Ian Chappell facts for kids

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Ian Chappell

Personal information
Full name	Ian Michael Chappell
Born	(1943-09-26) 26 September 1943 (age 81) Unley, South Australia
Nickname	Chappelli
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Batting	Right-handed
Bowling	Right-arm leg spin
Role	Top-order batter
Relations	Greg Chappell (brother) Trevor Chappell (brother) Vic Richardson (grandfather)
International information
National side	Australia (1964–1980)
Test debut (cap 231)	4 December 1964 v Pakistan
Last Test	6 February 1980 v England
ODI debut (cap 2)	5 January 1971 v England
Last ODI	14 January 1980 v England
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1961/62–1979/80	South Australia
1963	Lancashire
Career statistics
Competition Test ODI FC LA Matches 75 16 262 37 Runs scored 5,345 673 19,680 1,277 Batting average 42.42 48.07 48.35 39.90 100s/50s 14/26 0/8 59/96 0/13 Top score 196 86 209 93* Balls bowled 2,873 42 13,143 202 Wickets 20 2 176 5 Bowling average 65.80 11.50 37.57 28.40 5 wickets in innings 0 0 2 0 10 wickets in match 0 0 0 0 Best bowling 2/21 2/14 5/29 2/14 Catches/stumpings 105/– 5/– 312/1 20/–
Medal record Men's Cricket Representing  Australia ICC Cricket World Cup Runner-up 1975 England
Source: Cricinfo, 13 November 2007

Ian Michael Chappell (born 26 September 1943) is a famous former cricket player from Australia. People often call him "Chappelli". He played for South Australia and the Australian national team. Many consider him one of the greatest captains in cricket history.

He led the Australian team from 1971 to 1975. Later, he played a big part in setting up World Series Cricket, a new professional cricket league. Ian comes from a family of cricketers; his grandfather and brothers also captained Australia. He started his international career as a right-handed middle-order batsman and spin bowler. He became very successful when he started batting at number three. Chappell was known for being direct and honest. He helped make Australian cricket more professional in the 1970s. He was the captain when Australia finished as runners-up in the 1975 Cricket World Cup.

John Arlott described him as a player who focused on getting results. When batting, he was always moving, adjusting his gear, and tapping his bat. He built his game on a strong defense, which he learned as a child. He was great at hitting the ball with drives and square cuts. His special shot was the hook, and he once said that three bouncers in an over should give him 12 runs. He was also a skilled slip fielder and was the fourth player to catch one hundred balls in Test matches.

After retiring in 1980, he became a well-known sports journalist and cricket commentator, mostly for Channel Nine. He is still an important person in Australian cricket. In 2006, Shane Warne said Chappell was the biggest influence on his career. Ian Chappell was honored in the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 1986, the FICA Cricket Hall of Fame in 2000, and the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame in 2003. On 9 July 2009, he was also added to the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.

Early Life and Cricket Beginnings

Ian Chappell was the first of four sons born to Martin and Jeanne in Unley, near Adelaide. Cricket was a big part of his life from a very young age. His father was a good local cricketer who gave him a bat early on. His grandfather, Vic Richardson, was a famous all-around sportsman who captained Australia in 19 Test matches.

Chappell had weekly batting lessons starting at age five. His younger brothers, Greg and Trevor, also became Australian cricketers.

Growing Up in Glenelg

Chappell grew up in Glenelg, a beachside suburb. He played his first cricket match at age seven at St Leonard's Primary School. Later, he was chosen for the South Australian state schoolboys team. He then went to Prince Alfred College, a private school known for producing many Test cricketers.

He also played Australian football and baseball. He was selected for the All-Australian baseball team in 1964 and 1966 as a catcher. He credits his grandfather, Vic Richardson, for his love of baseball. At 18, his strong performance in local cricket led to his first-class debut for South Australia (SA) in early 1962.

Developing His Style

Ian Chappell was greatly influenced by the aggressive playing style of Gary Sobers and South Australia's captain, Les Favell. In 1962–63, Chappell scored his first major century against a New South Wales team. This team was led by Australian captain Richie Benaud.

In 1963, Chappell spent the summer playing professional cricket in England's Lancashire League. He also played one first-class match for Lancashire.

International Cricket Journey

In 1963–64, Chappell batted at number three for South Australia for the first time. He scored 205 runs without being out against Queensland. He was the youngest player on the SA team that won the Sheffield Shield that season.

A century against Victoria led to Chappell being chosen for a Test match against Pakistan in December 1964. He scored 11 runs and took four catches. However, he was not selected again until the Fourth Test in the 1965–66 Ashes series. Chappell was known for his aggressive batting and excellent fielding. He also showed promise as a leg-spinner. At this time, selectors saw him as an all-rounder.

Early Challenges in Test Cricket

Chappell kept his spot for the next Test and for the tour of South Africa in 1966–67. Australia lost the series 1–3, and Chappell found it hard to perform well. His highest score in ten Test innings was 49. He also took five wickets, but they cost 59 runs each. His captain, Bob Simpson, advised him to stop playing the hook shot because it often led to him getting out.

In the first Test of 1967–68 against India, he struggled while batting in the middle order. His place in the team was uncertain before the second Test. But he scored 151 runs, even though the Indian fielders missed five chances to get him out. However, he only scored 46 runs in his next four innings. So, his selection for the 1968 tour of England was based more on his potential than his recent performance.

In England, Chappell proved the selectors right. He scored the most first-class runs on the tour, including 202 not out against Warwickshire. He also led Australia's Test scores with 348 runs. His top score was 81 in the fourth Test. Wisden praised his batting and said he was the hardest Australian batsman to get out.

Becoming a Top Batsman

After many big scores and a record number of catches in the 1968–69 season, Chappell won the Australian Cricketer of the Year award. Against the touring West Indies, Chappell scored 188 not out, 123, 117, 180, and 165 before the New Year. Two of these centuries were in the Test series, where he averaged 68.50 for 548 runs. Chappell was moved up to bat at number three and bowled less often. He was also made the team's vice-captain.

He continued his success with a good tour of India in late 1969. Chappell showed his skill against spin bowling, scoring 138 at Delhi and 99 at Kolkata. His ability to play well against both fast and slow bowling earned him high praise. His captain, Bill Lawry, even called him the best all-around batsman in the world. However, when the Australians went to South Africa in early 1970, Chappell only managed 92 runs. Australia lost the series 0–4.

On this tour, Chappell first disagreed with cricket officials about player pay and conditions. The South African officials wanted to add an extra Test match, and the Australian Board of Control agreed. Chappell was upset that the players were not asked about this change. He led a group of teammates to demand more money for the extra game. The match was eventually canceled because Chappell and his supporters refused to give in.

Leading the Australian Team

Chappell became the captain of South Australia when Les Favell retired in 1970–1971. His younger brother Greg played his first Test match against Ray Illingworth's England. Ian Chappell scored half-centuries in the first two Tests. However, he could not turn his good starts into big scores. Greg Chappell scored 108 runs in his first innings.

Rain stopped the third Test from being played. Ian Chappell was temporarily moved to open the batting in the fourth Test, but he did not score well as Australia lost. In the fifth Test, he returned to batting at number three. He started nervously, being dropped twice early on. But Chappell found his form and scored his first century against England (111 runs). He followed this with scores of 28 and 104 in the sixth Test.

The canceled Test match led to an extra seventh Test being played in Sydney in February 1971. Australia was losing the series 0–1 and needed to win this game to keep The Ashes. The team was playing slowly and defensively. To make the team more aggressive, the selectors removed captain Bill Lawry and made Chappell the new captain. Chappell was disappointed by how Lawry was treated. He responded by leading the team with an attacking style. Australia lost The Ashes after holding them for 12 years. Chappell did get some comfort at the end of the season by leading South Australia to win the Sheffield Shield. This was the team's first win in seven years.

Chappell's struggles against the fast bowling of John Snow made him rethink his batting. After talking with Sir Donald Bradman, he decided to start using the hook shot again. He spent the winter practicing by hitting baseballs thrown by his brother Greg.

Building a Strong Team

Ian Chappell created an Australian team that was like him between 1971 and 1975: aggressive, clever, and confident.

Australia lost an unofficial Test series to a Rest of the World team in 1971–72. This team was led by Gary Sobers. Chappell was the best batsman in this series, scoring four centuries and 634 runs. He led the team to England in 1972. They were unlucky not to win The Ashes, as the series ended in a 2–2 draw.

The series started badly for Chappell when he was out on the first ball he faced. He got out the same way in the second innings, and Australia lost the match. However, the team improved in the remaining matches. Greg Chappell became a very good batsman during this series, batting right after his brother. The brothers had many important partnerships. They scored 201 runs together in the last Test, becoming the first brothers to score centuries in the same Test innings. Australia won that game, which Chappell later said was a turning point for the team.

In 1972–73, Australia had big wins against Pakistan at home and the West Indies away. Chappell's leadership was excellent in many close games. He scored his highest Test score of 196 runs against Pakistan. Pakistan seemed likely to win the last two Tests, but Chappell's team managed to win both.

In the Caribbean, Chappell was the top scorer in the Test series with 542 runs. He scored 209 in a tour match and two Test centuries. He also scored a great 97 runs on a difficult pitch while playing with an injured ankle. This set up a dramatic last day where the West Indies needed only 66 runs to win. But the home team collapsed against Australia's strong bowling and Chappell's aggressive field placements.

The "Ugly Australians"

Ian Chappell in the early 1970s

Australia played six Tests against New Zealand in 1973–74. Chappell led his team to a 2–0 victory in the three Tests played in Australia. In the third Test, he equaled the world record of six catches in a Test match by a fielder. His brother Greg broke this record the next season.

In a drawn Test match in New Zealand, Chappell had a verbal argument with New Zealand's top batsman, Glenn Turner. The Australians then played a difficult tour match that did not help their reputation. Some journalists called them "ugly Australians." In 1976, Chappell wrote about his approach to opponents:

... I would much rather any team I captained be described like that than as 'a nice bunch of blokes on the field.' As captain of Australia my philosophy was simple: between 11.00am and 6.00pm there was no time to be a nice guy. I believed that on the field players should concentrate on giving their best to the team, to themselves and to winning; in other words, playing hard and fairly within the rules. To my mind, doing all that left no time for being a nice guy.

Verbal arguments on the field became more common and were often discussed in the media. Chappell is sometimes seen as starting this trend. He admitted to using strong language and often getting angry on the field. However, he said these incidents were not planned tactics but rather him losing his temper.

Winning Back The Ashes and First World Cup

Ian Chappell's Test career batting performance. The red bars indicate the runs that he scored in an innings, with the blue line indicating the batting average in his last ten innings. The blue dots indicate an innings where he remained not out.

A major highlight of Chappell's career was Australia's 4–1 win over England in 1974–75. This victory brought The Ashes back to Australia. The team was stronger with new fast bowlers Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson. The Australians played very aggressively and were criticized for bowling many short-pitched balls. Chappell scored 90 runs on a difficult pitch in the first Test. He finished the six Tests with 387 runs and took 11 catches.

The Test matches attracted large crowds and made a lot of money. This allowed Chappell to get a bonus for the players from the Australian Cricket Board (ACB). Even though this more than doubled the players' pay, it was still only a small part of the money the series made.

A few months later, Chappell led Australia in the first World Cup. He did not like the defensive style of limited-overs cricket. So, the Australians used Test-match tactics, like having many fielders close to the bat. Despite this unusual approach, Chappell guided the team to the final. They lost a memorable match to the West Indies.

The demands of being captain were tiring for Chappell. After the World Cup, the four-Test Ashes series made him less enthusiastic about the game. Australia won the first Test, but keeping The Ashes was not very exciting. The third Test was stopped because of damage to the pitch. In the last Test, Chappell scored 192 runs, setting up a likely victory. However, England managed to bat for almost 15 hours to draw the match. Chappell announced he was stepping down as captain on the final day. In 30 Tests as captain, he scored 2,550 runs with seven centuries.

Stepping Away from First-Class Cricket

Chappell continued to play Test cricket under his brother Greg's captaincy in the 1975–76 series against the West Indies. Australia won this series 5–1. During this season, Chappell was criticized for his behavior in a match and was told not to wear his adidas boots with the three stripes showing. This was against the rule of wearing all white. His highest score that summer was 156 runs. Wisden called him the most important player of the series.

During the series, Chappell reached two big milestones. He became the fourth Australian to score 5,000 runs in Test cricket. He was also the first player to take one hundred Test catches for Australia. The summer ended with some disagreements in local cricket. Chappell threatened a "strike" by the South Australian team due to a selection dispute. After it was resolved, Chappell led the team to win the Sheffield Shield for the second time. He also shared the first Sheffield Shield player of the season award with his brother Greg. He retired from first-class cricket at the end of the season, at age 32.

World Series Cricket and Return

In 1976, Chappell toured South Africa with Richie Benaud's team. He also released his autobiography, Chappelli, and was named one of five Wisden Cricketers of the Year. He was paid more to play in a local competition in Melbourne than he had been as Australian captain.

Leading the Rebel League

Throughout his career, Chappell found it hard to make a good living from cricket because of the Australian Cricket Board (ACB). They refused his requests to play professionally in England. As Australian captain, he tried many times to get better financial deals for players, but he was not successful. He even looked into forming a players' union.

Kerry Packer of Channel Nine asked Chappell to lead an Australian team in World Series Cricket (WSC). This was a new professional competition. Chappell signed a three-year contract worth A$75,000 in 1976. His involvement was very important for the new league to be taken seriously. Chappell helped choose the Australian players and was involved in organizing and promoting WSC. His key role came from "years of personal unhappiness with cricket officials." Chappell explained that officials had many chances to make a better deal for players but showed little interest. This led to many players signing with WSC.

In WSC's first season (1977–78), Chappell scored the first Supertest century. Fast bowling was very common, and a serious injury to Australian player David Hookes led to the invention of batting helmets. Chappell was one of many batsmen to use one. Chappell's form dropped in the second season. After WSC ended, Chappell agreed to return to official cricket. He became captain of South Australia again in 1979–80.

Final Test Matches

Chappell's Test career ended with scores of 75 and 26 not out against England in February 1980. In his final first-class match, South Australia needed to beat Victoria to win the Sheffield Shield. Chappell scored 112 runs, but SA lost the match and the shield. Even so, the umpires voted him the competition's player of the season for a second time.

One Day International Record

Chappell's aggressive style was well-suited for limited-overs cricket. He scored his runs quickly. His career timing meant he only played 16 ODI matches. However, he was part of many important games. These included the first ODI ever played (in 1971), the first World Cup final (in 1975), and the first day/night match (during WSC in 1978). He scored over fifty runs in half of his innings, with a top score of 86. In his final season of international cricket, he scored 63 not out to win a player of the match award. Five days later, he hit an unbeaten 60 runs in his second-to-last ODI. As captain, he won six and lost five of his 11 matches. He is also known for hitting the first ever six in an ODI match.

Captaincy Summary

The Chappell Stands at the Adelaide Oval, opened in 2003

Lasting Impact

The ABC documentary The Chappell Era (2002) showed how important Chappell was to Australian cricket. It covered the rise of the Australian team under his leadership. It also highlighted the fight for better pay for players and how cricket became more professional through WSC. In the program, Chappell repeated his criticisms of how cricket was managed at the time.

Richie Benaud wrote in Wisden that Chappell would be remembered for trying to improve players' conditions as much as for his runs and captaincy. During the WSC period, he started a players' association. Even after he retired, Chappell continued to support this group. It was later revived as the Australian Cricketers' Association (ACA) in 1997. It is now a very important organization in Australian cricket. In 2005, Chappell became a member of the ACA executive.

Chappell was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 1986. He also joined the FICA Cricket Hall of Fame in 2000 and the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame in 2003. Two new grandstands at the Adelaide Oval were named the Chappell Stands in 2003. The Chappell family was honored again in 2004 with the creation of the Chappell–Hadlee Trophy. This is an annual series of ODI matches between Australia and New Zealand.

Chappell strongly supports giving more official recognition to the Australian Aboriginal cricket team in England in 1868. This was the first Australian sporting team to travel overseas.

Media Career

Following his grandfather Vic Richardson, who was a radio commentator, Chappell started working in the media in 1973. He wrote articles for magazines and a column for The Age. He also did television commentary before playing in WSC.

In the 1980s, Chappell spent eight years co-hosting Wide World of Sports with Mike Gibson. This was a popular sports show on Channel Nine. He also co-hosted Sports Sunday for five years. Chappell began working as a commentator for Channel Nine's cricket coverage in 1980–81. He continued in this role until 2018.

Chappell became a radio commentator for Macquarie Sports Radio in 2018. He later moved to ABC Radio before retiring in August 2022.

Books and Writings

Chappell's first book was about the 1972 Ashes tour, called Tigers Among the Lions. He then published several books of cricket humor and stories in the early 1980s. A more detailed book about modern cricket, The Cutting Edge, came out in 1992. Ashley Mallett wrote a biography called Chappelli Speaks Out (also known as Hitting Out – the Ian Chappell Story) in 2005, with Chappell's help. In 2006, Chappell released a collection of his cricket writings called A Golden Age. He is also a regular writer for ESPNcricinfo.

Personal Life

After finishing school, Chappell worked as a clerk for two years. He then left to play cricket in England. Later, he worked as a promotions representative for Nestlé and then for a cigarette company. After eight years, Chappell used his fame as Australian captain to start his own company. This company focused on advertising, promotion, and journalism, which has been his career since.

He has been married twice and has a daughter named Amanda with his first wife, Kay. Chappell now lives in Sydney with his second wife, Barbara-Ann. In recent years, Chappell has spoken out for better treatment of asylum seekers by the Australian government. He supports Australia becoming a republic and is a founding member of the Australian Republic Movement.

In July 2019, Chappell shared that he was receiving treatment for skin cancer.