Written by: Pranjal Khatiwada - 2022013, Grade X
Posted on: 19 January, 2021
The Underarm bowling incident of 1981 occurred on February 1, 1981, when Australia was playing against New Zealand in a One Day International (ODI) cricket match. It was the third of the five-match series in the final of the Benson & Hedges World Series Cup being played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. This event was legal at that time, but it was against the spirit of the game.
In the final over of the 2nd innings, New Zealand required 7 runs to win, and a six to tie. The Australian captain Greg Chappel asked his brother and bowler, Trevor Chappel, to deliver the last ball underarm, along the ground to tie, requiring the teams to play more matches to decide the series. Bowling’s underarm was within the laws of cricket at the time but against the rules of the Benson and Hedges County Cup Tournament in England, but is regarded as unsportsmanlike. It is not that the Australian team did it suddenly without saying anything, but they pre-informed the umpires that the final ball would be delivered underarm. The series was tied 1-1 with New Zealand winning the first match and Australia in the second match.
The batsman at the non-striker's end, Bruce Edgar, was on 102* not out at the time and his innings have been called "the most overlooked century of all time." The Australian’s were bowling underarm to a NO.10 batsman in Brain McKechnie who would have not been able to hit the ball for a six, even if it was a simple delivery. The New Zealand captain, Geoff Howarth, talked with the umpires that the underarm bowling was illegal, as per the rules in the English tournaments, but nothing happened. The other incident that happened was; Dennis Lilee who was fielding outside the third-yard circle should have been inside the circle. According to the field restrictions, the“underarm” ball should have been called a “no-ball” because of the violation in fielding restrictions. That would have given New Zealand an extra ball to hit and a legal delivery at last to win the match. But that was not called by umpires at all.
After the incident, the then Prime Minister of New Zealand, Rob Muldoon, said that "It was an act of cowardice and I consider it appropriate that the Australian team were wearing yellow". Australian Prime Minister, Malcolm Fraser, also called the act "contrary to the traditions of the game". Richie Benaud who was commentating for Channel 9 at that time described the act as "disgraceful" and called it "one of the worst things I have ever seen done on a cricket field".
As a result of this incident, underarm bowling was banned in limited-overs cricket by the International Cricket Council (ICC) as not within the spirit of the game.
