page_title: Australian cricket team in Australia in 1974–75
section_title: The captain
hierarchical_section_title: Australian cricket team in Australia in 1974–75 / The captain
caption_attribution_description: English: Image of Australian cricketer Ian Chappell. Courtesy of the National Archive of Australia. The NAA has given permission for the image to be used under the GDFL license. Confirmation of this permission has been sent to the OTRS system.
context_page_description: The 1974–75 Australians beat the touring England team 4–1 in the 1974-75 Ashes series. Labelled the Ugly Australians for their hard-nosed cricket, sledging and hostile fast bowling they are regarded as one of the toughest teams in cricket history. Don Bradman ranked them just after his powerful teams of the late 1940s, and Tom Graveney third amongst post-war cricket teams after the 1948 Australians and 1984 West Indians. The spearhead of the team was the fast-bowling duo of Dennis Lillee, whose hatred of English batsmen was well known, and Jeff Thomson, who outraged old fashioned cricketers by saying he liked to see "blood on the wicket". Wisden reported that "never in the 98 years of Test cricket have batsmen been so grievously bruised and battered by ferocious, hostile, short-pitched balls". "Behind the batsmen, Rod Marsh and his captain Ian Chappell would vie with each other in profanity", but the predatory wicketkeeper and Australian slip cordon snapped up most chances that came their way.
context_section_description: There have been few shrewder captains than Ian Chappell, who knew how to squeeze the last drop out of any situation that might help give his team an advantage. He was an absolute master at putting pressure on the opposition with just the right run rate or with a field that could be almost impossible to pierce ... Some of his tactics were quite intimidatory and stank of out-and-out gamesmanship that made old pros like me wince. It was an open secret that he used to encourage his players to give a lot of verbal abuse to rival batsman when they were at the wicket in an attempt to break their concentration.
  Tom Graveney
  Ian Chappell came from a South Australian cricket dynasty, his maternal grandfather Vic Richardson had been captain of Australia and his younger brothers Greg and Trevor Chappell also played for Australia. In the 1960s the young Ian Chappell had been noted as an aggressive batsman and gifted slip fielder who played for South Australia when only 18 and Australia when 21. He was not an immediate success with the bat, he made only one century in his first 17 Tests, but kept his place due to some extraordinary slip catches and his ability as a part-time leg-spinner. He ended his run-drought with 548 runs (68.50) against the West Indies in 1968–69. He was known as a man who could make runs when Australia were under pressure, and some thought he was a better batsman than his gifted brother Greg for this reason. Despite a poor tour of South Africa in 1969–70 Chappell was made Bill Lawry's vice-captain in the 1970–71 Ashes series. Lawry's defensive tactics earned him few friends and when Australia went into the last Test needing a victory to retain the Ashes he was controversially replaced by the aggressive Chappell, who had already made two centuries in the series. Chappell won the toss, put England in to bat and Australia had a 100 run lead in the first innings, but Ray Illingworth's team fought back to win the Test and the series. Nevertheless, Chappell was made captain for the 1972 Ashes series and his young team surprised Illingworth's veterans by halving the series 2–2. He now had young talent in the shape of Rod Marsh, Greg Chappell, Dennis Lillee, Bob Massie, Ross Edwards, Max Walker and Jeff Thomson and moulded them into a tough, combative team that dominated the mid-1970s; they beat Pakistan 3–0 and the West Indies 2–0 in 1972–73, New Zealand 2–0 in 1973–74, England 4–1 in 1974–75 and 1–0 in 1975. This success was not without its price as the Ugly Australians won few prizes for sportsmanship, with Chappell demanding 100% commitment from his players, and winning at all costs. In the 1975 Cricket World Cup Australia made 328/5 against Sri Lanka and Chappell told his team to go easy as the newcomers could not possibly win and he wanted to improve their image, but he reversed his decision when they reached 70/1. As a result, Sidath Wettimuny was carried off the field after being hit three times by Jeff Thomson, the 5'2" Duleep Mendis retired hurt after being hit between the eyes by a bouncer and Australia won by 52 runs. In 1975–76 he passed on the Australian captaincy to his brother Greg, but stayed in the team as they beat Clive Lloyd's West Indians 5–1. He was instrumental in the creation of Kerry Packer's professional World Series Cricket to rival the Australian Board of Control and improve the financial lot of Australian cricketers and captained the WSC Australia XI. When Packer and the ABC came to a deal Chappell returned to Test cricket against England the West Indies in 1979–80 before finally retiring.
caption: Ian Chappell, Australia's Test captain 1971–75
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