Underarm over as villain Steve Smith ousts Trevor Chappell

Underarm bowler Trevor Chappell has warned Steve Smith and Cameron Bancroft their lives will always be tainted.

Former Australian cricketer Trevor Chappell. Picture: Nathan Edwards

Vilified for years for his role in Australian cricket’s previous greatest on-field scandal, Trevor Chappell has warned Steve Smith and Cameron Bancroft their lives will always be tainted.

“They’ll have to live with what they’ve done forever,” he said in an exclusive interview with The Daily Telegraph.

Chappell said that bowling his infamous underarm delivery to ­secure victory against New Zealand in 1981 had taken a mental toll on him and cost him his marriage and the chance of a family.

“What I did has lived with me ever since and it will be the same for Smith and Bancroft,” the 65-year-old said.

“They will struggle for the rest of their lives and be known as the ones who brought Australian cricket into disrepute.

“They’ll have to live with what they’ve done forever. Whether it haunts them for the rest of their lives is down to them but I haven’t been able to shake off what happened to me in 37 years.”

The youngest of three Chappell brothers who played for Australia is now relieved the current team’s ball-tampering furore means he is no longer the main villain in the annals of Australian cricket.

“I’m the last one who comes up on Google as the man who took the lead role in Australian cricket’s darkest day — it’s a real relief I can finally drop that title,” he said.

Chappell these days barely speaks to his brother Greg, who as the Australian captain on the day ordered him to deliver the notorious “lawn bowls” delivery at the MCG to prevent Kiwi batsman Brian McKechnie from hitting a six that would have tied the match.

At the time, underarm deliveries were within the laws but not the spirit of the game in Australia and the incident generated a huge controversy on both sides of the Tasman — with the Australian and NZ prime ministers fiercely critical.

“I thought it was a good idea to underarm bowl at the time but not these days,” he said. “I struggled a lot with it mentally. I was vilified for years and people will still ask about it. I don’t know if my brothers have done better in life than me after what happened. Greg copped it at the time, but the quiet life certainly chose me after that.”

He blames the pressure of the controversy for his eventual split with wife Lorraine. “My marriage broke down and I never remarried or had kids. These days all I do is coach cricket to kids and play golf,” he said.

Ball-tampering is more prevalent than supporters think, according to some current and former cricketers, despite calls for harsher action against Smith and the whole Test team over the South African cheating affair.

Big Bash League star Chris Lynn yesterday refused to condemn banned Test skipper Smith or any of the current players, saying “every cricketer” had engaged in the practice at some point to ­differing degrees.

Swing bowler Damien Fleming, who played 20 Test matches between 1994 and 2001, acknowledged ball-tampering had “sort of been around” during his career but said the Australians’ actions had been “so dumb”.

“You hear over the years about bottle tops ... to scratch one side, finger nails,” he told RSN radio. “We were obviously trying to get reverse swing, but really our only plan was on an abrasive pitch with an abrasive outfield. We’d shine up one side and it went.”

The claims of a broader acceptance of ball-tampering came as cricketing great Doug Walters called for Cricket Australia to take stronger action over the incident.

“Fining a guy a match fee doesn’t mean anything to an Australian cricketer these days, or banning him for one Test,” he said.

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH

Additional reporting: Pia Akerman, AAP