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Opinion
In the Australian summer of 1970-71 the only certainties were hot days and heat rash. Less certain was the likelihood of Australia winning the Ashes contest against England.
This was a period of watching Test matches on black and white ABC television with two camera angles and no advertisements. Imagine that, not a single promotion of a renovation or cooking show! The series also featured seven Test matches (one abandoned) with Alan ‘Froggy’ Thompson as one of the Australian fast bowlers.
During the series the first one-day cricket match (40 overs a side) was played. At the time cricket was played with eight-ball overs. Australia were strong favourites, particularly after a shining moment of hope when in an early tour match Victoria beat the visiting England side, the English then referred to as the Marylebone Cricket Club. Further hope had come from South Australia scoring 649 against the tourists, even if Barry Richards, the South African opener playing for that state at the time, contributed an impressive 224.
But England had John Snow. Snow was a ferocious pace bowler with the intent of a serial killer as he charged in. Snow captured 31 wickets at an average of 22.83 in the Tests. Skilled in bowling short, fast balls, during the Sydney Test he’d been cautioned for intimidatory bowling by umpire Lou Rowan.
Australian leg spinner Terry Jenner – later Shane Warne’s coach – ducked into a delivery that felled him. Three English players escorted him from the field as Snow took up his position on the boundary to field. There he was abused and pelted with cans and even meat pies. One spectator grabbed him, dragging him closer to the fence, and appeared to attempt to slap him.
English captain Ray Illingworth then ordered his entire team from the field. It was a dramatic moment that contrasted with a feeling that the series had been dull and tedious, with often slow centuries from English opener Geoff Boycott. Perhaps that slow play explained over 36,000 cans of beer consumed in the first three days of the Brisbane Test.
If our batting survived John Snow, there was the accuracy of Keith Shuttleworth or Peter Lever to contend with, plus their gangly pace bowler Bob Willis. Willis later went on to become one of the few fast bowlers to captain their country.
Australian captain Bill Lawry’s opening partner was Keith Stackpole. On his way to a score of 207 in Brisbane, photographs showed he had been run out for 18. Later in the series Geoff Boycott was given out following a run-out and in disgust hurled his bat to the ground. No-one at that game is likely to forget the volume of booing that greeted Boycott that day.
England won the series 2-0, achieving the rare outcome of Australia not winning a Test in a home series. But in doing so the aggressive bowling of John Snow would open the doors to Australia’s retaliation and in particular Jeff Thomson’s threat: “I enjoy hitting a batsman more than getting him out. I like to see blood on the pitch”.
In the 1974 tour of Australia, as the wickets and injuries piled up in the English team, they may well have pondered the monster they had unleashed in 1970.
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