'One of the worst things I have ever seen done on a cricket field'
It's 'Underarm Day' in Australia and New Zealand, a testy anniversary of an ODI travesty. Forty three years ago today.
Richie Benaud’s famous monologue is the stuff of sports and television legend. It relates to an underarm incident, an unsporting act ordered by an Australian cricket captain, Greg Chappell, when he instructed his brother Trevor to roll the last ball of the match along the pitch, so a dazed New Zealand number 11 batter couldn't get underneath it to loft it into the stands for the required six runs to tie the game. It was a crazy act of unsportsmanlike conduct. The odds on a six were minuscule, and it soured Greg Chappell's reputation as a giant of the game, as well as sporting relations between Australia and New Zealand.
Here is the infamous moment:
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