Ashley Mallett
Encyclopedia
Ashley Alexander Mallett (born 13 July 1945 in Chatswood, New South Wales
) is a former Australian cricket
er who played in 38 Tests
and 9 One Day Internationals between 1968 and 1980. He is Australia's most successful off spin
bowler since World War II and for a period in the 1970s, he was regarded along with India's
Erapalli Prasanna and the West Indies' Lance Gibbs
as the best off spinner in the world. He extracted a lot of bounce from his high arm action, coupled with his height.
squad in the 1966–67 season, but made no appearances, only being 12th man in two Sheffield Shield matches. On the bouncy pace friendly WACA Ground
, where the Western Australians played their home matches, only one spinner was required, and left arm orthodox spinner Tony Lock
, the former English Test player blocked Mallett's path. Along with young leg spin
ner Terry Jenner
, Mallett transferred to South Australia
in the winter 1967, and immediately became regular members of the state team, which often fielded two spinners on the Adelaide Oval
's turning surface. They were to form an effective and attacking tandem spin combination for a decade.
During the 1967–68 season, Mallett made his debut in November against the touring New Zealand. He was wicketless from 12 overs and scored 8 not out and a duck
as the tourists lost by 24 runs. Mallett took his maiden wickets in the next match against India, taking 2/55 in an innings win. His first victims were Ramakant Desai
and Bhagwat Chandrasekhar
, both caught by his spinning partner Jenner. In the following match, he took 2/65 and 6/81, removing former Test batsman Peter Burge twice to set up a six-wicket win over Queensland
, and two matches later, faced his former state for the first time. He took 2/26 in the first innings, finishing off the tail, before taking 6/75 in the second innings to complete a 95-run win. Mallett dismissed Lock in both innings.
In the next match, Mallett took 4/54 and 4/52, helping South Australia to defend a target of 190 against Queensland and win by 14 runs. In the return match against Western Australia, Mallett totalled 4/103 in an innings win. He ended the season with 32 wickets at 25.15 and 110 runs at 13.75 with a best of 23.
These strong performances in his debut season gained Mallett selection in the Australian team to tour England in 1968
under the captaincy of Bill Lawry
. In his second match on English soil, against Northamptonshire
, Mallett took his maiden ten-wicket match haul. He took 3/31 and 7/75 to set up a ten-wicket win and his victims included Hylton Ackerman
, Mushtaq Mohammed and Peter Willey
, Test players for South Africa, Pakistan and England respectively. In the final county match before the Tests, Mallett totalled 4/132 against Surrey. He had taken 15 wickets at 19.40 but was not selected for the First Test. Mallett remained on the Test sidelines for the next two and a half months. In that time he played in seven more first-class matches and took 22 wickets at 31.81. His most productive results were a 4/46 and 2/85 in a defeat to Glamorgan and an innings haul of 5/69 against Derbyshire. He also took a total of 5/184 against Warwickshire, removing the West Indian Test batsman Rohan Kanhai
twice.
with his fifth ball, breaching his defences and trapping him leg before wicket
. He then dismissed Basil D'Oliveira
for 158 and wicket-keeper Alan Knott
, ending with 3/87 as the hosts made 494. Mallett then made 43 not out, helping to push Australia to 324 with some lower order runs. It was almost twice his previous best first-class score, and remained his highest Test score. He then took 2/77 in the second innings, removing Cowdrey and John Edrich
.
Rain threatened to save Australia after they collapsed in pursuit of 352 on the final day. Mallett fell for a duck, the ninth wicket to fall before England took the last wicket with five minutes to spare to win by 226 runs. Mallett was to tour England three more times, in 1972, 1975 and 1980, but was never at his best there.
In the second match of the 1968–69 season, Mallett took 2/30 and 3/80 in South Australia's match against the touring West Indies. He was selected for the First Test in Brisbane, but was attacked by the Caribbean tourists, taking a total of 1/88, his only wicket being Kanhai and conceding almost five runs per over as Australia lost by 125 runs. After the defeat, Mallett was dropped. Returning to state duty, Mallett took 2/30 and 6/69 in the next match against New South Wales, helping to set up a three-wicket win. Two games later, he took 4/41 and 7/57, orchestrating an innings victory over Queensland. These efforts were not enough to win a recall to the Test team, and Mallett ended the season with 39 wickets at 23.15 as South Australia won the Sheffield Shield. He also scored 110 runs at 15.71 with a top-score of 24.
Mallett was not highly regarded by Lawry.
During a stopover in Ceylon
, he took 4/63 in a drawn match against Sri Lanka, but did not have immediate success after arriving in India. In the drawn warm-up match against West Zone
, he took only 1/85. In the First Test in Bombay
, he took 0/43 in the first innings, before removing wicket-keeper Farokh Engineer
and tail-ender Erapalli Prasanna and ending with 2/22 in the second innings as Australia won by eight wickets. Mallett then hit form, taking 3/42 and 7/38 to orchestrate an innings win over Central Zone
. In the Second Test in Kanpur, Mallett bowled 87.5 overs, 43 of them maidens in an attritional drawn match. He took 3/58 in the first innings and 1/62 in the second innings, removing the top-scorer Gundappa Viswanath
for 137.
On a dry, crumbling, turning pitch at the Feroz Shah Kotla
in Delhi
, the hosts levelled the series. After Australia had made 296, Mallett took 6/64 to secure a 73-run lead.
However, Australia were then bowled out for only 107 and the home team made 3/181 to win the match. Mallett took 2/60 and bowled 61.3 overs for the match.
Ahead of the next Test, Mallett took 5/37 and 1/37 as Lawry's men defeated East Zone
by 96 runs.
Immediately after the tour of India, the Australians headed to South Africa for four more Tests. Mallett took a total of 10/263 in two warm-up matches and took retained his place in the Test team.
The hosts batted first in the First Test at Newlands
in Cape Town
on a hard pitch not conducive to spin bowling, and made 382, but Mallett still managed to take 5/126, the leading bowling figures for the innings. In the second innings, he took 1/79 and Australia lost by 170 runs.
Despite this performance, Mallett was immediately dropped for the remaining three Tests. He took 4/110 and 4/89 in the next tour match against Border
, but was ignored for the Third and Fourth Tests. In the meantime, Australia lost the last three Tests by an innings and 129 runs, 307 runs and 323 runs respectively, the heaviest series defeat in Australian Test history. Mallett ended the tour with 33 wickets at 33.09 and 61 runs at 12.20.
As Mallett sought to reclaim his Test spot at the start of the 1970–71 Australian season, he was in better form with the bat than the ball. In his opening first-class match of the season, against Western Australia, he made his first-class best of 92, but only totalled 2/179 in a drawn match. In the following match against Ray Illingworth
's touring England team, he scored 28 but only managed an aggregate of 1/165 with the ball. Mallett then made the second and last half-century of his career, making 76 and totalling 3/25 against Victoria. In his last match before the First Test, Mallett only took 2/80 and he was not included in the national team.
After the Second Test, Mallett found form with the ball, taking 4/59 and 3/61 against England for South Australia, adding an unbeaten 42 with the bat. He followed this with 3/22 and 3/49 in an innings win over Queensland, and was called into the team for the Third Test. Due to persistent rain, the match was abandoned and the inaugural one-day international
was scheduled in its place at the MCG.
Mallett had not been in good form in this new format of cricket; in two matches earlier in the season, he had conceded 82 runs from his 10 overs, approximately twice the high as the average of that era.
Despite his poor track record, Mallett took 3/34 from eight overs, removing Edrich, Keith Fletcher
and John Hampshire
as England were dismissed for 190. Australia went on to complete a five-wicket victory.
Mallett took 4/40 and 2/85 in the Fourth Test at Sydney
in the 1970-71 Ashes series
, but Australia lost by 299 runs to go down 1–0 down and he was dropped immediately after the Test.
He was brought back for the Sixth Test, his first at the Adelaide Oval
. He scored 28 and totalled 0/63 as the match ended in a draw, leaving Australia needing a win in the final Test to retain the Ashes.
The selectors responded by sacking Lawry and several other players, including Mallett.
Mallett returned to South Australia as his state proceeded to the Sheffield Shield title, although he only took one wicket in the last two matches.
In his most successful season with the bat, Mallett scored 374 runs at 28.76.
Returning to the Shield competition, Mallett performed consistently, with 54 and 62 wickets at an average of 19 in the 1971–72 and 1972–73 seasons allowing him a Test recall. In his earlier years, Mallet bowled with a high arm action, curving the ball away from the right-hander before breaking it inwards. He took 8/59 on his home ground in Adelaide against Pakistan
in 1972–73 but missed the subsequent tour to the West Indies. Although Mallett was immediately playing Tests in the following season, reaching his 100 wicket milestone in his 23rd Test, he was subsequently used in a defensive capacity from the mid 1970s onwards. Keeping one end tight while Jeff Thomson
and Dennis Lillee
attacked the opposition with pace from the other, he only managed 32 wickets in his last 15 Tests. As the end of his career approached, he was plagued by arthritis
, leading to a lower bowling action which curtailed his effectiveness. His last Test was at The Oval
in 1980.
. In tandem with Jenner, he was part of a successful era in South Australian cricket, playing in three Sheffield Shield winning sides in 1968–69, 1970–71 and 1975–76. His best bowling was 13/122 against his native state in 1971–72.
Mallett had little ability with the bat, with a Test best of 43* made on his debut against England, with a first class best of 92 against Western Australia. He had good reflexes and completed many difficult catches in the gully position, despite appearing to be short sighted. He captained the state team on two occasions in 1980–81, his final season.
by profession has worked as a commentator, a spin bowling
coach, and as a writer.
Chatswood, New South Wales
Chatswood is a suburb on the North Shore of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Chatswood is located 10 kilometres north of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre of the local government area of the City of Willoughby. Chatswood West is a separate suburb...
) is a former Australian cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
er who played in 38 Tests
Test cricket
Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...
and 9 One Day Internationals between 1968 and 1980. He is Australia's most successful off spin
Off spin
Off spin is a type of bowling in the sport of cricket which is bowled by an off spinner, a right-handed spin bowler who uses his or her fingers and/or wrist to spin the ball from a right-handed batsman's off side to the leg side...
bowler since World War II and for a period in the 1970s, he was regarded along with India's
Indian cricket team
The Indian cricket team is the national cricket team of India. Governed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India , it is a full member of the International Cricket Council with Test and One Day International status....
Erapalli Prasanna and the West Indies' Lance Gibbs
Lance Gibbs
Lancelot Richard Gibbs is a former West Indies cricketer, one of the most successful spin bowlers in Test cricket history. He took 309 Test wickets, only the second player to pass 300, the first spinner to pass that milestone, and had an exceptional economy rate of under two runs per over...
as the best off spinner in the world. He extracted a lot of bounce from his high arm action, coupled with his height.
Early career
Mallett was a member of the Western AustralianWestern Warriors
The Western Australia cricket team are an Australian first class cricket team representing the state of Western Australia...
squad in the 1966–67 season, but made no appearances, only being 12th man in two Sheffield Shield matches. On the bouncy pace friendly WACA Ground
WACA Ground
The WACA is a sports stadium in Perth, Western Australia. WACA are the initials of its owners and operators, the Western Australian Cricket Association....
, where the Western Australians played their home matches, only one spinner was required, and left arm orthodox spinner Tony Lock
Tony Lock
Graham Anthony Richard Lock was an English cricketer, who played primarily as a left-arm spinner. He played in forty nine Tests for England taking 174 wickets at 25.58 each.-Life and career:...
, the former English Test player blocked Mallett's path. Along with young leg spin
Leg spin
Leg spin is a type of spin bowling in the sport of cricket. A leg spinner bowls right-arm with a wrist spin action, causing the ball to spin from right to left in the cricket pitch, at the point of delivery. When the ball bounces, the spin causes the ball to deviate sharply from right to left, that...
ner Terry Jenner
Terry Jenner
Terrence James Jenner was an Australian cricketer who played nine Tests and one ODI from 1970 to 1975. He was primarily a leg-spin bowler and was known for his attacking, loopy style of bowling, but he was also a handy lower-order batsman...
, Mallett transferred to South Australia
Southern Redbacks
The South Australia cricket team, nicknamed the Southern Redbacks and known as the West End Redbacks due to their sponsorship agreement with local brewers West End, are an Australian first class cricket team based in Adelaide, South Australia, and represent the state of South Australia...
in the winter 1967, and immediately became regular members of the state team, which often fielded two spinners on the Adelaide Oval
Adelaide Oval
The Adelaide Oval is a sports ground in Adelaide, South Australia, located in the parklands between the Central Business District and North Adelaide...
's turning surface. They were to form an effective and attacking tandem spin combination for a decade.
During the 1967–68 season, Mallett made his debut in November against the touring New Zealand. He was wicketless from 12 overs and scored 8 not out and a duck
Duck (cricket)
In the sport of cricket, a duck refers to a batsman's dismissal for a score of zero.-Origin of the term:The term is a shortening of the term "duck's egg", the latter being used long before Test cricket began...
as the tourists lost by 24 runs. Mallett took his maiden wickets in the next match against India, taking 2/55 in an innings win. His first victims were Ramakant Desai
Ramakant Desai
Ramakant Bhikaji Desai represented India in Test cricket as fast bowler.Ramakant Desai was unusually fast for a bowler who stood less than 5 feet 6 inches. His size earned him the nickname 'Tiny'. As the only bowler of pace in the Indian team, he was perennially overworked...
and Bhagwat Chandrasekhar
Bhagwat Chandrasekhar
Bhagwat Subramanya Chandrasekhar is a former Indian cricketer who specialised in leg spin. Considered amongst the top echelon of leg-spinners, Chandrasekhar along with E.A.S. Prasanna, Bishen Singh Bedi and Srinivasaraghavan Venkataraghavan constituted the Indian spin quartet that dominated...
, both caught by his spinning partner Jenner. In the following match, he took 2/65 and 6/81, removing former Test batsman Peter Burge twice to set up a six-wicket win over Queensland
Queensland Bulls
The Queensland cricket team, nicknamed the Bulls, are the Brisbane-based Queensland representative cricket team in Australia's domestic cricket tournaments:*Sheffield Shield, 4-day matches with first-class status, since the 1926/27 season...
, and two matches later, faced his former state for the first time. He took 2/26 in the first innings, finishing off the tail, before taking 6/75 in the second innings to complete a 95-run win. Mallett dismissed Lock in both innings.
In the next match, Mallett took 4/54 and 4/52, helping South Australia to defend a target of 190 against Queensland and win by 14 runs. In the return match against Western Australia, Mallett totalled 4/103 in an innings win. He ended the season with 32 wickets at 25.15 and 110 runs at 13.75 with a best of 23.
These strong performances in his debut season gained Mallett selection in the Australian team to tour England in 1968
Australian cricket team in England in 1968
The Australian cricket team toured England in the 1968 season to play a five-match Test series against England for The Ashes.Australia retained The Ashes after the series was drawn 1-1.-Test series summary:* at Old Trafford – Australia won by 159 runs...
under the captaincy of Bill Lawry
Bill Lawry
William Morris "Bill" Lawry, AM is a former cricketer who played for Victoria and Australia. He captained Australia in 25 Tests, winning nine, losing eight and drawing eight, and led Australia in the inaugural One Day International match, played in 1971...
. In his second match on English soil, against Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire is a landlocked county in the English East Midlands, with a population of 629,676 as at the 2001 census. It has boundaries with the ceremonial counties of Warwickshire to the west, Leicestershire and Rutland to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshire to the south-east,...
, Mallett took his maiden ten-wicket match haul. He took 3/31 and 7/75 to set up a ten-wicket win and his victims included Hylton Ackerman
Hylton Ackerman
Hylton Michael Ackerman was a South African first class cricketer who played for Western Province in the 1970s.He attended Dale College Boy's High School where he was headboy. His son, Hylton D...
, Mushtaq Mohammed and Peter Willey
Peter Willey
Peter Willey is a former English cricketer, who played as a right-handed batsman and right-arm offbreak bowler. In and out of the England team, he interrupted his international career for three years by taking part in the first of the England players' South African rebel tours in 1982...
, Test players for South Africa, Pakistan and England respectively. In the final county match before the Tests, Mallett totalled 4/132 against Surrey. He had taken 15 wickets at 19.40 but was not selected for the First Test. Mallett remained on the Test sidelines for the next two and a half months. In that time he played in seven more first-class matches and took 22 wickets at 31.81. His most productive results were a 4/46 and 2/85 in a defeat to Glamorgan and an innings haul of 5/69 against Derbyshire. He also took a total of 5/184 against Warwickshire, removing the West Indian Test batsman Rohan Kanhai
Rohan Kanhai
Rohan Bholalall Kanhai is a former West Indian Cricket player of Indo-Guyanese descent. He is widely considered as one of the best batsmen of the 1960s. Kanhai featured in several great West Indian teams, playing with, among others, Sir Garfield Sobers, Roy Fredericks, Lance Gibbs, and Alvin...
twice.
Test career
Australia came into the Fifth and final Test with a 1–0 series lead, so the Ashes had already been retained. Mallett made his Test debut, taking the wicket of Colin CowdreyColin Cowdrey
Michael Colin Cowdrey, Baron Cowdrey of Tonbridge, CBE , better known as Colin Cowdrey, was the Captain of Oxford University, Kent County Cricket Club and the England cricket team in a career that lasted from 1950 to 1976...
with his fifth ball, breaching his defences and trapping him leg before wicket
Leg before wicket
In the sport of cricket, leg before wicket is one of the ways in which a batsman can be dismissed. An umpire will rule a batsman out LBW under a series of circumstances which primarily include the ball striking the batsman's body when it would otherwise have continued on to hit the batsman's...
. He then dismissed Basil D'Oliveira
Basil D'Oliveira
Basil Lewis D'Oliveira CBE , known affectionately around the world as "Dolly", was a South African-born English cricketer. D'Oliveira was classified as 'coloured' under the apartheid regime, and hence barred from first-class cricket, resulting in his emigration to England...
for 158 and wicket-keeper Alan Knott
Alan Knott
Alan Philip Eric Knott is a former Kent County Cricket Club and English cricketer, as a wicket-keeper-batsman....
, ending with 3/87 as the hosts made 494. Mallett then made 43 not out, helping to push Australia to 324 with some lower order runs. It was almost twice his previous best first-class score, and remained his highest Test score. He then took 2/77 in the second innings, removing Cowdrey and John Edrich
John Edrich
John Edrich, MBE is a former English cricketer, who played for Surrey and England. He earned a reputation as a dogged and fearless batsman, and his figures show that he was amongst the best players of his generation...
.
Rain threatened to save Australia after they collapsed in pursuit of 352 on the final day. Mallett fell for a duck, the ninth wicket to fall before England took the last wicket with five minutes to spare to win by 226 runs. Mallett was to tour England three more times, in 1972, 1975 and 1980, but was never at his best there.
In the second match of the 1968–69 season, Mallett took 2/30 and 3/80 in South Australia's match against the touring West Indies. He was selected for the First Test in Brisbane, but was attacked by the Caribbean tourists, taking a total of 1/88, his only wicket being Kanhai and conceding almost five runs per over as Australia lost by 125 runs. After the defeat, Mallett was dropped. Returning to state duty, Mallett took 2/30 and 6/69 in the next match against New South Wales, helping to set up a three-wicket win. Two games later, he took 4/41 and 7/57, orchestrating an innings victory over Queensland. These efforts were not enough to win a recall to the Test team, and Mallett ended the season with 39 wickets at 23.15 as South Australia won the Sheffield Shield. He also scored 110 runs at 15.71 with a top-score of 24.
Mallett was not highly regarded by Lawry.
Tour of India
In Australia's 1969–70 tour to India, Mallett took 28 wickets and was an instrumental component of Australia's last Test series victory there for 35 years.During a stopover in Ceylon
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
, he took 4/63 in a drawn match against Sri Lanka, but did not have immediate success after arriving in India. In the drawn warm-up match against West Zone
West Zone cricket team
The West Zone cricket team is a first-class cricket team that represents western India in the Duleep Trophy. It is a composite team of players from five first-class Indian teams from western India competing in the Ranji Trophy: Baroda, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Mumbai and Saurashtra...
, he took only 1/85. In the First Test in Bombay
Mumbai
Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...
, he took 0/43 in the first innings, before removing wicket-keeper Farokh Engineer
Farokh Engineer
Farokh Maneksha Engineer is a former Indian cricketer of Parsi background who played 46 Tests for India and played first-class cricket for Mumbai in India and Lancashire in England. Engineer's active international career started in 1961 and continued to 1975, and he was India's first-choice...
and tail-ender Erapalli Prasanna and ending with 2/22 in the second innings as Australia won by eight wickets. Mallett then hit form, taking 3/42 and 7/38 to orchestrate an innings win over Central Zone
Central Zone cricket team
The Central Zone cricket team is a first-class cricket team that represents central India in the Duleep Trophy. It is a composite team of players from five first-class Indian teams from central India competing in the Ranji Trophy: Madhya Pradesh, Railways, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Vidarbha...
. In the Second Test in Kanpur, Mallett bowled 87.5 overs, 43 of them maidens in an attritional drawn match. He took 3/58 in the first innings and 1/62 in the second innings, removing the top-scorer Gundappa Viswanath
Gundappa Viswanath
Gundappa Rangnath Viswanath is a former Indian cricketer. He was one of India's finest batsmen throughout the 1970s. He played Test cricket for India from 1969 to 1983 making 91 appearances and scoring over 6000 runs. He also played in One Day Internationals from 1974 to 1982 including the World...
for 137.
On a dry, crumbling, turning pitch at the Feroz Shah Kotla
Feroz Shah Kotla
The Feroz Shah Kotla or Kotla was originally a fortress built by Sultan Ferozshah Tughlaq to house his version of Delhi city called Ferozabad. A pristine polished sandstone pillar from the 3rd century B.C...
in Delhi
Delhi
Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...
, the hosts levelled the series. After Australia had made 296, Mallett took 6/64 to secure a 73-run lead.
However, Australia were then bowled out for only 107 and the home team made 3/181 to win the match. Mallett took 2/60 and bowled 61.3 overs for the match.
Ahead of the next Test, Mallett took 5/37 and 1/37 as Lawry's men defeated East Zone
East Zone cricket team
The East Zone cricket team is a first-class cricket team that represents eastern India in the Duleep Trophy. It is a composite team of five first-class Indian teams from eastern India competing in the Ranji Trophy: Assam, Bengal, Jharkand, Orissa and Tripura...
by 96 runs.
Immediately after the tour of India, the Australians headed to South Africa for four more Tests. Mallett took a total of 10/263 in two warm-up matches and took retained his place in the Test team.
The hosts batted first in the First Test at Newlands
Newlands Cricket Ground
Newlands Cricket Ground in Cape Town is a South African cricket ground. It's the home of the Cape Cobras, who play in the SuperSport Series, MTN Domestic Championship and Standard Bank Pro20 competitions. It is also a venue for Test matches. Newlands is regarded as one of the most beautiful cricket...
in Cape Town
Cape Town
Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...
on a hard pitch not conducive to spin bowling, and made 382, but Mallett still managed to take 5/126, the leading bowling figures for the innings. In the second innings, he took 1/79 and Australia lost by 170 runs.
Despite this performance, Mallett was immediately dropped for the remaining three Tests. He took 4/110 and 4/89 in the next tour match against Border
Border cricket team
Border cricket team is the team representing the Border province in domestic first-class cricket in South Africa. The team began playing in March 1898....
, but was ignored for the Third and Fourth Tests. In the meantime, Australia lost the last three Tests by an innings and 129 runs, 307 runs and 323 runs respectively, the heaviest series defeat in Australian Test history. Mallett ended the tour with 33 wickets at 33.09 and 61 runs at 12.20.
As Mallett sought to reclaim his Test spot at the start of the 1970–71 Australian season, he was in better form with the bat than the ball. In his opening first-class match of the season, against Western Australia, he made his first-class best of 92, but only totalled 2/179 in a drawn match. In the following match against Ray Illingworth
Ray Illingworth
Raymond Illingworth, CBE is a former English cricketer, cricket commentator and cricket administrator. He was one of only nine players to have taken 2,000 wickets and made 20,000 runs in First class cricket, and the last one to do so...
's touring England team, he scored 28 but only managed an aggregate of 1/165 with the ball. Mallett then made the second and last half-century of his career, making 76 and totalling 3/25 against Victoria. In his last match before the First Test, Mallett only took 2/80 and he was not included in the national team.
After the Second Test, Mallett found form with the ball, taking 4/59 and 3/61 against England for South Australia, adding an unbeaten 42 with the bat. He followed this with 3/22 and 3/49 in an innings win over Queensland, and was called into the team for the Third Test. Due to persistent rain, the match was abandoned and the inaugural one-day international
One-day International
A One Day International is a form of limited overs cricket, in which a fixed number of overs, usually 50, but in the past 40, 45 or 60 overs, are played between two teams with international status. The Cricket World Cup is played in this format...
was scheduled in its place at the MCG.
Mallett had not been in good form in this new format of cricket; in two matches earlier in the season, he had conceded 82 runs from his 10 overs, approximately twice the high as the average of that era.
Despite his poor track record, Mallett took 3/34 from eight overs, removing Edrich, Keith Fletcher
Keith Fletcher
Keith Fletcher is a former English cricketer, who played for Essex and England. He later became England's team manager. His nickname was "The Gnome of Essex", so christened by his Essex team-mate, Ray East, because Fletcher's winklepickers had begun to curl up at the toes due to wear...
and John Hampshire
John Hampshire
John Harry Hampshire John Harry Hampshire John Harry Hampshire (born 10 February 1941, Thurnscoe (near Barnsley, Yorkshire) better known as Jack Hampshire, is a former English cricketer, who played eight Tests and three ODIs for England between 1969 and 1975. He played first-class cricket for...
as England were dismissed for 190. Australia went on to complete a five-wicket victory.
Mallett took 4/40 and 2/85 in the Fourth Test at Sydney
Sydney Cricket Ground
The Sydney Cricket Ground is a sports stadium in Sydney in Australia. It is used for Australian football, Test cricket, One Day International cricket, some rugby league and rugby union matches and is the home ground for the New South Wales Blues cricket team and the Sydney Swans of the Australian...
in the 1970-71 Ashes series
English cricket team in Australia in 1970-71
Ray Illingworth captained the English cricket team in Australia in 1970–71, playing as England in the 1970-71 Ashes series against the Australians and as the MCC in their other matches on the tour. They had a successful tour, but an acrimonious one as Illingworth's team often argued with their own...
, but Australia lost by 299 runs to go down 1–0 down and he was dropped immediately after the Test.
He was brought back for the Sixth Test, his first at the Adelaide Oval
Adelaide Oval
The Adelaide Oval is a sports ground in Adelaide, South Australia, located in the parklands between the Central Business District and North Adelaide...
. He scored 28 and totalled 0/63 as the match ended in a draw, leaving Australia needing a win in the final Test to retain the Ashes.
The selectors responded by sacking Lawry and several other players, including Mallett.
Mallett returned to South Australia as his state proceeded to the Sheffield Shield title, although he only took one wicket in the last two matches.
In his most successful season with the bat, Mallett scored 374 runs at 28.76.
Returning to the Shield competition, Mallett performed consistently, with 54 and 62 wickets at an average of 19 in the 1971–72 and 1972–73 seasons allowing him a Test recall. In his earlier years, Mallet bowled with a high arm action, curving the ball away from the right-hander before breaking it inwards. He took 8/59 on his home ground in Adelaide against Pakistan
Pakistani cricket team
The Pakistan cricket team is the national cricket team of Pakistan. Pakistan, represented by the Pakistan Cricket Board , is a full member of the International Cricket Council, and thus participates in , and cricket matches....
in 1972–73 but missed the subsequent tour to the West Indies. Although Mallett was immediately playing Tests in the following season, reaching his 100 wicket milestone in his 23rd Test, he was subsequently used in a defensive capacity from the mid 1970s onwards. Keeping one end tight while Jeff Thomson
Jeff Thomson
Jeffrey Robert Thomson is a former Australian cricketer. Known as "Thommo", he was one of the fastest bowlers ever to play Test cricket and was the opening partner of fellow fast bowler Dennis Lillee; their combination was one of the most fearsome in Test cricket history...
and Dennis Lillee
Dennis Lillee
Dennis Keith Lillee, AM, MBE is a former Australian cricketer rated as the "outstanding fast bowler of his generation"...
attacked the opposition with pace from the other, he only managed 32 wickets in his last 15 Tests. As the end of his career approached, he was plagued by arthritis
Arthritis
Arthritis is a form of joint disorder that involves inflammation of one or more joints....
, leading to a lower bowling action which curtailed his effectiveness. His last Test was at The Oval
The Oval
The Kia Oval, still commonly referred to by its original name of The Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, in the London Borough of Lambeth. In the past it was also sometimes called the Kennington Oval...
in 1980.
Sheffield Shield
Mallett had a productive Shield career, taking 391 wickets in 91 matches, second only to Clarrie GrimmettClarrie Grimmett
Clarence Victor "Clarrie" Grimmett was a cricketer; although born in New Zealand, he played most of his cricket in Australia. He is thought by many to be one of the finest early spin bowlers, and usually credited as the developer of the flipper.Grimmett was born in Caversham a suburb of Dunedin,...
. In tandem with Jenner, he was part of a successful era in South Australian cricket, playing in three Sheffield Shield winning sides in 1968–69, 1970–71 and 1975–76. His best bowling was 13/122 against his native state in 1971–72.
Mallett had little ability with the bat, with a Test best of 43* made on his debut against England, with a first class best of 92 against Western Australia. He had good reflexes and completed many difficult catches in the gully position, despite appearing to be short sighted. He captained the state team on two occasions in 1980–81, his final season.
Post-playing career
Mallett, a journalistJournalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
by profession has worked as a commentator, a spin bowling
Spin bowling
Spin bowling is a technique used for bowling in the sport of cricket. Practitioners are known as spinners or spin bowlers.-Purpose:The main aim of spin bowling is to bowl the cricket ball with rapid rotation so that when it bounces on the pitch it will deviate, thus making it difficult for the...
coach, and as a writer.
- Mallett is currently employed by the Sri Lankan Cricket BoardSri Lanka CricketSri Lanka Cricket, formerly the Board for Cricket Control in Sri Lanka , is the controlling body for cricket in Sri Lanka. It operates the Sri Lankan cricket team and first-class cricket within Sri Lanka....
and travels there three times a year as a consultant spin coach. - Mallett wrote biographies of Victor TrumperVictor TrumperVictor Thomas Trumper was an Australian cricketer known as the most stylish and versatile batsman of the Golden Age of cricket, capable of playing match-winning innings on wet wickets his contemporaries found unplayable. Archie MacLaren said of him, "Compared to Victor I was a cab-horse to a Derby...
and Clarrie GrimmettClarrie GrimmettClarence Victor "Clarrie" Grimmett was a cricketer; although born in New Zealand, he played most of his cricket in Australia. He is thought by many to be one of the finest early spin bowlers, and usually credited as the developer of the flipper.Grimmett was born in Caversham a suburb of Dunedin,...
. He also wrote a book about the Australian Aboriginal cricket team in England in 1868
Books
Books by Mallett include:- 2002: Lord's Dreaming: The Story of the 1868 Aboriginal Tour of England and Beyond, a scholarly account of the Australian Aboriginal cricket team in England in 1868 ISBN 9780285636408
- 2005: Thommo Speaks Out, a biography of Australian bowler Jeff ThomsonJeff ThomsonJeffrey Robert Thomson is a former Australian cricketer. Known as "Thommo", he was one of the fastest bowlers ever to play Test cricket and was the opening partner of fellow fast bowler Dennis Lillee; their combination was one of the most fearsome in Test cricket history...
ISBN 9781741754353 - 2007: Chappelli Speaks Out, a biography of Australian batsman Ian ChappellIan ChappellIan Michael Chappell is a former cricketer who played for South Australia and Australia. He captained Australia between 1971 and 1975 before taking a central role in the breakaway World Series Cricket organisation...
ISBN 9781741750362 - 2008: One of a Kind: the Doug Walters story, a biography of Australian Batsman Doug WaltersDoug WaltersKevin Douglas Walters MBE in Dungog New South Wales, known as Doug Walters, is a former Australian cricketer. He was known as an attacking batsman, and also as a typical ocker.-First-class career:...
ISBN 9781741750294