KRINMSE
CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY EMBARGOED UNTIL DELIVERY
SPEECH BY THE PRIME MINISTER
BICENTENARY TEST MATCH DINNER
SYDNEY 2 FEBRUARY 1988
When the first English team to tour Australia returned home
in 1862, Roger Iddison of Yorkshire was asked his opinion of
Australian cricketers. He replied ( and perhaps Michael
Parkinson, Geoff Boycott or Bob Appleyard could correct my
pronunciation): " Well, I doan't think mooch of their play,
but they're a woonderful lot of drinking men".
Over the next 130 years, Iddison's analysis turned out to be
half right at any rate.
In Australia's 200 years of European settlement, cricket
and, particularly, cricket against the Poms has played a
major role in our social life and history. The enormous
public interest shown by the thousands who attended the
Bicentenary Test and the millions who watched and listened
on television and radio is proof of the continuing vitality
of a great tradition of friendly but intense competition
between our two countries.
It was a wonderful idea to arrange the match as a part of
the Bicentennial and to bring together so many great
cricketers spanning the generations from Don Bradman and
Bill O'Reilly those great rivals from the Southern
Highlands of New South Wales to Ian Botham, the new star
of our Sheffield Shield. I congratulate Alan Crompton and
Bob Radford and their colleagues on the Bicentennial Test
Match Organising Committee for their great efforts, and the
ACB, the TCCB, the MCG, the Australian Bicentennial
Authority, the NSW Bicentennial Committee, Benson Hedges
and all others who have been involved.
It is also a matter of great pleasure that the Ashes, which
originated a mile or two from the SCG at Woollahra, have
returned to Australia for the first time since they left
here in 1883 with the Honourable Ivo Bligh's team. I note
incidentally that, according to Jack Pollard's biblical
' Australian Cricket', " some experts have argued that as the
series against Bligh ended 2-2 the Ashes should have
remained in Australia, but Bligh took them home in his
luggage This shows that you should never trust anybody
called the Honourable or Bligh, for that matter. 004248
. I
One of cricket's unique and great qualities is the
literature, history and legend which surround it. The
detail of all the Test matches between Australia and England
has been lovingly recorded and I have taken the opportunity
to refresh my memory about it, in view of the special
significance of tonight's occasion. Radio and television
have played an enormous part in documenting the game and
bringing it to life for those not actually there. But we
depend enormously on the written word. In the Oval Test of
1882, which gave birth to the Ashes legend, England, needing
to win, collapsed from 4 for 65 to be all out for 77.
C. P. Moody describes the last over as follows:
" Now Boyle's pertinacious accuracy was rewarded. Off
the first ball of his over Barnes was caught off the
glove by Murdoch at point. Edmund Peate, last man in,
swished the first ball to leg for two, flukily played
the next one, tried to hit the last ball of the over,
but missed, and it bowled him. The game was won by
seven runs."
Cricket is surely the one sport where something as
apparently insignificant as the three balls faced by a
No. 11 batsman 106 years ago have been meticulously
described and will be remembered in detail for all time.
The unfortunate Peate's answer to the criticism of him for
not giving his partner, C. T. Studd, an established batsman
with centuries against the Australians earlier in the tour,
the chance to farm the bowling, will also stand for all
time: " Mr Studd was so nervous I did not feel I could trust
him to score the runs."
There is a bit of a tendency nowadays to make unfavourable
comparisons of today's game and its atmospherics with those
of some imaginary Arcadian period in the past. For example,
I've seen the odd reference in the media to crowd behaviour.
But it was in 1879 that the spectators rushed the ground
after a couple of unpopular umpiring decisions in favour of
Lord Harris's team against New South Wales. The day's play
had to be called off.
And in 1873-74 in Sydney, during W. G. Grace's tour, a NSW
batsman was persuaded in the pavilion that he had been
unfairly given out, and returned to continue batting. With
three batsmen at the crease, W. G. took his men from the
field until sanity prevailed and the dismissed batsman
departed. I don't think anything like this happened in
Pakistan. 004249
while on the subject of cricket history let us not forget
that the first Australian team to tour England was the
Aboriginal team of 1868. The re-issue of John Mulvaney's
and Rex Harcourt's account of that event, and the
forthcoming tour of England by John McGuire's Aboriginal
team, which I am delighted to see has the support of
Colin Moynihan, the British Minister for Sport, have helped
to focus greater attention on the outstanding achievements
of the men of 1868 and to give them the place in our history
which is rightly theirs. It is clear, for example, that
Johnny Mullagh from that side was a class player by any
standards and one of the outstanding Australian cricketers
to tour England.
Some of you will know that I recently had the honour of
captaining a side against the 1988 Aboriginal team at Manly.
In that match one of the living legends here, R. marsh,
broke a window in a house opposite the ground while
batting, I hasten to add. Notwithstanding the inspiration I
received in travelling from Kirribilli to Manly along
Murdoch Street, Bannerman Street and Spofforth Street, my
own contribution was, in the words of a discerning 8 year
old spectator, " a solid duck, Mr Hawke".
AS I laboured vainly to get bat on ball, this innings of
mine seemed to take an unconscionable amount of time. But
these things are relative. And the proper perspective was
put on them in the Sydney morning Herald last week by Keith
Dunstan. In a vicious attack on my profession or should
it be called an art? Keith wrote:
" Surely the supreme agony of the 20th century is the
broadcast of Parliament. Half the time our national
leaders are indulging in mutual vilification in terms
that you wouldn't want your children to hear.
Other times you get a session when they have gone into
committee and they are discussing a water drainage bill
or new rules for superphosphate, clause by clause by
clause. It is the slowest human activity on earth
beating those days when the English batsman Trevor
Bailey used to manage two or three hours without scoring
a run."
I was delighted to see Trevor, another living legend, and an
outstanding cricket broadcaster, get a guernsey in the week
of the Bicentenary Test, even one as unflattering as this.
There are great cricketing names here tonight, and I will
have a few words to say about them in a moment. Let me
briefly refer to the great figures of Australian and English
cricketers who have passed on. 004250
4.
To pick a few names at random batsmen like victor Trumper;
Clem Hill; Warren Bardsley; Charlie Macartney; Bill
Woodfull; Archie Jackson; Stan McCabe; Sid Barnes; ' Slasher'
Mackay; W. G. Grace; Ranjitsinhji; Jack Hobbs; Herbert
Sutcliffe; Walter Hammond; Maurice Leyland; Bill Edrich; Ken
Barrington bowlers like F. R. Spofforth, the ' Demon';
C. T. B. Turner, the ' Terror'; Hugh Trumble; Arthur Mailey;
Clarrie Grimmett; Jack Gregory; Ted McDonald; Wilfred
Rhodes; Hedley Verity; Jim Laker; Bill Bowes; Maurice Tate;
Bill Voce; Keith Famnes; wicket-keepers like John
Blackham; Bertie Oldfield; Don Tallon; Wally Grout; Dick
Lilley; Herbert Strudwick; George Duckworth.
I did not see many of the men I have mentioned. A number of
them were dead before I was born. But because of cricket's
special qualities which I mentioned earlier, we feel a
familiarity with them. Their fame will never die.
Nor will that of the Living Legends.
There are some wonderful cricketers here tonight and because
of the characteristically whimsical, arbitrary and plain
wrong decisions of the selectors not all of them played in
the Bicentennial Test or the computer Test.
Tonight's dinner gives me the opportunity to salute ' Tiger'
O'Reilly, great match-winning bowler, custodian of the
shrine of spin, excoriator of the bouncer, Grand Inquisitor
of one-day cricket, full of passion and, of course, always
free of prejudice. we learned this morning that Bill is to
retire after years of delighting, exasperating, but always
stimulating, cricket lovers with his learned and fiery
pieces in the Sydney Morning Herald.
Bill has always epitomised the highest standards of cricket
and journalism. I will just mention two examples. Jack
Pollard describes one of Bill's overs on the first morning
of the old Trafford Test in 1934 as " one of the most
sensational in cricket history". He had Walters caught at
forward short leg from the first ball, knocked back Wyatt's
middle stump with the second, watched Hammond edge the third
through Oldfield's outstretched gloves for 4, and bowled him
with the fourth. From 0 for 68, England had slumped to 3
for 72.
The other story relates to Bill's role as English teacher
and journalist. A former Australian player wrote to him
taking exception to some of the comments made about him.
Bill returned the letter, correcting the 16 errors in
spelling and syntax.
on behalf of everyone here I should like to express our
appreciation of Bill's magnificent contribution to
Australian cricket and to wish him a very happy retirement. 004251
For me it is a treat to see so many of the 1948 Australian
team here. There are Arthur Morris and Neil Harvey, for
example. In Canberra last year, I had the privilege oftheir
company, along with Allan Border at The Lodge, on the
eve of the Prime Minister's XI match against Mike Gatting's
team. If we could have had Bill Lawry as well, that would
have been a quartet of the greatest left-handers this
country has produced since the Second World War.
I understand that Lindsay Hassett was 12th man for the
Australian Living Legends Team. Can the computer tell us
what the man who put a goat in Bill O'Reilly's and
Stan McCabe's room might have put in the Australian team's
drinks? Lindsay was a magnificent batsman and sportsman, a
great entertainer on or off the field, a brave and skilful
captain who won friends for Australian cricket wherever he
played and a superb broadcaster.
We've got the legendary Ray Lindwall here, the most
beautiful fast bowler I ever saw. It is very good to know
that Ray's knowledge and experience are being passed on to
members of the present Australian team.
And then there's Keith Miller. what a fabulous cricketer!
When I think of Miller, I think of the SCG clock, not
because it's finally going again after all these years but
because Keith is one of those batsmen who might have hit it.
Keith, of course, once hit Doug Wright on to the top of the
old MembersO Stand at the ' Gabba. In Sydney in 1946, he hit
a ball from Ernie Toshack which was still rising when it
struck seats in the M. A. Noble Stand, about five rows from
the back.
on the subject of hitting, Alan Davidson once hit his fellow
Living Legend Colin Cowdrey, on to the top of the old
Brewongle Stand and drove the next ball on to the wall at
the back of the Hill. Davo's eyes still light up when the
subject is discussed. There are probably a few other
batsmen here whose eyes might have lit up at the prospect of
facing my old friend Colin's bowling
Richie Benaud has had an immeasurable influence on the
development of modern cricket in Australia and around the
world. His achievements with bat and particularly ball were
superb, his captaincy brilliant and fearless, his concern to
entertain the public unfailing.
Benaud's teams, with great players like Bobby Simpson, Colin
McDonald, Norman O'Neill, Peter Burge and Alan Davidson,
never knew when they were beaten and provided tremendous
value for money. Following the dominance established by Len
Hutton's teams, they got the better of some very strong
English sides, including the likes of Peter May, Colin
Cowdrey, Ted Dexter, Freddie Trueman, Brian Statham and
Frank Tyson. Richie has been a passionate advocate of
one-day cricket and, under his influence, the televising of
the game has been revolutionised. 004252
And the Australian Living Legends side includes three
representatives from the latest great era of Australian
cricket, the Chappell era of the 19701s. The great Lillee
is still playing. Rod marsh and I can vouch, having played
with Dennis the other day Rod behind the stumps and I from
the safer vantage point of mid-off that he has plenty of
residual aggression.
Ian Chappell, toug h, courageous captain and gutsy, brilliant
batsman, looked very good, coming in at No. 11 at Manly, and
cannot have missed out by much on a place in the Legends XI.
Those sides also included outstanding players like Dougie
Walters, Ian Redpath, Keith Stackpole and, of course,
Thommo. Greg Chappell was one of our most elegant and
prolific batsmen ever. And I can assure him on the basis of
my visit to Wellington last November that, while he will
never be forgotten in Australia, he continues to be
remembered very keenly in New Zealand.
Finally, I come to the Captain of the Australian Living
Legends team, Sir Donald Bradman. The Bradman Albums and
the Bradman Tapes continue to exercise a tremendous
fascination, 40 years after the Don's retirement. His
career spanned generations of great English bowlers, from
the twilight of Wilfred Rhodes, through Harold Larwood, to
Alec Bedser and Jim Laker. His run scoring feats made the
wonderful achievements of contemporaries like Bill Ponsford,
Stan McCabe, Walter Hammond and Len Hutton look routine.
There are very few figures of my experience of whom at it
can be accurately said that words can not do them justice.
But of you, Sir Donald, I can, and do, say fearlessly that
no words of mine or anyone else can adequately capture
the uniqueness of your achievements or the special place you
have carved out in the history of this country and in the
hearts of its people.
Last year, I had the honour of launching Don's Albums in
Adelaide. That evening, like tonight's dinner, was a very
special occasion. It aroused in me a sense of admiration of
Australian achievement of the kind which I felt in opening
the Tasmanian Exhibition in Hobart last October by
Lloyd Rees, another Living Legend, and another great fan of
the Don's.
Ladies and gentlemen,
AS you may imagine, the Bicentennial has been full of
exciting experiences and impressions for Hazel and myself.
The opportunity we have had this evening to dine with so
many great cricketers of the past and present stands out as
a very high point in a uniquely memorable week. 004253