- Ian Chappell talks about England’s series loss to Pakistan
- Starred on Wide World of Sports’ Outside the Rope panel
Australian cricket legend Ian Chappell made a rare appearance in the studio this week when he spoke about England’s ‘rubbish’ batting approach in their recent series loss against Pakistan, and many viewers would have noticed that he looks very different in compared to his days at Channel Nine.
In conversation with former Australian captain Mark Taylor and sports commentator Mat Thompson on Wide World of Sports Off the rope, The man affectionately known as ‘Chappelli’, who is 81, described where England went wrong.
‘Have I ever seen bowling played worse than what England did? “Probably never,” he said.
“England was desperate.”
Chappell wasn’t done yet, labeling Brendon McCullum, after whom the aggressive ‘Bazball’ batting philosophy is named, a “dumb coach”.
It followed that the Kiwi encouraged England’s batsmen to reverse the sweep at every opportunity, which proved detrimental.
Former Australian captain Chappell, who scored more than 5,300 Tests in his career, was a topic of conversation in June last year after appearing on the Channel 9 show. The longest fight alongside his bitter rival Ian Botham, who is arguably England’s greatest cricketer.
In the sports documentary the tension could have been cut with a knife, as both men accuse each other of lying.
Some viewers would have noticed that ‘Chappelli’ has aged significantly in recent years.
The former Australian captain (pictured at The Oval, London in 1979) scored more than 5,300 Tests in his career.
Chappell (pictured interviewing Allan Border) began working as a commentator for Channel Nine’s cricket coverage in the 1980-81 season and became an icon.
Chappell has long maintained that Botham once threatened him with a glass of beer at Melbourne’s Hilton Hotel in 1977 after throwing it over a table, an accusation ‘Beefy’ says is ‘nonsense’.
When Chappell labeled Botham “a bully and a coward” on camera, the animosity level went up a notch in the surprising exchange.
Ironically, one of cricket’s most notorious and enduring rivalries did not primarily take place on the field.
In fact, the duo met only twice in Test matches when Australia swept England 3-0 in 1979-80, in series hastily arranged as part of the agreement between the World Series of Cricket and the Australian Cricket Board.
Botham finished with 154 runs at 51.30 and eight wickets, while Chappell scored 152 runs at 50.70 in a series in which The Ashes were not in play due to Australian cricket’s war with Kerry Packer’s World Series of Cricket.
Earlier this year, Chappell stated that today’s players should simply follow the laws of the sport.
A row over the “spirit of cricket” followed after incidents at the Under-19 World Cup and a Sheffield Shield match when NSW Blues star Chris Green was batting.
