo_publishing facebook.com/echopublishingAU For Jay and Finn, our backyard legends: strive, give, love, laugh .!.!. and keep that front elbow up. A schoolmaster on the virtue of cricket: ‘It merges the individual in the eleven; he doesn’t play that he may win, but that his side may.’ – Tom Brown’s School Days (an 1857 novel by Thomas Hughes) Contents PITCH REPORT Foreword Sir Peter Cosgrove AK MC (Retd) 3 Prologue Arthur Morris (Australia) 5 MORNING SESSION Debut up to 1975 Alan Davidson (Australia) ‘A captain’s dream’ 19 Ian Chappell (Australia) ‘Sugar-free skipper’ 31 Bishan Bedi (India) ‘Clockwork and verse’ 47 Barry Richards (South Africa) ‘Feline grace’ 59 Greg Chappell (Australia) ‘Art, science and an almond tree’ 73 Sir Richard Hadlee (New Zealand) ‘Great expectations’ 91 Michael Holding (West Indies) ‘Bowled fast, things happened’ 103 LUNCH Food for thought Ellyse Perry (Australia) ‘Double-barrelled dream weaver’ 119 Mohammad Nabi (Afghanistan) ‘A journey worth celebrating’ 125 Brendon McCullum (New Zealand) ‘Spirit seeker’ 131 MIDDLE SESSION Debut 1976 to 1995 Kim Hughes (Australia) ‘Unabashed enthusiasm’ 141 David Gower (England) ‘Crumpled sonnets and a speeding Bugatti’ 151 Craig McDermott (Australia) ‘A gunslinger’s road to respect’ 167 Mark Taylor (Australia) ‘Captain Quintessential’ 181 Alec Stewart (England) ‘Accidental hero’ 197 Mark Waugh (Australia) ‘A cavalier from Teddy’s cloth’ 209 Muttiah Muralidaran (Sri Lanka) ‘Symbol of goodness’ 223 TEA Light refreshments John Cleese ‘Writer, actor, tall person’ 235 Kerry O’Keefe & Harsha Bhogle ‘It’s not rocket surgery’ 241 Waleed Aly ‘The value of a good cover drive’ 247 FINAL SESSION Debut after 1995 Rahul Dravid (India) ‘Wherever I lay my hat .!.!.’ 255 Adam Gilchrist (Australia) ‘All aboard the Feelgood Express’ 267 Brett Lee (Australia) ‘Agent of happiness .!.!. for most’ 281 Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka) ‘Cricket’s ultimate chameleon’ 295 Graeme Smith (South Africa) ‘True grit’ 307 Michael Clarke (Australia) ‘Pass the bubbly’ 321 Graeme Swann (England) ‘Introducing the audacious Dr Comfort’ 335 STUMPS Harold ‘Dickie’ Bird (umpire) ‘Legend and caricature’ 351 Epilogue Mike Coward (The LBW Trust) 357 Acknowledgements 359 References 361 List of Images 369 PITCH REPORT Foreword His Excellency General the Honourable Sir Peter Cosgrove AK MC (Retd) Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia Ostensibly, cricket is about runs and wickets. Average over 50 with the bat, or in the low to mid-20s with the ball, and you sit comfortably in the category of the all-time greats. The best all-rounders strive for 30 or so with both bat and ball. And, of course, if you average 99.94 runs every time you go to the crease, you are in a class of your own and are known quite simply as ‘the Don’. But as all cricketers can tell you – from the backyard heroes to the champions of the Test arena – statistics only tell part of the story. Stoic fifth-day occupation of the crease to force a draw can be far more valuable than a breezy 50 when little is on the line. And a partnership-breaking wicket against a pair of established batsmen can be the equal of a bagful on a first-day green-top. This is why cricket is truly a test of character. It is more than averages and strike rates; it’s about a shared spirit of competition and camaraderie, and it’s about embracing the game, its laws and traditions. Above all, cricket is so special because it brings people and nations together. In Test of Character, legends from seven Test-playing nations provide their insights into the game. As a youngster sitting with my dad on the Paddington Hill at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG), I watched Peter May’s English battle it out with Richie Benaud’s champion team – Frank Tyson seemed to push off from the sightscreen! My own enthusiastic but unskilled cricket career eased me well into my late 50s and allowed endless fantasies of wickets taken, runs plundered 3 FOREWORD and catches swallowed. (John Howard is not the only cricket tragic!) Publication of this book will support the Learning for a Better World (LBW) Trust, of which I am a proud patron. The trust is an initiative of the international cricketing community, which gives hope and opportunity to thousands of young people in developing cricket playing countries. LBW scholarships support those who have the ability, but not the means, to study and fulfil their potential. The work of the trust demonstrates the enormous spirt and compassion that exists amongst the cricket fraternity. It shows that cricket’s shared values, mutual understanding and common respect have the power to change lives and contribute to a better world. Test of Character is a great read and reflects the very character of this game which is loved by so many. From the sheer joy and chaos of Michael Holding’s childhood games in Jamaica, to Michael Clarke’s definition of what the culture of the famous ‘baggy green’ means to him, this book takes us both onto the field and beyond the boundary. As the legendary English umpire Harold ‘Dickie’ Bird attests, cricket’s appeal ‘lies in the stories within the game’. There are many to be enjoyed within these pages. 4 Prologue Arthur Morris ‘Man of the hour’ Author’s note: The seed for this project was sown more than a decade ago. In contemplating a book featuring firsthand accounts of iconic Test matches, immediate thoughts went to capturing one of the final threads remaining that linked arguably the most emphatic run chase in history to the game’s most famous name – Sir Donald Bradman. Arthur Morris provided that treasured link when he agreed to an interview in 2004. With good grace and sharp memory, the former opener recalled the famous fourth Ashes Test of 1948, in Leeds, that lionised Australia’s ‘Invincibles’. The book project was subsequently shelved as life got in the way, but rekindled a few years ago with the support of the LBW Trust. With Morris having passed away in 2015 at the age of 93, this previously unpublished interview appears with the blessing of Arthur’s wife, Judith. The cherubic appearance of Arthur Morris may have offered the promise of an unimposing adversary. But only for the unwary. Fast feet, a keen eye, an unflappable air and a wicked wit armed this fair- skinned, curly- haired batsman with the tools to combat the world’s best bowlers and endear teammates. As an 18-year-old, the left- hander scored unprecedented twin centuries in his first-class debut on the eve of World War II. After serving in New Guinea, he made his Test debut in 1946, scoring three centuries in his first Ashes series. A fierce hooker with brilliant footwork, he led the plunder on Australia’s famed 1948 tour, scoring 696 runs at an average of 87 over the test series. In the fourth Test at Headingley, with Australia needing 404 5 Arthur Morris hones his skills in the nets on the 1948 Ashes tour (Central Press/Getty Images) PROLOGUE for victory on a deteriorating final-day wicket, he proved a man of the hour and ensured his name will echo through the ages by sharing a stand of 301 with Bradman. ‘He showed that day every quality demanded of the real champion,’ Bradman wrote in Farewell to Cricket. ‘A rock-like defence, powerful but studied aggression and a perfect temperament.