In a new book, Tony Greig, Love War and Cricket, Greig’s son Mark Greig provides an insight into the excitement around Kerry Packer’s World Series Cricket and the tensions between Tony Greig and Ian Chappell.
Before the start of the second series of World Series Cricket in the summer of 1978 Kerry Packer, Bruce Francis, James Packer, David Gyngell and some of James’ schoolmates were practising against the bowling machine in Kerry’s backyard.
John Cornell, his wife, Delvene Delaney, and Austin Robertson drove in with the first copy of the famous ‘Come on Aussie, Come On’ WSC commercial. The adults retired to Kerry’s study and the following conversation took place:
Delvene Delaney: “Kerry, I’ve never seen so many guns. Do you do much shooting?”
Kerry: “A little.”
Delaney: “Are you any good?”
Kerry: “I get by. Delvene, pick a spot on that tree and I’ll show you how good I am.”
Kerry opened the window and screamed out to the kids, “Come inside!”
Mrs Packer then ran into the room: “Not that tree, Kerry. It took us days to get the bullet out last time.”
Kerry: “There will be no problems this time. This is a .450 elephant gun. This will go straight through the tree.”
Kerry hit Delvene Delaney’s chosen target, and they then watched the WSC commercial and got very excited.
The first match under lights at the SCG in season two – Kerry had by then won that battle, too – was a great success. Now Kerry and the rest of the WSC team could begin to think of victory over the Australian Cricket Board.
The full house at the SCG brought tears to Dad’s eyes. He was coming back from playing in the town of Orange in the New South Wales Central West.
It had been an exhausting trip, but the throng of people trying to get into the ground electrified him. For him it was one of the first clear signs it had all been worthwhile.
Dad saw Kerry and walked up to him, saying, “This is it.”
Kerry replied, “Yes, I think you’re right.” Because of the unexpected crowd, people were struggling to get through the turnstiles so Kerry manned one gate himself to help ease the congestion, and then threw open the gates – much to the annoyance of the SCG Trust.
The popularity of WSC was in part due to the poor performances of the ACB’s Test XI against Mike Brearley’s England team in the 1978–79 season.
Even without the likes of Dad and Alan Knott, England was a very strong side. For a while, Australia found a new fast bowling hero in Rodney Hogg, but as England dominated the series the crowds fell away.
The consensus among Kerry, Lynton, Austin, Richie and Dad was that the Board would have to negotiate a settlement if it were to survive.
Before the last Super Test in Sydney on 2–4 February 1979, Dad asked Kerry for 20 complimentary tickets for his corporate sponsors.
Kerry said there would be no problem on condition that he write Dad’s next column for the Sun-Herald. Dad agreed.
Kerry, or probably one of the respected journalists he had working for him, possibly Trevor Kennedy or David McNicoll, duly wrote the column, which upset the Australian players greatly – particularly Ian Chappell.
In short, the column said the Australian WSC team was useless. It was written to motivate the public to attend and to support ‘their’ team.
With the World XI requiring a couple of runs to win, Ian Chappell brought himself on to bowl and deliberately, I am told, bowled four wides so no one had the honour of hitting the winning run.
The relationship between Dad and Ian Chappell had its moments in those years, often revolving around the way the rest of the Australian team, and the rest of Australia, felt about my father.
Chappell shook hands on the field that day with every member of the World XI, except Dad.
At one point Phil Wilkins, the highly respected cricket writer, asked Ian why, and he replied that he didn’t respect Dad, adding that Dad should not have been in the World XI.
Once, when Ian tried to enter the World XI changing rooms, Dad told him to come back when he had calmed down. Ian’s actions devastated Dad, something that was totally out of character for him.
By this time, Dad had developed a pretty thick skin, and he had plenty of arguments with other people. He was always able to put these arguments behind him.
The clash with Ian really got to him, though, and Dad’s close friends reckoned there would never be a rapprochement between the two. Despite the rift, in subsequent years both men were honest in their appraisal of each other as cricketers.
When asked who he would get to bat for his life, Dad always said Ian Chappell. In turn, Ian always praised Dad for his support that day when the wicket was dug up at Leeds.
When WSC ended in 1979, the two men began commentating for Channel Nine, at best merely exchanging polite hellos.
Ian and Dad eventually became good mates when they stopped behaving like petulant children. Ian said the penny dropped for him when he was going to be spending a lot of time with Dad in the commentary box, so they’d better start trying to get along with each other.
Whenever I went in the commentary box with Dad, Ian was always one of the people to make a point of saying hello.
If I had a guest with me who was having a look inside the box, Ian was always the first person to come and chat to us and make my guest feel welcome.
This is an edited extract from Tony Greig, Love, War and Cricket by Joyce Greig & Mark Greig. RRP $39.95 ©Pan Macmillan 2013.
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