50-year-old Test of skill

The stakeholders of Australian cricket despite the recent Test series loss to India have some reason to smile if not be elated with the current scenario After two highly forgettable losses in the Nagpur and New Delhi Tests their team bounced back splendidly in Indore to make their scoreline 12 After the creditable draw in Ahmedabad they clinched the ODI series 21The people in the inner ring of Australian cricket 50 seasons ago were an upbeat bunch too For on March 28 1973 Ian Chappellrsquos Australians beat a Rohan Kanhailed West Indies outfit in a tight Test match at the Queenrsquos Park Oval in PortofSpain TrinidadChappell determined to win his first away series as Test captain reckoned the West Indies were happy to draw the first two Tests at Kingston and Barbados and were waiting for Trinidad to draw first blood through Lance GibbsAlso Read An off day to rememberGibbs deserved his dangerman billing because he could cause serious damage on a pitch that turned and thatrsquos exactly how the Trinidad pitch was way back thenAustraliarsquos first hero in the Test was Doug Walters He was dropped for The Oval Test against England the previous year and made a return to the side in the final Test of the home series against Pakistan Walters had Test scores of 72 1 and 102 not out in the lead up to Trinidad where he smashed a hundred in a session He scored 100 of Australiarsquos 138 runs between lunch and tea on the opening day at Trinidad and frustrated Gibbs no end with pull shots that set midwicket on fire and cutting edge cut shots through point His skipper described the innings well in his 1973 book Passing Tests ldquoThere is no finer batsman and player of spin bowling than Doug Walters When Gibbs strengthened his onside field to restrict the flow of fours from the flashing blade and concentrated his attack on the leg stump to contain the batsman Walters showed his sparkling footwork as he skipped back to cut the ball away to the boundary behind and in front of point lay back on his stumps to pull shorter balls with superb power and timing one of them sailing over the midwicket boundary And when the ball floated up to him he was quickly in position to send it skimming across the turf with flowing drivesrdquo wrote ChappellChappell who very nearly missed the Test having strained his ankle while playing tennis before the game was hoping for a fruitful partnership with his tonup mate but Walters perished when Inshan Ali had him caught at leg slip by Roy Fredericks Chappell was convinced that he hadnrsquot seen a more memorable innings from Dashing Doug Waltersrsquos century and halfcenturies from opener Ian Redpath and Greg Chappell helped Australia score 332 to which West Indies responded with 280The visitors didnrsquot have the services of their premier spinner Ashley Mallett who decided not to tour as he was making a career in journalism But there was his South Australia teammate Terry Jenner and New South Welshman Kerry OrsquoKeeffe the commentator who now makes his Australian viewers laugh with his chuckle The spin duo claimed six of the 10 West Indian wickets to fall one each to pacers Max Walker Jeff Hammond and Greg Chappell Alvin Kallicharran impressed with 53 before he was caught by a diving Greg at cover while skipper Kanhairsquos brilliant innings of 56 ended when Redpath plucked a catch off the Guyanese greatrsquos cover driveAustraliarsquos second innings was worth 281 with captain Chappell scoring 97 of those runs With the bruised ankle he stuck around for 233 minutes mdashwhat a way to lead by example on a turning pitch The 334run target set for the hosts was a difficult one but Kallicharran was terrific again as Tony Cozier put it in his dispatch for The Cricketer magazine ldquoHis killing of the spin on the front foot could have been bettered by no contemporary batsmanrdquoA publication on the tour produced by Australian Cricket magazine said the final day of this Test ldquomust rank as one of the most tense and exciting in the annals of Test cricket It provided a wonderful climax to an actioncharged gamerdquo Indeed it wasAt lunch on Day Five West Indies were 268 for five with 66 needed for victory Maurice Foster and Kallicharran were running away with the match During the break captain Chappell decided it was time for a chat Mallett quotes him in Hitting Out as saying to the bowlers ldquoSome of you blokes are starting to whinge and complain about our luck and that wonrsquot help us winrdquoFirst ball after the interval Walker got Kallicharran to chase one outside the offstump for Rod Marsh to accept with more than just glee Foster batting with a dislocated finger fell prey to OrsquoKeeffe and in less than an hour the Australians were walking back to the pavilion mighty proud of their 44run victoryAustralia went on to win the next Test at Georgetown and after the draw in the fifth and final Test of the series Chappellrsquos men held the honour of being the only Australian side to win a Test series in the Caribbean for 22 yearsThere were other reasons to remember this 50yearold series Garry Sobers was not part of the action because he refused to be on trial after recovering from a knee injury wanting the selectors to believe him when he said he was fit because he had agreed to their requests to play on earlier occasions when he wasnrsquot fit to do soWalters the hero of the third Test at Trinidad attracted his captainrsquos ire in the fifth Test at the same venue when he overslept and arrived late Chappell had him field at third man and fine leg for the rest of the session and restricted his verbal admonishment with the words as mentioned in Waltersrsquo autobiography ldquoIt wonrsquot happen again will itrdquo By all accounts Walters didnrsquot guarantee that just like he gave no assurances that he wouldnrsquot score a hundred in a session again Before the following year closed out he smashed one against England at Perth only to reiterate the point that you can never tell with geniusesmiddayrsquos group sports editor Clayton Murzello is a purist with an open stance He tweets ClaytonMurzelloSend your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper