Today’s piece looks at a differently painful failed Queensland Sheffield Shield campaign.
They all hurt – to Queenslanders, anyway – but this one had a different flavour, mostly because of the Chappell factor.
We’d (warning: Queensland bias from the writer) enticed Greg north-east in 1973 and he’d almost single-handedly dragged us to the title two years in a row while South Australia languished last both times. Then then in 1975-76 we saw… ah, you’ll find out if you read all the way through. But basically we didn’t win. Again.
To set the scene. Ian Chappell resigned as Australian captain in September 1975, but said he would stay on as a player, and would still captain South Australia, to give them more love. This meant Greg was promoted to Australian captain to play the visiting West Indies.
(Steven Paston – EMPICS/Getty Images)
(South Africa were down to tour but it had decided to cancel them on the grounds of well, there would be barricades at the grounds. Instead eight Australian Test players decided to tour South Africa as part of an invitational squad at the end of the summer – one of those tours everyone pretended they didn’t go on later in life.)
“Yes, yes,” I hear you say, “but what about Queensland?”
Well, once again, the team looked Good On Paper. We had two Test representatives (Chappell and Jeff Thomson), one borderline (Geoff Dymock), an excellent keeper (John Maclean) and leggie (Malcolm Francke) who both could’ve played Tests, some promising batters (David Ogilvie, Martin Kent), a perennially promising all rounder (Phil Carlson) and a very experienced batter who’d decided to hang on for One More Year (Sam Trimble who needed 478 runs to equal Don Bradman’s Sheffield Shield record of 8,926 runs).
Plus Ian Davis, a one-time Test player, had just moved north. The main loss was Tony Dell who had retired after many years of excellent service. But we did have Denis Schuller – a very solid bowler.
Silver two years in a row… surely this team could win gold?
Hahahahahaha.
Ian Chappell wrote in a pre-season column that “the old myth of Australian cricket only being as strong as New South Wales has been blown sky high” adding “a lot of the credit for blowing up this theory must go to Western Australia and to a lesser extent Queensland”.
He said “Queensland has never won the Shield but it has set such a high price on trying to win it that it has made every other team more conscious of the presence of the silver shield and has added greatly to the colour of the competition.”
First game of the season was against NSW at the Gabba. We normally won those… although it didn’t seem like it at first when the first day was called off due to rain, NSW made 250 and Queensland went for 227 (Chappell 105).
But then NSW were dismissed for 141 and we got the 165 runs for the loss of two wickets in 16.7 overs with nine balls to spare – good old Sam Trimble scoring 66 and Chappell hitting 86 runs in 72 minutes. This earned Queensland ten points for the outright victory and six bonus points.
The good vibes continued against Victoria although rain stopped play on the first two days. They made 208 (Thommo 4-64, Francke 4-64), Queensland were 7-261 (Kent 103) when the game was called off. Queensland earned 10 points for winning on first innings. “The natural ability in this Queensland batting line up is unlimited” enthused Chappell.
Queensland went to Perth to play WA. We were dismissed for 211 (Brayshaw 6-48), got them for 157 (Thommo 6-47), batted well in the second dig to make 293 (Maclean 78), and dismissed WA for 251 (Francke 5-56, Thommo 4-73). The more I research Queensland the more I like Francke – he was a match winner. This was Queensland’s first win in Perth since 1969.
We were on top of the table with 43 points, then NSW (27), WA (26) and South Australia (19).
Yay.
Over to South Australia who had been rejuvenated by Ian Chappell focusing his love on them. Queensland were dismissed for 188 (Ogilvie 55, Chappell 54, Jenner 5-73), South Australia made 248 (Cosier 59, Hookes 53, Thommo 4-60), Queensland 229 (Greg Chappell 99 – caught at slip by Ian, Mallett 4-58) and South Australia chased down the 170 needed for the loss for three wickets (Ian Chappell 89). In hindsight this was the most crucial loss of the season for Queensland.
Queensland had a disaster against the West Indies, dismissed for 164 and 127 in reply to the visitors scoring 381 – Inshan Ali took 11 wickets! Trimble, Carlson and Thommo did miss the game due to injury.
The pitch was criticised a lot and the Queensland Minister for sport called for the sacking of the Gabba supervisor, Alderman Clem Jones. Politics may have no place in sport but did did in Queensland circa 1975.
Queensland were back in the groove against NSW. We made 381 (Chappell 124, Carlson 64), they got 260 (Thommo 5-84 – he also broke the left arm of blue batter Len Richardson), Queensland made 5-276 (Ogilvie 132), and we got them for 267 (Francke 4-70).
Hurrah!
Queensland were on top of the table with 69 points followed by South Australia (54) and WA (44).
“We really needed that win,” said Chappell. “With South Australia going so well we must keep winning our matches and it will be handy if NSW can topple some of the other teams.”
Ian Chappell was charged for abusing umpires in a Shield game and it seemed he might’ve been suspended – in which case we might’ve won the Shield – but he escaped.
Oh by the way the Gilette Cup was on. Queensland played South Australia in a semi final, made 182 (Jeff Langley 59) then dismissed the south-westerners for 97. .
Queensland played Victoria at the Gabba. We played an extra batter, meaning there were only three specialist bowlers plus Chappell and Carlson. We batted first, made 216, but we got them for 183 (Dymock 4-64), Queensland made 4-270 (Chappell 131, Kent 101), setting Victoria 304 to win.
They were 2-83 when… the last day rained out and the game was a draw. This meant Queensland only got seven bonus points from the game while South Australia collected 21 for outright victory over WA in Perth. And Queensland only had two games to play while South Australia had four.
It would turn out to be massive, losing that day. Damn you, rain!
Queensland were the nearly men in state cricket for close to a century. (Photo by Jason McCawley/Getty Images)
Queensland played Western Australia in the Gillette Cup Final. We put on 236 (Chappell 62, Kent 61) and managed to dismiss WA for 232 (Chappell 3-38). We won a domestic title!
WA helped out by defeating South Australia. So on 16 February Queensland were 76 points on the table, SA 75 and WA 46.
But then SA beat Victoria (an amazing game where Ian Chappell scored 171 in a 364 run chase), giving them an 18 point lead over Queensland.
Both teams had two Shield games to play.
South Australia’s Shield team withdrew from its eastern states tour in protest over the selection of the game (Rick Drewer was dropped in favour of Bob Blewett).
Maybe we’d win via forfeit! We’ll take it! But they sorted it out when Chappelli backed down. It’s a full on saga. But it could have won us the Shield.
Damn you, conciliation!
Another game at the Gabba against WA. We needed full bonus and win points to overhaul South Australia. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article110805225 We got them for 320 (Francke 4-103), and were 2-91 when the rain fell… and fell.
The last two days were lost to rain. We only got two bonus points and were on 78 while South Australia got nine points against NSW. This put them on 103 against Queensland’s 78 – unbeatable.
“That’s it – we’re history and can start thinking about next year now,” said Greg Chappell. “We faced a mountainous task anyway even if rain had not ruined the match.”
Last game was the season was against South Australia at the Gabba. We batted first, got 348(Carlson 88) and then… it rained. And rained. And rained.
So we came second on 84 points to South Australia’s 105.
This season was different to others. Normally Queensland started strongly at home, them stumbled playing away from home. In 1975-76 we started strongly away from home, then had a series of games at home… which were shortened due to rain.
Of all Queensland’s failed Shield campaigns, 1975-76 was the most painful because so little of it was our fault. We only played one game badly – the one against South Australia. The crucial games against Victoria and WA were rained out. And South Australia teased us by threatening to go on strike and they didn’t.
Queensland lost Ian Davis to New South Wales and responded by signing up Viv Richards for the 1976-77. So yes, that would surely work.
Anyway, we came last that year. We’ve got to mix it up.
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