Watch the highlights of Australia vs New Zealand Benson & Hedges World Series Cup 3rd Final 1980/81 - Benson & Hedges World Series Cup one-day international tournament of the third final played between New Zealand and Australia at Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne in 01st February 1981.
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| Trevor Chappell rolled the final delivery down the wicket to Brian McKechnie © cricket.com.au / Foxsports.com.au |
Captain Greg Chappell's all-round display of classy 90 with Three-wickets and Graeme Wood's half-century before Trevor Chappell rolled the final delivery down the wicket to Brian McKechnie as Australia pulled off a remarkable 6-run victory over New Zealand, despite a superb unbeaten century from Bruce Edgar and take a 2-1 lead in a incident-packed best-of-5-match finals of the third final of a Benson and Hedges World Series Cup.
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AUSTRALIA scored 235/4 (50 Overs) with top scorer by Greg Chappell 90 off 122-balls - who fell ten-run short of his century - including 7-fours and Graeme Wood 72 (114)
New Zealand best bowler by Martin Snedden 2/52 (10) and Richard Hadlee 1/41 (10)
NEW ZEALAND scored 229/8 (50 Overs) with top scorer by Bruce Edgar * 102 off 141-balls - which was his 1st ODI hundred - including 7-fours and John Wright 42 (81)
Australia best bowler by Greg Chappell 3/43 (10) and Graeme Beard 2/50 (10)
This match reported by Brian Mossop (Third Party Reference from SMH)
Australia go into the fourth final of the Benson and Hedges World Series Cup at the SCG on Tuesday with a 2-1 lead after a sensational ending to the cricket match with New Zealand at the MCG.
New Zealand, needing a six off the last ball to tie an incident-packed match in front of a world record crowd for a one-day international, lost by six runs when Trevor Chappell rolled the final delivery down the wicket to Brian McKechnie.
McKechnie blocked the ball and then tossed his bat away in disgust as Geoff Howarth, the New Zealand captain, raced on to the field to question the legitimacy of the delivery.
It was a sorry end to a match that had kept the 52,990 spectators on the edges of their seats as Australia posted a score of 235-4, which New Zealand went within an ace of matching.
The Australian captain Greg Chappell, who top scored with 90, had been let off the hook at 58 when the umpires Peter Cronin and Don Weser were unable to decide on the fairness of a brilliant catch by Martin Snedden, and the New Zealanders shook off that disappointment with a fighting batting display.
Bruce Edgar, the left-hander, led the chase after a seemingly impossible target with a superb century after sharing an opening stand of 85 with John Wright (42).
But while Edgar carried his bat throughout the innings to remain unbeaten on 102, it was a vain knock thwarted by Greg Chappell's amazing decision to use the laws of crickets to his own end.
It is all too easy in the aftermath uproar to lose sight of the fact that this was a magnificent match —whether or not you happen to be a lover of one-day cricket. It was a game that had everything — a huge and vocal crowd, useful bowling, some fine batting, patches of brilliant fielding, tension and controversy.
There was also a wicket and an outfield that both captains declared unfit for top-class cricket, but one, nonetheless, on which the two teams were able to total 464 runs for the loss of 12 wickets.
The Australians, who came from behind to level the series with a convincing win on Saturday, put the ball in New Zealand's court with a century second-wicket stand between Chappell and Graeme Wood after losing Allan Border with only eight runs on the board.
Chappell and Wood fully exploited a New Zealand attack that had only three specialist bowlers, maintaining an assault that kept the scoreboard ticking busily.
Chappell played some typically brilliant shots as the partnership flourished, with Wood reaching his half-century in 93 minutes off 77 balls and Chappell's half-century arriving one ball later in 83 minutes off 69 deliveries. Chappell should have been out at 58 with the partnership worth 122. But the umpires decided other-wise.
Wood and Chappell had put on 145 runs in 126 minutes off 204 balls when Wood was bowled for 72 by Paul McEwan. Chappell, having been let off, looked destined to pound his second one-day century of the international series, but fell at 90 to leave Australia at 199-3.
The Australian captain lofted Snodden to deep mid-wicket and Edgar took a superb diving catch close to the ground — irony at its best. The New Zealanders were given a great start by Edgar and Wright. With Edgar in command at one end, the formidible Australian total began to look less impregnable.
The Australians had gone into the match with Dennis Lill. and Max Walker as the bowling spearhead and the New Zealanders relished the easier attack.
By the start of the last over New Zealand, requiring 15 runs to win, lost Richard Hadlee and Ian Smith as they strived desperately for victory. But the six they needed off the last ball became an impossibility when Trevor Chappell, under his brother's instructions, rolled the ball underarm down the pitch.
One ball dents Australia's image as a sports nation
One delivery, bowled under-arm by Trevor Chappell, dealt Australia's sporting image a severe body blow in the one-day international against New Zealand at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
The one delivery caused an outcry from cricket lovers in Australia and New Zealand (see accompanying report) and from cricket officials in both countries. It was a delivery which could decide who wins the $35,000 prize for the Benson and Hedges World Series Cup this season.
New Zealand needed a six off the last ball to tie the incident-charged match, played in front of a world-record crowd of 52,990 for a one-day international. The New Zealanders. chasing an Australian total of 235-4. lost two wickets in the last of their 50 overs to be 229-8 with one ball remaining.
Brian McKechnie was the batsman called on to hit the six, but he was not given the chance. Greg Chappell, the Australian captain, exploited the laws of cricket to the full by instructing his brother, Trevor, to bowl the underarm delivery.
The crowd watched in stunned disbelief as Trevor Chappell rolled the last delivery down the pitch to be blocked by McKechnie. McKechnie turned and flung his bat on the ground in disgust.
Geoff Howarth, the New Zealand captain, ran on to the ground to dispute the legitimacy of the delivery which has been banned in English cricket. But the umpires, Don Weser and Peter Cronin, having been told by Greg Chappell of his intention and having in two advised the batsman, were powerless.
Under No 24 of the Laws of Cricket a bowler may alter his delivery style from overarm to underarm as long as he has told the umpires and the batsmen. So Australia won by six runs, and the Australians now go into Tuesday's day-night match at the Sydney Cricket Ground with a good chance of picking up the a lead of two games to one and winners' purse in the best-of-five series,
Some of the Australian team appeared unhappy about the incident. Rod Marsh appeared to call "No, mate" to one of the Chappell when he saw the underarm bowling planned and afterwards spoke to the New Zealand batsmen as they lett the field.
Greg Chappell will have won no friends over his decision that he later said was spontaneous. "It was a spur-of-the-moment
decision and I was mindful of what I was doing," he said at the post-match press conference. "I thought there was a chance of McKechnie hitting a six to tie the game and I had no intention of finding out whether he could."
Chappell, who remembered a last-ball West Indies win over the World Series Cricket Australians two years ago. said he had asked the umpires if an underarm ball was permitted under the laws of cricket and had been told that it was. "If it is written in the rules of the game, it is fair play," Chappell said. "We played our guts out. I wasn't going to see us beaten on the last ball. I did not want us to be forced into another game.
"I had to make a decision on the spot. I'll have to live with my action. "Is it any different from putting all the fieldsmen on the fence?" Chappell said in reference to the action of Mike Brearley, the England captain, during a one-day international at the Sydney Cricket Ground last summer.
Howarth said that he was unable to criticise Chappell's approach in view of the fact that it was according to the rules. "But morally I think it is wrong," Howarth said. "It is not according to the spirit of the game.
"Australia criticised England for having 10 men on the boundary. It's the same thing." Asked whether he might have used the same tactic, Howarth said, "As it is a law, I might consider it in a tight situation. But I don't think I would have the guts."
Chappell was also the centre of another incident, in which be was given not out at 58 to what appeared to be a fair catch. Chappell swung a ball from Paul McEwan to midwicket where Martin Snedden flung him-self forward to hold the catch of the season.
Television replays clearly showed it was a catch, but Chappell stood his ground and the umpires, after conferring, apparently decided there was a doubt which should go Chappell's way.
In Wellington, New Zealand, the chairman of the New Zealand Cricket Council, Mr Robert Vance, suggested that the Australian Cricket Board "may care to cancel" the result of the game. Mr Vance said: "I have just witnessed the worse sporting action of my life. "Australia may well take the majority of the money from the final, but at least our team played as we would have wished and with credit."
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