Punitive blade man bids adieu

When Virender Sehwag was belting his way to 195 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Boxing Day in the 200304 Test against Australia the Aussie pundits which included former players in the media lounge were reminded of how their former opening batsman Keith Stackpole went about pulverising the opposition bowlers in his heydayStackpole just smiled when I conveyed their views to him I donrsquot remember him showing any regret when Sehwag threw caution to the wind and got dismissed five runs short of a double century on Day One of a Test match He probably would have done the sameStackpole passed away in Victoria at the age of 84 on TuesdayWhile it is rare for visiting teams to win a Test series in India the last time an Australian did that was in 200405 it must be said that Stackpole played a good hand in Australiarsquos 31 series win on these shores in 196970Stackpolersquos name figures on the honours board at the Cricket Club of India for his 103 in the opening Test which helped Australia dictate terms in the series although they lost the Delhi Test after the draw in KanpurIn the first innings of the third Test in the Capital his 61 was Australiarsquos second highest top score after Ian Chappellrsquos 138The Brabourne Stadium hundred of course was rated highly ldquoPataudi India skipper realising that containment was his only hope brought on the restrictive Bedi and the mechanical Abid Ali Restriction was not quite possible as Stackpole using his weight played off the back foot backcutting and squarecutting with powerrdquo wrote the late journalist Rajan Bala his 1970published book Kiwis and KangaroosStackpole wrote a book titled Not Just for Openers He dwelled on the challenges that tour of India threw up The conditions were confronting and the Australians felt that the umpiring and accommodation was substandard The Brabourne Stadium where teams were put up got some flak in Not Just for Openers ldquoWe were told that someone from the Australian Embassy had gone through all the cities we were to play checking the accommodation But I should say no side to tour India should stay at Branbourne sic again Itrsquos hard enough to play Test cricket outside your country if the accommodation is not good itrsquos a damn sight harder We should have stayed at the Taj Mahal Hotel or the Royal Yacht Club the whole time we were in BombayrdquoWhen I asked him to autograph his 1974 book for me at Melbourne in 2000 he took his time and wrote ldquoDonrsquot take too much notice of its contents I was pretty screwed up with the game when I wrote it book Best wishes StackyrdquoThe impact of a threefigure knock in the opening Test of a series can never be exaggerated and Stackpole did it in four of the 11 Test series he was part of apart from the Australia vs Rest of the World Series which opened at Brisbane in NovemberDecember 1971If experts believe that the 22 result in the 1972 Ashes in England was a turning point in Australian cricket the nucleus of that team didnrsquot experience a series loss till 197677 then Stackpole played a big part in it As Ian Chappellrsquos deputy in England he scored 485 runs across five Tests His 627 runs in the previous Ashes in 197071 ended up in a lost cause It was during this series that his fellow Victorian and opening partner Bill Lawry was sacked as captain Stackpole didnrsquot hold back from expressing what he thought about the way Lawry was dumped none of the selectors told him about it ldquoTo me the way it was done to the captain of Australia was pathetic really In Adelaide at that time was Sir Donald Bradman chairman of selectors and all he had to do was show Bill the courtesy of making a fivecent phone call He could have said lsquoLook Bill I thought Irsquod give you a ring to say you have been dropped Wersquove decided to go along with Chappell and have a little bit more aggressive policy for the last Test Thanks for all yoursquove done in the pastrsquo We just couldnrsquot believe it We came home to Melbourne and of course all the Pressmen were at the airport and typically Phanto Lawryrsquos nickname took it on the chinrdquo Stackpole wroteStarting his Test career in the 196566 Ashes he began opening the batting from the Sydney Test of the 196869 home series against the West IndiesStackpole played the last of his 43 Tests against New Zealand in 197374 at Auckland where he got a pair While that must have been gutting Stackpole exited international cricket with the satisfaction of being an absolute team man under the Baggy Green cap in a career that witnessed 2807 runs at 3743 These figures are more flattering when one considers that he couldnrsquot see with his left eye in his own words lsquoblind as a batrsquo thereStackpole forged a successful media career after he gave up opening the innings to thrash fast bowlers and Richie Benaud often followed his summary of the day in the Channel Nine highlights package with the mention of Stackpole being in the commentary box with another commentator Many of us miss waking to the voices of Channel Ninersquos commentators Wersquoll miss Keith Stackpole toomiddayrsquos group sports editor Clayton Murzello is a purist with an open stanceHe tweets ClaytonMurzello Send your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paperatOptionskeyd0ddb8ef8f1a62a8cdd22fac27fc5ea7formatiframeheight90width728params