Former Australian player Trevor Chappell might be the only past or present Australian cricketer who has been relieved with the current ball-tampering scandal carried out under the leadership of Steve Smith. It has relieved him from one of the most notorious tasks done on a cricket field. It the 1981 World Series Cup against New Zealand. Trevor was instructed by his brother and skipper Greg Chappell to bowl the last ball under-arm.
He rolled the ball straight to Brian Bckenchnie, and the tail-ender expectedly failed to put it over the stands which would have given New Zealand a famous victory.
“I thought it was a good idea to underarm bowl at the time but not these days,” Trevor was quoted as saying by the Daily Telegraph. “I struggled a lot with it mentally. I was vilified for years, and people will still ask about it.” There is no doubt about the fact that the reputation of Australian cricket took a heavy toll as it became the biggest scar on the reputation of Australian cricket.
Trevor said that the incident had taken a mental toll on him which also cost him his marriage.
“I don’t know if my brothers have done better in life than me after what happened. Greg copped it at the time, but the quiet life certainly chose me after that,” the 65-year-old said.
“My marriage broke down and I never remarried or had kids. These days all I do is coach cricket to kids and play golf.”
Speaking on the recent ball-tampering controversy against South Africa at the Newlands in Cape Town, Trevor Chappell said that skipper Steve Smith, Vice-captain David Warner and opening batsman Cameron Bancroft might have to face the consequences for their actions for the rest of their lives.
“They’ll have to live with what they’ve done forever. Whether it haunts them for the rest of their lives is down to them but I haven’t been able to shake off what happened to me in 37 years,” Trevor said.
“What I did has lived with me ever since and it will be the same for Smith and Bancroft. They will struggle for the rest of their lives and be known as the ones who brought Australian cricket into disrepute,” he added.
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