Greg Chappell - The Move North and The Ashes Regained

The Move North and The Ashes Regained

The interest in his arrival was enormous as he was expected to lead the state to its first Sheffield Shield title. Although Chappell gathered more than a thousand runs in the shield matches alone, Queensland were thwarted in the last match of the season by a devastating spell from young New South Wales fast bowler Jeff Thomson. Learning of the bowler's dissatisfaction with his home state, Chappell convinced Thomson to move to Queensland for the following season. Chappell then departed for Australia's first Test-playing tour of New Zealand. The Chappell brothers shattered records in the Wellington Test, as Ian and Greg scored centuries in both innings, the only such instance. Greg's effort of 380 runs in a Test match (247* and 133) remained a record until beaten by Graham Gooch in 1990.

Unfortunately for Chappell, his health was now blighted by recurring tonsillitis and he found it difficult to bat for long periods during the 1974-75 Ashes series. He was the backbone of Australia's sometimes inconsistent batting, scoring 608 runs at 55.3. At Sydney, where Australia won to reclaim the Ashes, Chappell dominated with 84 and 144, which he followed up with a century in a losing cause in the sixth Test at Melbourne. At Perth, he broke the world record for a fielder by snaring seven catches. Ironically, his grandfather Vic Richardson was one of several players who held the old record of six. Chappell reluctantly had his tonsils removed, but he quickly lost a lot of weight which affected his performance on the tour of England that followed. He played in the World Cup (for what proved to be the only time), then made only one good score (73* at Lords) in the four Ashes Tests that followed.