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Test Cricket Tours - Australia to Pakistan 1979-80

 

 

Tour of Pakistan 1979-80             Captain: Greg Chappell

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

42nd Australian Test tour

 

Fourth Test-playing tour of  Pakistan  by Australia

 

 

(February - March 1980) 

 

The first visit by an Australian team to Pakistan for sixteen years created a lot of interest, intensified by Pakistan’s victory in the first Test. 

Political events in Afghanistan where the Soviet Union had just invaded posed a threat to the tour and the Cricket Board met in Melbourne on 7-8 February to hear a report from Fred Bennett, who had visited Pakistan earlier and consulted with the Australian High Commission.

The Test series was dominated in the first match by the spin bowlers who took all but two of the wickets that fell, but thereafter by the batsmen who returned an average of 62 runs per innings.

 The Australian captain complained that the pitches had been specially prepared to negate Lillee's speed. Thus spectators were denied seeing Dennis Lillee or Imran Khan at their best

 

 

Other Australian Tours

 

 

Previous tour

India 1979-80

 

Next tour

England 1980

 

 

Next tour of Pakistan 

1982-83 

 

 

 

 

Members of the Test tour party  (14)

 

 

 

Opening batsmen:  Julian Wiener, Bruce Laird

Middle-order batsmen:  Allan Border, Greg Chappell, David Hookes, Kim Hughes, Graham Yallop

Wicket-keeper:  Rodney Marsh 

Spin bowlers:Graham Beard, Ray Bright

Fast bowlers:  Geoff Dymock, Geoff Lawson, Dennis Lillee, Mick Malone.

 

 

G R Beard    added

N

29

RHB   RM/OB

 

 

A R Border

N

24

LHB

 

 

R J Bright

V

25

SLA

 

 

G S Chappell

Q

31

RHB         captain

 

 

G Dymock

Q

33

LFM

 

 

D W Hookes

S

24

RHB

 

 

K J Hughes

W

26

RHB         vice-captain

 

 

B M Laird

W

29

RHB

 

 

G F Lawson

N

22

RF

 

 

D K Lillee

W

29

RF

 

 

A A Mallett   w/d

S

 

OB

 

 

M F Malone

W

29

RFM

 

 

R W Marsh

W

32

LHB      WK

 

 

J M Wiener

V

24

RHB opener

 

 

G N Yallop

V

27

LHB

 

 

 

 

 

FLAG_Australia  

  

 

State representation

 

N   New South Wales (3)

Q  Queensland (2)

S   South Australia (1)

T   Tasmania (0)

V   Victoria  (3)

W  Western Australia (5)

 

 

 

Average age of  team at time of first Test match

  (27 February 1980) :

      27 yrs  11 months

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Test Appearances made before the tour

 

Marsh 58,  G S Chappell 57,  Lillee 38,  Hughes 23,  Yallop 21,  Dymock 18,  Border 17,  Hookes 7,  Bright 5,  Laird 5,  Wiener 4,  Malone 1,  Beard 0,  Lawson 0.

 

 

 

 

 

Tour Officials

 

Fred Bennett

Manager

Mike Mason

Physiotherapist

Hugh Torode

Medical Officer

 

 

 

 

 

 

Selectors

 

Sam Loxton (Victoria),  Ray Lindwall (Queensland)  and  Phil Ridings (South Australia),

 

 

 

 

 

Selection

 

The manager Fred Bennett was appointed on 2 January 1980. He was asked to visit Pakistan in advance of the tour to check security arrangements. 

Unavailable:   Jeff Thomson, unfit.   Ian Chappell, Rick McCosker and Len Pascoe made themselves unavailable

On 9 January the selectors named a squad of 18 players to prepare for the tour.  Rodney Hogg withdrew and Max Walker was named to replace him. 

At the last moment Jim Higgs asked not to be considered for the tour, citing family and fitness reasons (torn muscle in his left side).

Tour Party Announced :   30 January 1980.

Not selected : Three players - Richie Robinson, Dav Whatmore and Max Walker - apart from  Higgs and Hogg  who had withdrawn, were not chosen from the squad of eighteen preparing for the tour. Also, Kevin Wright.

Withdrawal : Ashley Mallett withdrew because of a shoulder injury and Beard replaced him.

 

 

Time between selection and departure from Australia        18 days

(30 January - 17 February)

 

 

 

 

Travel

Sydney   Q  Bombay   Q  Karachi  

 

 

The team flew out of Sydney on 17 February 1980: they arrived at Bombay at 6:30 am next morning and watched some of the Jubilee Test match between India and England, then flew to Karachi that evening.Greg Chappell and his players were mobbed by hundreds of fans at the airport. Lillee has written that he tried to avoid the crowds on arrival by posing as a team official.

By contrast, after they had flown 1000 miles to Rawalpindi for the first match, only local officials and rain greeted them when they touched down at Islamabad Airport at dusk on 20 February.

 

 

Time spent in Pakistan

   36 days

(18 February - 25 March)

 

 

 

 

On-tour selection

 

 Greg Chappell (captain),  Kim Hughes   (vice-captain),  Rodney Marsh.

 

 

 

 

 

Reinforcements

 

 None, although there was speculation that Mallett would be brought out for the third Test because Lillee had an injured knee.

 

 

 

 

 

Fixtures/Results

 

a

Rawalpindi

BCCP President's XI

Drawn

b

KARACHI 

PAKISTAN First Test

LOST 7 w

c

FAISALABAD 

PAKISTAN Second Test

DRAWN

d

Multan

Punjab Governor's XI

Drawn

e

LAHORE 

PAKISTAN Third Test

DRAWN

 

 

 

 

† not first-class

 

 

Time spent in Pakistan before First Test:    9 days

(18 February - 27 February)

 

 

 

 

Test appearances on tour

 

3 -   Beard,  Border,  Bright,  GS Chappell,  Dymock,  Hughes,  Laird, Lillee,  Marsh,  Yallop.

2 -   Wiener

1  -  Hookes

0  -  Lawson,  Malone.

 

 

 

 

 

Highlights

 

   

   Ray Bright had match figures of 10 for 111 in the first Test at Karachi.

   The entire Australian XI bowled in the second innings at Faisalabad, which last occurred in a Test match in 1884.

  Allan Border scored 150 in each innings of the third Test match at Lahore.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tour Summary

 

 

 P

 W

L

D

Aban

Test Matches

3

0

1

2

-

Other first-class matches

2

0

0

2

-

ϯ Minor matches

0

-

-

-

-

§ One-day internationals

0

-

-

-

-

All Matches

5

0

1

4

-

 

 

 

 

 

Return to Australia

Karchi  Q  Melbourne 

 

 

 

On 25 March 1980 the team flew back from Karachi and arrived that night at Tullamarine Airport, Melbourne.

 

Time away from Australia

  37 days  

(17 February to 25 March)

 

 

Finances

Discussions held before the tour had to wrestle with financial problems. The guarantees had to be substantially increased for the tour to take place at all but the programme was cut from eight matches to five.

 

 

 

 

Written accounts of the tour

 

 

 

 

 

 

Postscript

 

“The Australian Cricket Board's decision to send a physiotherapist on the tour paid dividends.  Mike Mason, 45, of Adelaide, managed to get the 14 players to the last leg of the tour without any serious injury problems.”Canberra Times

 

 

 



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