Greg Chappell

Born in 1948, Greg Stephen Chappell was an all-rounder and an exceptional player seen in cricket history. Nearing his retirement, in 1983, Chappell held the record for the most number of catches in test cricket. Chappell was the finest Australian batsman of his time who captained Australia in between 1975 – 1977 and 1979 – 1983.

Greg is the younger brother of Ian Chappell, who also played for Australia. Chappell used to play cricket and baseball while he attended St. Leonards primary school. As a school boy, Chappell earned the admiration of many who watched him display his exceptional style of play.

Earlier on, Greg played for Glenelg before slowing securing a trial place in the South Australia Team in 1966. Greg scored an unbeaten 154 against Western Australia, thus confirming himself a firm position in the team. In 1968, Greg joined the Somerset County Cricket Club to improve his progress. While playing County Cricket, Greg improved himself from a moderate average og 30 to scoring 707 runs in the 1968-69 season.

Greg earned a place in the Australia A team for a tour to New Zealand in 1969-70. Greg scored 519 runs at an average of 57.70. Greg was selected for the 1970-71 tour of Ashes Series and made a remarkable century at his debut in the second test against England. During the rest of the tour, his consistence suffered a blow, except scoring 102 in a span of 2 hours against England in a tour match.

From there on, Greg’s play improved a lot making him one of the finest batsmen for Australia. In 1973, his magnificent form of play earned him a captaincy for the Queensland team. In the next few years, Greg’s performance depreciated owing to health problems.

In 1975-76 season, Greg returned back to his original form and scored 1574 runs at a average of 85.9 including 5 centuries. These scores were sufficient enough to reward him with the captaincy of Australian team. Greg lived up to the hopes of everyone by scoring a century in each innings that he played on the tour of West Indies as the captain of Australia. Australia soared to the heights of being named the unofficial world champions, as a result of winning the series against West Indies by 5-1.

Greg led the Australia team for a Centenary test against England to mark a hundred years of Test Cricket. He signed a WSC (World Series Cricket) contract while playing the Centenary Test. Greg experienced the lack of a number of strong players for his team as many of them opted for early retirement. He slowly started giving in to the constant pressure that he experienced as part of the captain of Australia and his form started losing grounds.

Greg is highly remembered for his exceptional batting form and his pace bowling. After his retirement, Greg helped the Pakistan’s National Cricket Academy as a consultant and also worked as a coach for the South Australia team while also lending his expertise to the commentary team of ABC Radio. The Australian Cricket Hall of Fame honored him by placing him as a part of their prestigious institution. Greg was named as the coach for the Indian National Cricket Team in 2005 for 2 years.

Career Highlights
Greg scored 24 centuries during his entire career with 2 in his first and last test respectively.

He scored a magnificent 621 runs at 69 in 5 unauthorized World Series “Super Tests” in 1979.

Greg lost only 13 of the 48 tests that he played.