Ian Meckiff
Encyclopedia
Ian Meckiff is a former cricket
er who represented Australia in 18 Tests
between 1957 and 1963. A left-arm fast bowler
, he is best known for two matters that were unrelated to his skill as a player: He was the batsman run out
by Joe Solomon
in 1960, causing the first Tied Test
in cricket history; and in December 1963, his career was sensationally ended when he was called for throwing
in the First Test against South Africa by Australian umpire Col Egar. During the late 1950s and early 1960s, there had been a media frenzy about the perceived prevalence of illegal bowling actions in world cricket. The controversy and speculation that dogged Meckiff in the years preceding his final match caused sections of the cricket community to believe that he had been made a scapegoat by the Australian cricket authorities to prove their intent to stamp out throwing.
With an unconventional front-on bowling action, Meckiff progressed through the district cricket ranks
at South Melbourne Cricket Club
, making his first-class
debut for Victoria
in 1956–57. After a productive first season, Meckiff was named in a new-look Australian team for the 1957–58 tour of South Africa. This was the result of a generational change in the Australian Test team after a decline in performances in the 1950s. The shift saw Meckiff open the bowling in his debut Test, where he performed strongly to take eight wickets. Generating his pace from an unusual bent-arm action which involved a flick of the wrist, Meckiff reached his peak in the Second Test of the 1958–59 season against England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground
. He took 6/38 in the second innings as England were dismissed for 87, setting up an Australian victory. His achievement was engulfed by controversy, as English media and former players accused him of throwing Australia to victory.
The controversy over Meckiff's action persisted as throwing was in the spotlight in England, where it was regarded as a growing problem. The issue prompted numerous international discussions and meetings on amending the throwing law and the interpretation thereof. An expected confrontation with English umpires in 1961 was averted when the bowler suffered multiple injuries in the preceding Australian summer and was omitted from the team to tour England
, but Meckiff had two strong seasons in domestic cricket that forced the Australian selectors to recall him for the Tests against South Africa in 1963–64. The Victorian's recall had occurred despite his being no-balled
for throwing in two separate Sheffield Shield matches in the previous season. In his first over of the Test, Meckiff was no-balled four times by umpire Egar. Australian captain Richie Benaud
chose to not bowl his paceman again, and Meckiff retired from all cricket at the end of the match. The throwing controversy provoked heavy debate among cricket commentators, players and umpires, past and present; some praised Egar's no-ball call while others condemned the umpire and felt that the paceman had bowled in the same way as he had always done. Others felt that Meckiff had been set up so that he would be no-balled in an "execution" or "sacrifice" to prove Australia's resolve against throwing.
, the children went to Mentone Primary School before progressing to Mordialloc-Chelsea High School, where both brothers became prefects. All of the children represented their high school for sport—Don and Ian in athletics, swimming, football and cricket; and Margaret in softball. The brothers played for Mentone Cricket Club in the Federal District Cricket Association, Ian as a left-arm unorthodox spin
ner. He routinely dominated the opposition batsmen in the competition, taking 200 wickets at a bowling average
of only 4.50 during his career with Mentone. He began playing in Mentone's under-16 team at the age of 11.
Having failed as a spin bowler in a trial at Richmond in 1950, Meckiff switched to fast bowling
in 1951–52 when he began his district career in Victorian Premier Cricket
with South Melbourne. He started in the Fourth XI after his brother had to withdraw from a match. The following summer, aged 17, Meckiff was in the senior team and played in South Melbourne's first championship-winning side in his debut season in the First XI, although his club career was sometimes interrupted by national service
in the reserves
. After receiving requests from cricket administrators, the military authorities scheduled the leave of young players for weekends, so that the impact on their careers would be minimised. At the time, Australia lacked bowlers of great pace, so a teammate advised Meckiff to bowl as fast as he could, without regard for accuracy—a plan he successfully adopted.
Meckiff made his first-class debut for Victoria
in 1956–57 against Western Australia
. Coming in to bat with his state's score at 8 wickets for 77 (8/77), he made 19 not out
to help them reach 131, before taking three wickets for 45 runs (3/45) to restrict Western Australia to a 34-run first innings lead. His first wicket was future Australian captain Bob Simpson
for a duck
, and he followed up by removing Test batsmen Barry Shepherd
and Ken Meuleman
. Meckiff made 11 in the second innings and took 0/40 as Victoria lost by four wickets.
Meckiff's most prominent showing in his debut season was in the Sheffield Shield match against New South Wales
during the Christmas period of 1956. At the time, the two states were by far the strongest in Australia; in the past decade, the teams had 18 of the 20 top-two Shield placings between them, and New South Wales were in the process of winning nine consecutive titles. The arch-rivals were at full strength as no international matches were held during the season.
Coming in at 7/173, Meckiff top-scored with 55—his only first-class 50—as Victoria batted first and made a late recovery to end with 244. Meckiff took 3/65, including the wickets of Test players Bill Watson and Richie Benaud
as New South Wales responded with 281. In the Victorian second innings Meckiff managed only 8 as Victoria left their opponents a target of 161 runs for victory. The paceman took 4/56 and claimed the final wicket, removing Test opener Jim Burke
caught for 8 as New South Wales mustered 160, causing the match to end in the first tie in Shield history. Burke had returned to bat after being injured earlier in the innings, while New South Wales captain Ian Craig
, who had been ill, hauled himself out of bed in an attempt to salvage the match after his team had fallen to 7/70. Meckiff's other victims in the final innings included Test players Alan Davidson
and Johnny Martin
.
Strong showings for Victoria earned Meckiff selection in Neil Harvey
's XI for the one-off match against Ray Lindwall
's XI at the start of January 1957. These annual fixtures were used as trials for the leading players vying for national selection. Lindwall's men batted first and made 428; Meckiff was the most successful bowler, taking 6/75 while his fellow-bowlers struggled to make inroads into the opposition batsmen. His first wicket was Test batsman Ken Mackay
for 99, and he followed this by removing Bob Simpson, Norm O'Neill
and Graeme Hole
in the middle-order. Meckiff followed his productive bowling with 47 runs in a tail-wagging performance, adding 71 for the eighth wicket with Wally Grout
as Harvey's men responded with 419. The Victorian took 0/18 in the second innings as Lindwall's team fell for 188 to leave Harvey's XI with a victory target of 198, which was achieved with seven wickets in hand.
Meckiff had performed strongly in his debut first-class season, ending with 27 wickets at an average of 23.66. He was the ninth-highest wicket-taker for the Australian summer and his average was superior to all eight bowlers who took more wickets. At season's end, he was rewarded with selection for Australia's non-Test tour of New Zealand in February and March 1957. The hosts had Test status at the time, but Australia refused to ratify games against their trans-Tasman neighbours as Test matches, citing the weakness of the New Zealand team.
The tour represented a changing of the guard in Australian cricket following the tour of England
and the Indian subcontinent
in 1956, with the bowling line-up heavily overhauled due to advancing age, injury and loss of form. Australia had lost three Ashes
series in a row, and captain Ian Johnson
and his deputy Keith Miller
retired upon their return home. Johnson was Australia's first-choice spinner while Miller and the 35-year-old Ray Lindwall
had formed Australia's new ball
pairing for the previous decade. In addition, the fast bowling all rounder Ron Archer
suffered a long-term knee injury during the 1956 tour, while paceman Pat Crawford
played only one first-class match in 1956–57 after his marriage broke down. In the wake of Australia's decline in the past five years, the selectors turned to youth in an attempt to rebuild the side, resting several established Test representatives from the side. Ian Craig was installed as the nation's youngest ever captain at the age of 22, having previously played only six Tests without securing a regular position in the team.
The New Zealand campaign was a chance for the younger players to establish themselves in the national team. Meckiff took 2/46 and 3/25 in his first-class debut for Australia, an innings win over Otago. He played in the first match against New Zealand, but after taking 0/41 in a drawn encounter, he was dropped for the second game. The paceman forced his way back into the team for the third match after claiming 4/12 and 5/48 to help to set up an innings victory over Auckland.
In the final match, New Zealand batted first and Meckiff played a leading role in Australia's victory, taking 4/28 from 27.2 overs to help dismiss the hosts for 198. The fast bowler was not required to bat as the tourists replied with 8/350 declared
. He took 2/17 in the second innings as the home team fell for 161 before Craig's men sealed the series with a 10-wicket win. Meckiff ended the tour with 20 first-class wickets at 10.85, placing him top of the tour bowling averages.
among Australian bowlers. Meckiff was selected for the tour as part of Australia's generational change, after a single season in first-class cricket, and the squad departed for South Africa in October. On the tour, in five first-class matches ahead of the Tests he took 12 wickets, at 26.25.
Meckiff was one of four Australians to make their debuts in the First Test, which was played on a batsman-friendly surface in Johannesburg
over the Christmas holiday period. Under some pressure due to Australia's decision to discard Lindwall and invest in new talent, he opened the bowling alongside Alan Davidson
, who up to that point had taken only 16 wickets at 34.06 in 12 Tests. The match began badly for Australia's inexperienced attack as the South African openers Jackie McGlew
and Trevor Goddard
put on an opening stand of 176. Meckiff claimed his maiden Test wicket, and Australia's first breakthrough, when he bowled
Goddard for 90. He then removed McGlew for 108 and later dismissed Russell Endean
and Roy McLean
for 50 apiece. South Africa amassed 470, and Meckiff had the best figures, taking 5/125 in the hosts' first innings, all five being specialist batsmen. When the tourists batted, Meckiff came in at 8/313 and held up his end as centurion
Richie Benaud
did the majority of the scoring in their 42-run partnership. The debutant ended with 11 in his first Test outing with the bat as Craig's team ended on 368. Meckiff took 3/52 in the South African second innings, including McGlew for the second time, as the match ended in a draw. This fine start to the Victorian's international career was halted in the Second Test at Cape Town
, where he broke down with injury early in the first innings and took no further part in an Australian innings victory. He did not take a wicket.
Meckiff missed the Third Test in Durban
and spent a month on the sidelines, before returning against a combined team from Orange Free State
and Border
at the end of January. He took 6/29 in the first innings, his best return of the tour, and earned a recall for the final two Tests of the five-match series. He was not as effective as he was on debut, taking two and one wickets for the matches respectively, and scoring 26 runs in his only innings of the Fourth Test. Overall, the Victorian paceman had made a steady start to his international career, with 11 Test wickets at an average of 32.09, and 56 runs at 18.66. In the entire tour, he took 33 first-class wickets at 23.09. However, there was a hint of the controversy that was to end his career six years later. A year after the series, the South African Test umpire Bill Marais said he was prepared to no-ball Meckiff and his team-mate Jim Burke
for throwing
. There were reports that Craig had been tipped off about Marais’s intentions and therefore operated the two bowlers exclusively from the end at which Marais was not officiating.
(twice), Arthur Milton
and Raman Subba Row
.
The Test team was now under the leadership of Benaud—Craig had been forced to withdraw from cricket due to hepatitis
; Meckiff retained his place in the side. Prior to the Tests, English all-rounder Trevor Bailey
privately described Meckiff as "the worst bowler ever to represent Australia", and felt he posed little threat to the visitors. However this proved to be questionable. The Benaud era started well for Australia and Meckiff, with a comfortable eight-wicket victory in the First Test in Brisbane
. The paceman took 3/33 and 2/30, removing Milton, Colin Cowdrey
and captain Peter May
early on the first day to help Australia take the initiative after the tourists had batted first. The match also marked the start of behind-the-scenes rumblings about the bowler's action.
Meckiff's career peaked at the Second Test, which began on New Year's Eve, 1958 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground
. It was his first international fixture in front of his home crowd, and also marked the start of his career-long public problem with accusations of throwing. The match was dominated by the Victorian and his left-arm pace partner Davidson; the pair took 18 of the 20 English wickets to fall. England's first innings was headlined by Davidson's 6/64; Meckiff took 3/69, including the wicket of England captain May for 113 with a swinging ball
, which breached the batsman's defence and crashed into the stumps. This ended a century partnership with Cowdrey, and triggered a collapse that saw England be dismissed for 259, the last six English wickets falling for 49 runs. Meckiff rated the ball as the best of his career. He made a duck as the hosts replied with 308 to take a 49-run lead. It was in England's second innings that Australia's left-arm pacemen were at their most potent; apart from one over from Benaud the pair bowled unchanged to dismiss England for 87 in the 32nd over, Meckiff taking 6/38. Backed a by a vocal home crowd, the Victorian dismissed opener Richardson for three, before removing Bailey, Tom Graveney
and Cowdrey in quick succession. He followed this by removing the English skipper for a second time to leave England at 7/71. This set up a comfortable Australian victory as they reached their target of 39 with the loss of two wickets. The Australian pace duo were aided by a series of difficult, diving catches. The pair combined forces when Davidson caught May, and then Graveney, in the leg trap behind square from the bowling of his fellow left-armer, who called the reflex catches "absolutely unbelievable". Meckiff described the hometown atmosphere as "electrifying", and attributed his performance to the crowd support.
The match ended on the eve of Meckiff's 24th birthday, but Australian celebrations were marred by English journalists, who levelled accusations of throwing against him and some of his colleagues. The evening edition of the Melbourne Herald carried a column by former English spinner Johnny Wardle
, accusing Meckiff of "throwing England out". Wardle's piece was written confrontationally, as a series of sentences starting with "I accuse". This was followed by more anti-Meckiff comments in the English press, including one that dubbed the bowler "the greatest ogre of international cricket since Larwood
". The Evening News proclaimed: "Meckiff's throwing was devastating" and The Star
said: "at least two of his wickets were obtained by deliveries which looked to be thrown". Former England spinner Ian Peebles
asserted that Meckiff and Gordon Rorke
threw "the greater number of balls they deliver", while former English paceman Alf Gover
claimed that none of the left-armer's deliveries were legal; it was "ridiculous that a player of his action should be the agent of England's destruction". According to Australian writer Jack Pollard
, such headlines relegated the Cold War
, which usually occupied the front pages, to the interior of the English newspapers.
By contrast to the strident condemnation of Meckiff in the English press, Australian opinion was mixed. The former Test opener and leading commentator Jack Fingleton
said: "when he [Meckiff] delivered to Bailey, his fastest ball looked most suspect" and that the left-armer should have been called for throwing. Fingleton claimed to know of five former Australian Test cricketers who felt that Meckiff threw, but only named the 1930s paceman Ernie McCormick
. Former Australian player Tommy Andrews claimed: "if they stop throwing in Australia, cricket will die". Former Australian captain Ian Johnson
argued that if Meckiff were to be cited for an illegal action for jerking his wrist, then leading English bowlers such as Trueman, Brian Statham
and Tony Lock
, who played against Australia during the season, should also be sanctioned. As with Meckiff, Lock was under scrutiny at the time and later tried to change his bowling action but the new style coincided with a downturn in results. Johnson also noted that any successful spinner would be called for throwing if the law were enforced strictly because of their flicking of the wrist and fingers during the delivery of the ball, as they could not otherwise extract spin. In 1993, Robert Coleman, the historian of the Victorian Cricket Association, decried the anti-Meckiff campaign as "Fleet Street
bleating", and said: "there have been no more hysterical outbursts on the subject [of throwing] than occurred during England's 1958–59 tour". Writing decades after the event, Pollard said "Meckiff, in fact, went to the crease with a beautifully relaxed approach, paused momentarily with his arm absolutely straight, and then let the ball go with a blurred swing of the arm that was impossible to follow from 60 yards away, even with the aid of good binoculars."
Journalists who wrote books about the 1958–59 season made thinly veiled references to the controversy in the names of their work. Fingleton’s account on the series was entitled Four Chukkas
to Australia, while E. N. Wellings labelled his tome The Ashes Thrown Away, and accused Meckiff, along with Burke, Rorke and Keith Slater
of throwing for Australia in the Tests. An Australian television debate program featured an entire session where English journalists Wellings and Crawford White discussed the throwing issue with former Australian Test cricketers Keith Miller
and Sid Barnes
.
In the Third Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground
Meckiff took one wicket—Bailey—in the first innings, before breaking down with an injury in the second. This ruled him out of the Fourth Test, and he missed a month of cricket before returning for the final Test in Melbourne in mid February, where he removed specialist batsmen May and Ted Dexter
. On the field it had been a successful series for the Victorian; he had taken 17 wickets at 17.17, as Australia claimed the series 4–0. These efforts placed him top of the Test bowling averages for the series. When Lindwall was recalled for the Fourth Test in place of the injured Meckiff he was reported to have said "I'm the last of the straight-arm bowlers". The veteran paceman played alongside Meckiff in later matches, including the Fifth Test. Meckiff was also prominent in the two Shield matches against New South Wales, when both teams were at full strength. In the first contest he had match figures of 5/129, his victims including Test teammates Burke, O'Neill and Davidson (twice), but his efforts were unable to prevent defeat. In the return fixture, Meckiff took a total of 7/162; five of his victims were Australian Test batsmen. Victoria held the upper hand, and were 45 runs short of victory in the second innings when time ran out.
Within the wider cricket community there was a steady crescendo of comment condemning the prevalence of bowlers with suspect actions. Prior to the alteration of the bowling law by the Imperial Cricket Conference in 1960, the law stated:
, but May had refused, fearing accusations of sour grapes. Years later, Richardson and some of his fellow batsmen accused the Australian fast bowler of throwing them out, while England paceman Fred Trueman
said: "Meckiff's action was totally illegal and that he should never have been allowed to play". Richardson's off spin
ning team-mate Jim Laker
likened Meckiff's and Burke's arm actions to those of dart-throwers.
Benaud said he was "completely satisfied that [Meckiff's] delivery was fair and legitimate", while the selection panel of Don Bradman, Dudley Seddon and Jack Ryder continued to pick the paceman, implying that they regarded his action as legal. Bill Dowling, the chairman of the Australian Board of Control, denounced the media attention on suspect bowling actions as excessive and "magnified out of all proportion".
Off the field, the throwing controversy was beginning to affect Meckiff adversely. In his 1961 autobiography, prophetically titled Thrown Out, he said the accusations took a deep personal toll on him and his family, and prompted him to shun the public. He became known by the derisive nickname "Chucker
" and was credited on the front cover of his autobiography as "Ian 'Chucker' Meckiff". Meckiff reported that from the Melbourne Test onwards, his son was verbally abused by classmates; Meckiff's parents were persistently told their son bowled illegally. He added that doctors believed his anxiety was contributing to stomach ailments. At the time, players were not allowed to talk to the media during the season, and Meckiff was upset because he could not rebut his accusers while they were free to attack him. He denied ever throwing, but admitted he may have been open to suspicion after bowling 15 to 20 overs in a day's play, as his body would begin to fall away in the delivery stride due to fatigue. He had a permanently bent bowling arm; he generated his pace from his wrist action, and asserted that his thin wrists gave the impression that his whole arm was bending.
and India
. Before the team departed, Meckiff demonstrated his new bowling action, which used a rigid left arm during the run-up, before swinging the arm over during the delivery stride. Over the next two years, sceptics and sporting opponents mostly regarded his action as fair, and said so in public. He was not called for throwing in either India or Pakistan, meaning that he had played in five nations without being sanctioned.
Meckiff was wicketless in Australia's win in the First Test against Pakistan on a matting wicket
in Dacca
(now in Bangladesh
). In the first innings of the Second Test in Lahore
, he took three wickets, including that of opposition captain Hanif Mohammad
; the match was Australia's last Test win on Pakistani soil for 39 years. Before the Third Test, he helped the tourists beat the President's XI in a low-scoring game in which none of the four innings totalled over 140. Meckiff claimed four wickets in the match, and was batting (he scored two not out) when Australia reached their victory target with three wickets in hand. He missed the drawn Third Test in Karachi
.
In the next leg of the tour, Meckiff returned to the Australian side for the First Test against India in Delhi
. After claiming 1/52 in the first innings, he compiled his Test best score of 45 not out. He came in to bat with his team's score at 8/402 and helped Lindsay Kline
and Rorke push Australia's score to 468, a first innings lead of 333. Meckiff was unable to capture a wicket in the Indian second innings as Benaud's men won by an innings and 117 runs. He bowled with little success in the Second Test in Kanpur, taking 1/52 in a spin-dominated match in which Jasu Patel
claimed 14 wickets to bowl India to their first-ever Test win over Australia. Meckiff was unbeaten on 14 when India secured the final wicket. In his first two Tests on Indian soil, Meckiff’s only victim had been Chandu Borde
, whom he dismissed twice.
Meckiff's most successful Test during the Indian tour was the drawn third match at Brabourne Stadium
in Bombay
, where he captured 4/79 and 3/67. In the Indian first innings, after removing opener Nari Contractor
for 108, Meckiff captured four of the next five wickets as India collapsed from 3/199 to 8/246—they were eventually all out for 289. In the second innings he secured three quick wickets as the hosts slumped from 0/99 to 4/116 before a recovery which prevented their defeat. Meckiff continued to hold the upper hand over Borde, dismissing him in both innings. The Victorian bowler had little success in the final two Tests, taking only three wickets as Australia won the series 2–1. He ended the subcontinental tour with 15 wickets at 35.73, and scored 70 runs at 23.33. He had particular success against Borde, dismissing him five times in as many Tests. Meckiff returned to Australia in time to play his solitary Sheffield Shield match for the 1959–60 season, taking the only ten-wicket match haul of his career. He took 5/41 and 5/84 to set up an easy win over Western Australia. His first innings effort helped dismiss Western Australia for 141, and Victoria replied with 431 to move into a match-winning position. He also helped South Melbourne to another district title, taking 9/51—including a hat-trick
—in the last match of the regular season against Fitzroy. This victory allowed South Melbourne to climb from seventh to fourth in the table and become the last qualifier for the semi-finals. They subsequently won their semi-final and the grand final to secure the title.
On his return to Australia Dowling angrily accused the English cricket community of pre-judging Meckiff. Dowling said the strident press attacks on Meckiff had amounted to intimidation of umpires through the media, and claimed that some administrators had privately told him that the Australian paceman would be called if he toured England. The president of the Marylebone Cricket Club
, Sir Hubert Ashton
, said he hoped Australia would not choose Meckiff for their 1961 tour.
restricted his speed and penetration, particularly in the lead-up to the opening Test. Meckiff played in the First and the Third Tests, taking two wickets at 117.00 and scoring 12 runs at 6.00; he was unable to complete either match, sustaining injuries during the second innings of both fixtures. These fitness problems resulted in his omission for the three other Tests. During the summer, Meckiff's bowling was passed by Col Egar, who later ended his career. He noted that the umpire had told him there was little point in changing his action.
Meckiff took match figures of 4/90 as Victoria started the season with a nine-wicket win over South Australia, but he managed only 2/122 as his state lost by an innings to the touring West Indies in the next fixture. The paceman removed Rohan Kanhai
, who made 252 of the visitors' 493, and captain Frank Worrell
, who contributed 82. During the heavy defeat, Meckiff equal top-scored with 24 not out in the first innings, as the hosts struggled against the mysterious spin of Sonny Ramadhin
. Despite his unpenetrative performance with the ball, the paceman was retained for the First Test in Brisbane. The Caribbean team batted first and attacked Meckiff, taking more than seven runs per over
from his bowling. The paceman ended with 1/129 from 18 overs as the visitors amassed 453; his only wicket was that of Gary Sobers for 132. The West Indian batsman had been particularly severe on Meckiff and was ironically dismissed by "the day's worst ball"— a leg side full toss
that he hit to mid-on
. In the second innings, Meckiff broke down after only four overs, but came out to bat on 14 December, late in Australia’s climactic run-chase, for which he was often remembered. At the end of a dramatic final day, Australia needed seven runs from the final over for victory, and they had three wickets in hand. The home side had seemed destined for a win after Davidson and Benaud had fought back with a century stand for the seventh wicket in the final session. Both were well set and had passed 50, but the tourists halted Australia's momentum by running out
Davidson with a direct hit from the last ball of the previous over. Benaud was caught behind on the second ball of the final over attempting a hook and Meckiff came to the crease to join Wally Grout
. Five runs were needed from six balls with two wickets in hand.
The injured paceman blocked the first ball he faced—the third of the over—and ran a bye
after missing the next. The West Indian wicket-keeper tried to run Meckiff out, but missed the stumps at the non-striker's end with the batsman many metres out of his ground. Grout top-edged the following ball straight up into the air, but the two fielders who converged beneath it collided and dropped the catch, allowing the Australians to take another run. The hosts thus needed three runs from the last three balls. Meckiff faced the sixth ball; it was a half volley
and he lofted it over square leg
. The ball looked as though it would reach the boundary for a match-winning four runs; however, after landing close to the fence, it stopped rolling a metre short on the slow outfield. Grout attempted a third run, which would have won the match, but an accurate long throw saw him run out. The last man Lindsay Kline
came in for the final two balls, with scores level, and the Australian pair agreed to run under all circumstances. Meckiff backed up significantly in anticipation of a quick single, and set off for the winning run after his partner hit the ball to square leg. However, he was run out
by roughly a metre when Joe Solomon
directly hit the stumps from side on, causing the first tie in Test history. Umpire Col Hoy
said of his decision to give Meckiff out: "God, it was easy. He was miles out." The entire stadium—players and spectators alike—invaded the ground in excitement, but nobody was sure of the exact scores. It was only later that they realised the match was the first Tied Test; Meckiff initially thought Australia had lost and blamed himself for the result.
After missing the Australian victory in the Second Test due to injury, Meckiff returned for the Third Test and he was again attacked, taking 1/74 from 13 overs in the first innings, his sole victim being Conrad Hunte
. He then broke down after five overs in the second innings. Davidson also left the field with injury and the tourists took advantage; they attacked the remaining bowlers, levelling the series 1–1. The Victorian did not recover in time for the rest of the Tests.
Persistently hampered by ankle and back injuries, Meckiff aggregated only 19 first-class wickets at 40 for the summer. His best innings performance was 4/39 against Queensland and he was unable to claim more than five wickets in any single match. In one match against arch-rivals New South Wales, the Victorian took a total of 5/155, all of his wickets being Test batsmen. Meckiff was not selected for the Ashes tour. His lack of form saved the Australian selectors the difficult choice of whether to omit him because of his action and avoid a potential run-in with umpires in England. Critics claimed that his new bowling action adopted in 1959–60 had made him legitimate but reduced his pace and effectiveness.
In 1962–63, Meckiff was again under the spotlight when Ted Dexter
's Englishmen toured Australia. He topped the bowling averages for the Australian first-class season with 58 wickets at 19.86 from ten matches, as Victoria won the Sheffield Shield, ending New South Wales' run of titles. Meckiff and Alan Connolly
formed an effective pace pairing, helping Victoria to win four of its eight Shield games, and take first innings points in two others.
Meckiff was hoping to regain his Test place, and started his 1962–63 campaign in a Sheffield Shield match against South Australia. After Victoria made 174, the paceman took 4/65 to dismiss South Australia for 141 in the first innings. In the second innings he took 3/76 to help seal a win. He continued his early season form in taking match figures of 7/179 against Western Australia, but was unable to prevent defeat. Despite these performances, Meckiff was overlooked for the First Test. He had another chance to vie for national selection when Victoria played England after the opening Test, and took match figures of 4/90 as the tourists completed a five-wicket victory. He dismissed Ray Illingworth
, Geoff Pullar
and Alan Smith
as Victoria took a four-run first innings lead, but the hosts collapsed in their second innings and Dexter's men reached their target of 180 with five wickets in hand.
Victoria then played the first of their two matches for the season against their arch-rivals New South Wales, just before the Second Test. Meckiff took 3/33, removing Grahame Thomas, Benaud and Martin as Victoria dismissed the reigning champions for 132. He contributed 32 runs at the end of the Victorian first innings reply, helping to extend his team's first-innings lead to 135 runs. In the New South Wales second innings Meckiff took 3/73, removing Test players Simpson, Davidson and Benaud, to leave his team with a target of 95 runs to win, which they reached with eight wickets in hand.
Despite this effort, he was not selected for the Second Test. His season was then marred when he was called for throwing for the first time in any competition. In January 1963, Victoria played South Australia at the Adelaide Oval
. After Victoria had made 218, Meckiff removed both openers—Les Favell
and Ken Cunningham—for the cost of 19 runs before Jack Kierse no-balled the fourth ball of his fourth over. He continued to bowl; his remaining deliveries were deemed legal by the umpires, and he ended with 5/84 in South Australia's reply of 8/408 declared. The hosts had a target of only 108 in the second innings for victory, but Meckiff removed Favell, Cunningham and Neil Dansie
with the new ball to destabilise the run-chase. He ended with 3/25 as the South Australians stumbled to 7/86 and held on for a draw.
Meckiff took a total of 3/50 in a seven-wicket defeat of Western Australia before the return match against New South Wales, in which Victoria were 34 runs short of victory with seven wickets in hand when time ran out, Meckiff's match figures being 6/121. He had a final chance to push for Test selection in the second of his state's two matches against England. The tourists batted first and made 375; Meckiff took 5/93, dismissing Pullar, Peter Parfitt
, Fred Titmus
, David Allen
and top-scorer Tom Graveney
, who had made 185. He took 2/47 in the English second innings, removing Barry Knight and Ken Barrington
. England set Victoria 287 for victory, and the hosts faced defeat before Meckiff batted late in the order to score 38 and help his side to a draw with one wicket in hand. Despite this continued run of prolific wicket-taking and his success against England, Meckiff was overlooked for the Fifth Test. In his absence, Australia struggled to make inroads into the English batting, and the series ended 1–1.
Victoria's season ended with consecutive matches against Queensland. In the first, Meckiff took a total of 5/88 as his side completed an innings victory at home. In the final match in Brisbane, his slower ball
was no-balled in his fifth over of the second innings by umpire Bill Priem. Meckiff bowled 14 further overs without incident and ended the innings with 4/74. Victoria drew the match and sealed their Sheffield Shield victory. Meckiff had been the state's leading wicket-taker and one of the key figures in their triumph, but his bowling action was the main talking point at the end of the match.
respectively. His wickets included Test batsmen Les Favell
, Garry Sobers, Keith Slater
and Barry Shepherd
. In the latter match he took the first five wickets in the innings to reduce Western Australia to 5/54. Despite his contributions, Victoria were unable to secure victories against either of their opponents. However, as a result of these strong personal performances, Meckiff was selected for the First Test in Brisbane.
At the start of the season, the Australian Board of Control had issued a directive calling on the umpires to "get tough" in enforcing the laws of cricket, and asked the state associations to "back the umpires to the fullest extent". In the lead-up to the Test, Meckiff was the centre of media attention, and one report described him as cricket's "bogey man". The South Africans were reportedly stunned by Meckiff's selection, giving the impression that they considered him an illegitimate bowler. Reaction in England was also hostile, ahead of Australia's forthcoming tour in the English summer of 1964. Colin Ingleby-Mackenzie wrote in the News of the World
: "there is no room in cricket for throwers. Let us hope that...the Australian selectors realise this...otherwise the throwing war will be waged in earnest".
The Brisbane Test was dubbed "Meckiff's Test" by the Australian media; speculation abounded that the bowler was being chosen so he could be no-balled as a public relations effort to promote Australia's anti-throwing credentials. Keith Miller described the left-armer's selection as having "peppered this once drab-looking series into a curry hot-pot, with all the excitement and trimmings of an Alfred Hitchcock
thriller". Miller further predicted that the umpires Egar and Lou Rowan
would be having sleepless nights and predicted that the selectors would be biting their fingernails, adding that he hoped Meckiff was not being used as a scapegoat for the anti-throwing movement. Former Test leg spin
ner Bill O'Reilly
—a correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald
—described the selection as "one of the most fantastic somersaults in cricket policies in our time". As a close friend of the fast bowler, umpire Egar was in a difficult situation; the duo had won a pairs lawn bowling competition just a few months earlier. Nevertheless, the paceman and umpire socialised freely at the pre-match function.
. On the second day, after the Australian innings ended on 435, South Africa began to bat just after the luncheon interval. Bowling from the Stanley Street End, Graham McKenzie
conceded 13 runs from the first over. Meckiff took the ball for the second over, bowling from the Vulture Street End to South African captain Trevor Goddard
. At the same time, the South African manager Ken Viljoen
set up a camera square of the wicket among the spectators and began filming the left-armer's bowling action. Meckiff was no-balled four times by Egar—who was standing at square leg—in what would be his only over of the match. After the Victorian bowled a gentle "loosener" as his first ball (and escaped a front-foot no-ball call), "the drama began". Egar ruled the second, third, fifth and ninth balls to be throws, and therefore illegitimate. After the third and fifth balls—the latter a full toss
that Goddard hit for four—Benaud came over to consult his fast bowler. After the ninth ball, Meckiff and Benaud had another meeting, and the remaining three balls were deemed to be fair. In the meantime, the crowd roared loudly, heckling Egar and supporting the beleaguered bowler. Meckiff had previously been passed in five countries, having played Tests in four of these nations. Egar had cleared his bowling on five previous occasions, in three Shield matches and two Tests; the Victorian had bowled 119.1 overs in these games without incident. Egar later said "My only judgement was what I saw at the time". Benaud removed his paceman from the attack and Meckiff did not bowl again in the match, later saying he could not remember the over because he was absorbed by a feeling of complete deflation.
Meckiff conceded eight runs—Goddard's boundary and the four no-balls—from his solitary over and the tourists were eventually out for 346. Meckiff did not bat in the second innings of the weather-interrupted match; Australia declared at 1/144 before South Africa reached 1/13 when the match ended as a draw. After his single over, Meckiff's participation in the match was limited to his fielding, during which he caught Goddard from the bowling of Benaud in the South African first innings. He retired from all forms of cricket at the end of the game, but continued to proclaim that his bowling action was fair.
Barry Gibbs
, the secretary of the Queensland Cricket Association and the manager of the Australian team, called the "humiliation" of Meckiff "without a doubt the most dramatic and emotion-charged" sporting moment he had witnessed. Egar's actions also ignited "one of the most emotional crowd displays in Test history", as the public backed the paceman. During Meckiff's over, the crowd expressed strong disapproval of the umpire's calls. Half an hour before the close of the day's play, proceedings were suspended for two minutes as the crowd repeatedly chanted "We want Meckiff". When play ended, spectators stormed the field and carried the fast bowler off the arena on their shoulders, hailing him as a hero. They returned to the field and formed two lanes, booing Egar from the ground. After this incident, the Queensland Police escorted the umpire to and from the match venue. The police presence at the ground was increased because of fears the crowd might attack Egar or Benaud. During the Second Test, which was held in Meckiff's home town of Melbourne, Egar was given a police escort throughout the match after receiving death threats.
Team manager Gibbs reported that at the end of the first day's play the Australian dressing room was stunned into silence. Egar asked Benaud for permission to enter, and after the Australian captain allowed him in, the umpire sat quietly for a period before speaking to some other players and then to Meckiff. The pair were close friends, and shook hands before putting their arms around one another's shoulders. The condemned bowler did not take Egar's judgment personally and did not have hard feelings about the incident. Egar claimed to be "the second most upset person in the world", and later added that he thought Meckiff's first ball was suspect. He said that he could have called more deliveries, but was worried whether the over would ever end.
When asked why he had not asked Meckiff to bowl at the other end to gauge the judgment of the other umpire, Lou Rowan, Benaud replied "over the years I have always accepted the umpire's decision". The Australian captain was criticised for being acquiescent, and one of his predecessors Lindsay Hassett
believed Meckiff should have been used at reduced speed. Rowan later indicated his concurrence with Egar, writing in his book The Umpire's Story, "There is nothing I can now say that will alter the opinions already expressed that his [Meckiff's] delivery was unfair". For his part, Meckiff said: "the game is bigger than the individual" and he backed Benaud's decision because doing otherwise "could only have added fuel to the controversy".
Retired Test umpires Col Hoy
and Les Townsend
were watching at the ground when Meckiff was called. The day after the incident, both asserted that they would not have no-balled the paceman. Hoy said he had never had any problem with the bowler's action during matches in which he officiated. He described Meckiff's action as "slightly different" but attributed this to an accentuated wrist action used in an attempt to get more life out of dead pitches, rather than his elbow. Townsend watched the paceman through binoculars and deemed all of his 12 deliveries to be identical. Townsend regarded Meckiff's arm action as "peculiar" but felt he did not throw. Former Test spinners Ian Johnson and Doug Ring
said Meckiff's action was fair.
After his retirement, Meckiff agreed to put his name to a series of ghost-written articles about the no-ball incident. He said that Egar's calls "hit him like a dagger in the back", but described the umpire as "a fair and just man who acted according to his convictions".
wrote: "Meckiff was a popular Australian, and won much sympathy among those who believed him innocent or to have been victimised in a 'clean-up campaign'." A dinner hosted by Don Bradman at his Adelaide home in January 1963 for visiting state captains was later cited to suggest that Meckiff may have been a sacrificial offering. At the dinner, attended by Bill Lawry
of Victoria, Barry Shepherd
, Ken Mackay
and Benaud, Bradman had showed frame-by-frame slow motion film of Meckiff and other suspect Australian bowlers, which purportedly depicted incriminating actions. This indicated Bradman's doubts over Meckiff's legitimacy, yet Bradman was one of the selectors who agreed to the bowler's inclusion in the Brisbane Test team.
Many members of the Australian media alleged a conspiracy against Meckiff. Ian McDonald of Melbourne's Sporting Globe said the bowler's action had not changed in the previous eight years and stated: "the whole affair smacks of a set-up". Sydney's Mirror labelled the paceman "the most obvious fall-guy in Australian cricket history". On the third morning of the match, former first-class cricketer Percy Beames
, writing for Melbourne's The Age
, claimed Meckiff had been used as a "sacrificial goat" and called for the selectors’ resignation. Keith Miller wrote a column calling for Bradman's and Jack Ryder's removal from the selection panel, noting that they had watched Meckiff's performance against Western Australia which prompted his Test selection. Miller felt that if the selectors deemed the bowler illegitimate, then they should not have allowed him to be "executed" by the umpires. Jack Pollard
said: "there is little doubt Meckiff was sacrificed to end the long-running controversy and the way it was done irked many cricket-lovers." Cricketer-turned-journalist Dick Whitington asserted that Benaud was aware his fast bowler had been set up, claiming that the Australian captain knew of Bradman's views on Meckiff’s action. Whitington further cited the fact that Egar and Bradman had travelled from Adelaide to the Brisbane Test together as evidence of a plot. Others saw Bradman's tea-time conversation with Benaud after the no-balling as proof of a conspiracy. Benaud repudiated allegations claiming he was involved in a set-up.
Former Australian captain Hassett hinted at a conspiracy when he stated that, as the selectors must have considered Meckiff to be legitimate, then
The records of the Australian Board of Control attest to board member Clem Jones
's protestations against Meckiff's inclusion when the selectors' proposed team list was submitted for approval. Jones cited the bowler's questionable action but the Chairman Ewart Macmillan rejected his objection as unconstitutional. Two other board members attempted to overrule the chairman, but their motion was defeated.
More than 40 years after the Meckiff incident, Jones was sure the bowler's fate had been predetermined. He said "They'd decided to do it a week before the game, so the poor bloke had no hope...I was chairman of the umpires selection committee." Jones remained convinced of Bradman's intention to have Meckiff called for throwing, something Bradman flatly denied. Gibbs remains suspicious of the motives for selecting Meckiff. He pointed out that although the pitch was conducive to spin bowling, Australia chose five specialist batsmen, two spinners and three fast bowlers. Gibbs speculated that the selection of an extra fast bowler—the most common strategy is to use four bowlers and six batsmen—instead of another batsman betrayed fears that Meckiff would be unable to complete the match. Alan Connolly remained adamant that his teammate's action was legitimate and implied a conspiracy, saying "I wasn't amazed [by Egar's call]...There was a good reason for that which I can't disclose and won't disclose." Tom Veivers
, who made his Test debut for Australia in Meckiff’s last match, hinted at the same. He recalled Rowan's words at the pre-match function: "It's going to be a very interesting game".
. The couple had a son. After his retirement, the former paceman worked in advertising, and as a cricket commentator. As of 2001, he was a senior executive with Boyer Sports Media and frequently worked with cricket administrators. However, he refused to play the sport—even at social level—after the incident in Brisbane.
Meckiff played Australian rules football
for Mentone in the Federal League, helping them win the premiership in 1956. He received offers to play in the Victorian Football League
, the top-tier competition at the time, but declined contracts so he could pursue his cricket career. Meckiff also played golf in pennant competition and captained the Victoria Golf Club.
In retirement, the throwing issue continued to dog the former paceman. Former Australian captain and teammate Simpson wrote a book titled Captain's Story in which he assailed various cricketers—Meckiff chief among them—for throwing. Meckiff sued for libel in a five-year case, which ended with an out-of-court settlement and apology from Simpson. Despite this, Meckiff has continued to socialise with people involved in his last Test, including Simpson, Egar, Gibbs, Rowan and Peter van der Merwe
, South Africa's vice-captain. He says that he never brings up the topic of the no-ball with them. Victorian and Test teammate Lawry rated Meckiff "along with Graham McKenzie
, Brian Booth
, Peter Burge and one or two others as really nature's gentlemen" and said his exit was "one of the saddest [days] of [Lawry's] life". Lawry credited his fellow Victorian for being dignified despite the torment and said the bowler was a "pretty fair example of the old expression that good guys run last". Connolly said "'Meckie' was one of the nicest guys. It was to his great credit that he wasn't soured by the whole incident."
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 represented Australia in 18 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...
between 1957 and 1963. A left-arm fast bowler
Fast bowling
Fast bowling, sometimes known as pace bowling, is one of the two main approaches to bowling in the sport of cricket. The other is spin bowling...
, he is best known for two matters that were unrelated to his skill as a player: He was the batsman run out
Run out
Run out is a method of dismissal in the sport of cricket. It is governed by Law 38 of the Laws of cricket.-The rules:A batsman is out Run out if at any time while the ball is in play no part of his bat or person is grounded behind the popping crease and his wicket is fairly put down by the opposing...
by Joe Solomon
Joe Solomon
Joseph Stanislaus Solomon is a former West Indian cricketer who played 27 Tests for the West Indies. He played Test cricket from 1958 to 1965, scoring 1326 runs, mainly from number six and seven in the batting line-up...
in 1960, causing the first Tied Test
Tied Test
Tied Test refers to a rare result in Test cricket. Only two ties have occurred in the 2,000 Tests played since 1877. The first was in 1960 and the second in 1986...
in cricket history; and in December 1963, his career was sensationally ended when he was called for throwing
Throwing (cricket)
In the sport of cricket, throwing, commonly referred to as chucking, is an illegal bowling action which occurs when a bowler straightens their arm when delivering the ball. The Laws of Cricket specify that a bowler's arm must be fully extended and rotated about the shoulder to impart velocity to...
in the First Test against South Africa by Australian umpire Col Egar. During the late 1950s and early 1960s, there had been a media frenzy about the perceived prevalence of illegal bowling actions in world cricket. The controversy and speculation that dogged Meckiff in the years preceding his final match caused sections of the cricket community to believe that he had been made a scapegoat by the Australian cricket authorities to prove their intent to stamp out throwing.
With an unconventional front-on bowling action, Meckiff progressed through the district cricket ranks
Victorian Premier Cricket
Victorian Premier Cricket is the elite club cricket competition in the state of Victoria, administered by Cricket Victoria. Each club fields four teams of adult players and usually play on weekends and public holidays. Matches are played on turf wickets under limited-time rules, with most results...
at South Melbourne Cricket Club
Casey-South Melbourne Cricket Club
The Casey-South Melbourne Cricket Club is a cricket club located in the outer south-eastern Melbourne suburb of Cranbourne East, which plays in the Victorian Premier Cricket competition. Founded in 1862 as South Melbourne, it has produced nine Australian Test captains, more than any other cricket...
, making his first-class
First-class cricket
First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...
debut for Victoria
Victorian Bushrangers
The Victorian cricket team, nicknamed the Bushrangers, is an Australian cricket team based in Melbourne, that represents the state of Victoria. It is administered by Cricket Victoria and draws its players from Melbourne's Premier Cricket competition...
in 1956–57. After a productive first season, Meckiff was named in a new-look Australian team for the 1957–58 tour of South Africa. This was the result of a generational change in the Australian Test team after a decline in performances in the 1950s. The shift saw Meckiff open the bowling in his debut Test, where he performed strongly to take eight wickets. Generating his pace from an unusual bent-arm action which involved a flick of the wrist, Meckiff reached his peak in the Second Test of the 1958–59 season against England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground
Melbourne Cricket Ground
The Melbourne Cricket Ground is an Australian sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne and is home to the Melbourne Cricket Club. It is the tenth largest stadium in the world, the largest in Australia, the largest stadium for playing cricket, and holds the world record for the highest light...
. He took 6/38 in the second innings as England were dismissed for 87, setting up an Australian victory. His achievement was engulfed by controversy, as English media and former players accused him of throwing Australia to victory.
The controversy over Meckiff's action persisted as throwing was in the spotlight in England, where it was regarded as a growing problem. The issue prompted numerous international discussions and meetings on amending the throwing law and the interpretation thereof. An expected confrontation with English umpires in 1961 was averted when the bowler suffered multiple injuries in the preceding Australian summer and was omitted from the team to tour England
Australian cricket team in England in 1961
The 1961 Australian cricket tour of England began with a three day match versus Worcestershire CCC at the County Ground, New Road, Worcester on Sat 29 April, play continuing on Mon 1 May and Tues 2 May. This match was rain-affected and ended in a draw...
, but Meckiff had two strong seasons in domestic cricket that forced the Australian selectors to recall him for the Tests against South Africa in 1963–64. The Victorian's recall had occurred despite his being no-balled
No ball
In the sport of cricket a no ball is a penalty against the fielding team, usually as a result of an illegal delivery by the bowler. The delivery of a no ball results in one run to be added to the batting team's score, and an additional ball must be bowled...
for throwing in two separate Sheffield Shield matches in the previous season. In his first over of the Test, Meckiff was no-balled four times by umpire Egar. Australian captain Richie Benaud
Richie Benaud
Richard "Richie" Benaud OBE is a former Australian cricketer who, since his retirement from international cricket in 1964, has become a highly regarded commentator on the game....
chose to not bowl his paceman again, and Meckiff retired from all cricket at the end of the match. The throwing controversy provoked heavy debate among cricket commentators, players and umpires, past and present; some praised Egar's no-ball call while others condemned the umpire and felt that the paceman had bowled in the same way as he had always done. Others felt that Meckiff had been set up so that he would be no-balled in an "execution" or "sacrifice" to prove Australia's resolve against throwing.
Early life
Meckiff was the second of three children born to Vera and Walter Meckiff; he had an older brother Don and a younger sister Margaret. Growing up in the south-eastern Melbourne suburb of MentoneMentone, Victoria
Mentone is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 21 km south-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Kingston...
, the children went to Mentone Primary School before progressing to Mordialloc-Chelsea High School, where both brothers became prefects. All of the children represented their high school for sport—Don and Ian in athletics, swimming, football and cricket; and Margaret in softball. The brothers played for Mentone Cricket Club in the Federal District Cricket Association, Ian as a left-arm unorthodox spin
Left-arm unorthodox spin
Left-arm unorthodox spin, or chinaman, is a type of bowling in the sport of cricket using the hand wrist. Left-arm unorthodox spin bowlers use a wrist hand action to spin the ball which turns from off to leg side of the cricket pitch...
ner. He routinely dominated the opposition batsmen in the competition, taking 200 wickets at a bowling average
Bowling average
Bowling average is a statistic measuring the performance of bowlers in the sport of cricket.A bowler's bowling average is defined as the total number of runs conceded by the bowlers divided by the number of wickets taken by the bowler, so the lower the average the better. It is similar to earned...
of only 4.50 during his career with Mentone. He began playing in Mentone's under-16 team at the age of 11.
Early career
Fast bowling
Fast bowling, sometimes known as pace bowling, is one of the two main approaches to bowling in the sport of cricket. The other is spin bowling...
in 1951–52 when he began his district career in Victorian Premier Cricket
Victorian Premier Cricket
Victorian Premier Cricket is the elite club cricket competition in the state of Victoria, administered by Cricket Victoria. Each club fields four teams of adult players and usually play on weekends and public holidays. Matches are played on turf wickets under limited-time rules, with most results...
with South Melbourne. He started in the Fourth XI after his brother had to withdraw from a match. The following summer, aged 17, Meckiff was in the senior team and played in South Melbourne's first championship-winning side in his debut season in the First XI, although his club career was sometimes interrupted by national service
Conscription in Australia
Conscription in Australia, or mandatory military service also known as National Service, has a controversial history dating back to the first years of nationhood...
in the reserves
Australian Army Reserve
The Australian Army Reserve is a collective name given to the reserve units of the Australian Army. Since the Federation of Australia in 1901, the reserve military force has been known by many names, including the Citizens Forces, the Citizen Military Forces, the Militia and, unofficially, the...
. After receiving requests from cricket administrators, the military authorities scheduled the leave of young players for weekends, so that the impact on their careers would be minimised. At the time, Australia lacked bowlers of great pace, so a teammate advised Meckiff to bowl as fast as he could, without regard for accuracy—a plan he successfully adopted.
Meckiff made his first-class debut for Victoria
Victorian Bushrangers
The Victorian cricket team, nicknamed the Bushrangers, is an Australian cricket team based in Melbourne, that represents the state of Victoria. It is administered by Cricket Victoria and draws its players from Melbourne's Premier Cricket competition...
in 1956–57 against Western Australia
Western Warriors
The Western Australia cricket team are an Australian first class cricket team representing the state of Western Australia...
. Coming in to bat with his state's score at 8 wickets for 77 (8/77), he made 19 not out
Not out
In cricket, a batsman will be not out if he comes out to bat in an innings and has not been dismissed by the end of the innings. One may similarly describe a batsman as not out while the innings is still in progress...
to help them reach 131, before taking three wickets for 45 runs (3/45) to restrict Western Australia to a 34-run first innings lead. His first wicket was future Australian captain Bob Simpson
Bob Simpson (cricketer)
Robert Baddeley Simpson AO is a former cricketer who played for New South Wales, Western Australia and Australia, captaining the national team from 1963–64 until 1967–68, and again in 1977–78. He later had a highly successful term as the coach of the Australian team...
for 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...
, and he followed up by removing Test batsmen Barry Shepherd
Barry Shepherd
Barry Kenneth Shepherd was an Australian cricketer who played in 9 Tests from 1963 to 1965....
and Ken Meuleman
Ken Meuleman
Kenneth Douglas Meuleman was an Australian cricketer who played in one Test in 1946....
. Meckiff made 11 in the second innings and took 0/40 as Victoria lost by four wickets.
Meckiff's most prominent showing in his debut season was in the Sheffield Shield match against New South Wales
New South Wales Blues
The New South Wales cricket team are an Australian first class cricket team based in Sydney, New South Wales...
during the Christmas period of 1956. At the time, the two states were by far the strongest in Australia; in the past decade, the teams had 18 of the 20 top-two Shield placings between them, and New South Wales were in the process of winning nine consecutive titles. The arch-rivals were at full strength as no international matches were held during the season.
Coming in at 7/173, Meckiff top-scored with 55—his only first-class 50—as Victoria batted first and made a late recovery to end with 244. Meckiff took 3/65, including the wickets of Test players Bill Watson and Richie Benaud
Richie Benaud
Richard "Richie" Benaud OBE is a former Australian cricketer who, since his retirement from international cricket in 1964, has become a highly regarded commentator on the game....
as New South Wales responded with 281. In the Victorian second innings Meckiff managed only 8 as Victoria left their opponents a target of 161 runs for victory. The paceman took 4/56 and claimed the final wicket, removing Test opener Jim Burke
Jim Burke (cricketer)
James Wallace Burke was an Australian cricketer who played in 24 Tests from 1951 to 1959.- Early years :...
caught for 8 as New South Wales mustered 160, causing the match to end in the first tie in Shield history. Burke had returned to bat after being injured earlier in the innings, while New South Wales captain Ian Craig
Ian Craig
Ian David Craig is a former Australian Test cricketer who represented Australia in 11 Tests between 1953 and 1958. A slightly built right-handed batsman, Craig holds the record for being the youngest Australian to make a first-class double century, gain Test selection and captain his country...
, who had been ill, hauled himself out of bed in an attempt to salvage the match after his team had fallen to 7/70. Meckiff's other victims in the final innings included Test players Alan Davidson
Alan Davidson (cricketer)
Alan Keith Davidson, AM, MBE is a former Australian cricketer of the 1950s and 1960s. He was an all rounder: a hard-hitting lower-order left-handed batsman, and an outstanding left-arm fast-medium opening bowler...
and Johnny Martin
Johnny Martin
John Wesley Martin was an Australian cricketer who played in 8 Tests from 1960 to 1967. Martin grew up on the central coast, near Taree, one of 10 children of the manager of Burrell Creek's post office and general store, which Johnny himself ended up managing...
.
Strong showings for Victoria earned Meckiff selection in Neil Harvey
Neil Harvey
Robert Neil Harvey MBE is a former Australian cricketer who represented the Australian cricket team between 1948 and 1963, playing in 79 Test matches. He was the vice-captain of the team from 1957 until his retirement...
's XI for the one-off match against Ray Lindwall
Ray Lindwall
Raymond Russell Lindwall MBE was a cricketer who represented Australia in 61 Tests from 1946 to 1960. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time. He also played top-flight rugby league football with St...
's XI at the start of January 1957. These annual fixtures were used as trials for the leading players vying for national selection. Lindwall's men batted first and made 428; Meckiff was the most successful bowler, taking 6/75 while his fellow-bowlers struggled to make inroads into the opposition batsmen. His first wicket was Test batsman Ken Mackay
Ken Mackay
Kenneth Donald Mackay was an Australian cricketer who played in 37 Tests from 1956 to 1963....
for 99, and he followed this by removing Bob Simpson, Norm O'Neill
Norm O'Neill
Norman Clifford O'Neill OAM was an cricketer who played for New South Wales and Australia. A right-handed batsman known for his back foot strokeplay, O'Neill made his state debut aged 18, before progressing to Test selection aged 21 in late 1958...
and Graeme Hole
Graeme Hole
Graeme Blake Hole was an Australian cricketer....
in the middle-order. Meckiff followed his productive bowling with 47 runs in a tail-wagging performance, adding 71 for the eighth wicket with Wally Grout
Wally Grout
Arthur Theodore Wallace Grout was a Test cricketer who kept wicket for Australia and Queensland.Grout played in 51 Test matches between 1957 and 1966...
as Harvey's men responded with 419. The Victorian took 0/18 in the second innings as Lindwall's team fell for 188 to leave Harvey's XI with a victory target of 198, which was achieved with seven wickets in hand.
Meckiff had performed strongly in his debut first-class season, ending with 27 wickets at an average of 23.66. He was the ninth-highest wicket-taker for the Australian summer and his average was superior to all eight bowlers who took more wickets. At season's end, he was rewarded with selection for Australia's non-Test tour of New Zealand in February and March 1957. The hosts had Test status at the time, but Australia refused to ratify games against their trans-Tasman neighbours as Test matches, citing the weakness of the New Zealand team.
The tour represented a changing of the guard in Australian cricket following the tour of England
Australian cricket team in England in 1956
The Australian cricket team toured England in the 1956 season to play a five-match Test series against England for The Ashes.England won the series 2-1 with 2 matches drawn and therefore retained The Ashes....
and the Indian subcontinent
Indian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent, also Indian Subcontinent, Indo-Pak Subcontinent or South Asian Subcontinent is a region of the Asian continent on the Indian tectonic plate from the Hindu Kush or Hindu Koh, Himalayas and including the Kuen Lun and Karakoram ranges, forming a land mass which extends...
in 1956, with the bowling line-up heavily overhauled due to advancing age, injury and loss of form. Australia had lost three Ashes
The Ashes
The Ashes is a Test cricket series played between England and Australia. It is one of the most celebrated rivalries in international cricket and dates back to 1882. It is currently played biennially, alternately in the United Kingdom and Australia. Cricket being a summer sport, and the venues...
series in a row, and captain Ian Johnson
Ian Johnson (cricketer)
Ian William Geddes Johnson CBE was an Australian cricketer who played 45 Test matches as a slow off-break bowler between 1946 and 1956. Johnson captured 109 Test wickets at an average of 29.19 runs per wicket and as a lower order batsman made 1,000 runs at an average of...
and his deputy Keith Miller
Keith Miller
Keith Ross Miller MBE was an Australian Test cricketer and a Royal Australian Air Force pilot during World War II. Miller is widely regarded as Australia's greatest ever all-rounder. Because of his ability, irreverent manner and good looks he was a crowd favourite...
retired upon their return home. Johnson was Australia's first-choice spinner while Miller and the 35-year-old Ray Lindwall
Ray Lindwall
Raymond Russell Lindwall MBE was a cricketer who represented Australia in 61 Tests from 1946 to 1960. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time. He also played top-flight rugby league football with St...
had formed Australia's new ball
Cricket ball
A cricket ball is a hard, solid leather ball used to play cricket. Constructed of cork and leather, a cricket ball is heavily regulated by cricket law at first class level...
pairing for the previous decade. In addition, the fast bowling all rounder Ron Archer
Ron Archer
This article is about the cricket player. For Ron Archer see Ted WhiteRonald Graham Archer was an Australian Test cricketer who was born in Highgate Hill, Queensland...
suffered a long-term knee injury during the 1956 tour, while paceman Pat Crawford
Pat Crawford
William Patrick Anthony Crawford was an Australian cricketer who played in four Tests, including one in England at Lord's in 1956 and three in India in 1956–57...
played only one first-class match in 1956–57 after his marriage broke down. In the wake of Australia's decline in the past five years, the selectors turned to youth in an attempt to rebuild the side, resting several established Test representatives from the side. Ian Craig was installed as the nation's youngest ever captain at the age of 22, having previously played only six Tests without securing a regular position in the team.
The New Zealand campaign was a chance for the younger players to establish themselves in the national team. Meckiff took 2/46 and 3/25 in his first-class debut for Australia, an innings win over Otago. He played in the first match against New Zealand, but after taking 0/41 in a drawn encounter, he was dropped for the second game. The paceman forced his way back into the team for the third match after claiming 4/12 and 5/48 to help to set up an innings victory over Auckland.
In the final match, New Zealand batted first and Meckiff played a leading role in Australia's victory, taking 4/28 from 27.2 overs to help dismiss the hosts for 198. The fast bowler was not required to bat as the tourists replied with 8/350 declared
Declaration and forfeiture
In the sport of cricket a declaration occurs when a captain declares his team's innings closed and a forfeiture is when a captain chooses to forfeit an innings. Declaration and forfeiture are covered in Law 14 of the Laws of cricket...
. He took 2/17 in the second innings as the home team fell for 161 before Craig's men sealed the series with a 10-wicket win. Meckiff ended the tour with 20 first-class wickets at 10.85, placing him top of the tour bowling averages.
Test debut
The following season, when the team for the 1957–58 South African tour was announced, Lindwall's name was omitted, despite his 212 Test wickets, 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,...
among Australian bowlers. Meckiff was selected for the tour as part of Australia's generational change, after a single season in first-class cricket, and the squad departed for South Africa in October. On the tour, in five first-class matches ahead of the Tests he took 12 wickets, at 26.25.
Meckiff was one of four Australians to make their debuts in the First Test, which was played on a batsman-friendly surface in Johannesburg
Johannesburg
Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...
over the Christmas holiday period. Under some pressure due to Australia's decision to discard Lindwall and invest in new talent, he opened the bowling alongside Alan Davidson
Alan Davidson (cricketer)
Alan Keith Davidson, AM, MBE is a former Australian cricketer of the 1950s and 1960s. He was an all rounder: a hard-hitting lower-order left-handed batsman, and an outstanding left-arm fast-medium opening bowler...
, who up to that point had taken only 16 wickets at 34.06 in 12 Tests. The match began badly for Australia's inexperienced attack as the South African openers Jackie McGlew
Jackie McGlew
Derrick John "Jackie" McGlew, born on 11 March 1929, Pietermaritzburg and died at Pretoria on 8 June 1998 was a cricketer who played for Natal and South Africa...
and Trevor Goddard
Trevor Goddard (cricketer)
Trevor Leslie Goddard is a former left-hand cricketer. An all-rounder, he played 41 Test matches for South Africa from 1955 to 1970, captaining them over the 1963-64 season and drawing an encounter with Australia. A left-handed, classically correct opening batsman, he was also a successful swing...
put on an opening stand of 176. Meckiff claimed his maiden Test wicket, and Australia's first breakthrough, when he bowled
Bowled
Bowled is a method of dismissing a batsman in the sport of cricket. This method of dismissal is covered by Law 30 of the Laws of cricket.A batsman is out bowled if his wicket is put down by a ball delivered by the bowler...
Goddard for 90. He then removed McGlew for 108 and later dismissed Russell Endean
Russell Endean
William Russell Endean was a South African cricketer who played in twenty eight Tests from 1951 to 1958....
and Roy McLean
Roy McLean
Roy Alastair McLean was a South African cricketer who played in forty Tests from 1951 to 1964. A stroke-playing middle-order batsman, he scored over 2,000 Test runs, but made 11 ducks in 73 Test innings....
for 50 apiece. South Africa amassed 470, and Meckiff had the best figures, taking 5/125 in the hosts' first innings, all five being specialist batsmen. When the tourists batted, Meckiff came in at 8/313 and held up his end as centurion
Century (cricket)
In the sport of cricket, a batsman reaches his century when he scores 100 or more runs in a single innings. The term is also included in "century partnership" which occurs when two batsmen add 100 runs to the team total when they are batting together. A century is regarded as a landmark score for...
Richie Benaud
Richie Benaud
Richard "Richie" Benaud OBE is a former Australian cricketer who, since his retirement from international cricket in 1964, has become a highly regarded commentator on the game....
did the majority of the scoring in their 42-run partnership. The debutant ended with 11 in his first Test outing with the bat as Craig's team ended on 368. Meckiff took 3/52 in the South African second innings, including McGlew for the second time, as the match ended in a draw. This fine start to the Victorian's international career was halted in the Second Test at 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...
, where he broke down with injury early in the first innings and took no further part in an Australian innings victory. He did not take a wicket.
Meckiff missed the Third Test in Durban
Durban
Durban is the largest city in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal and the third largest city in South Africa. It forms part of the eThekwini metropolitan municipality. Durban is famous for being the busiest port in South Africa. It is also seen as one of the major centres of tourism...
and spent a month on the sidelines, before returning against a combined team from Orange Free State
Orange Free State cricket team
The Free State cricket team is the first-class cricket team representing the province of Free State in South Africa....
and 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....
at the end of January. He took 6/29 in the first innings, his best return of the tour, and earned a recall for the final two Tests of the five-match series. He was not as effective as he was on debut, taking two and one wickets for the matches respectively, and scoring 26 runs in his only innings of the Fourth Test. Overall, the Victorian paceman had made a steady start to his international career, with 11 Test wickets at an average of 32.09, and 56 runs at 18.66. In the entire tour, he took 33 first-class wickets at 23.09. However, there was a hint of the controversy that was to end his career six years later. A year after the series, the South African Test umpire Bill Marais said he was prepared to no-ball Meckiff and his team-mate Jim Burke
Jim Burke (cricketer)
James Wallace Burke was an Australian cricketer who played in 24 Tests from 1951 to 1959.- Early years :...
for throwing
Throwing (cricket)
In the sport of cricket, throwing, commonly referred to as chucking, is an illegal bowling action which occurs when a bowler straightens their arm when delivering the ball. The Laws of Cricket specify that a bowler's arm must be fully extended and rotated about the shoulder to impart velocity to...
. There were reports that Craig had been tipped off about Marais’s intentions and therefore operated the two bowlers exclusively from the end at which Marais was not officiating.
Career peak and start of throwing controversy
The Victorian paceman's international career peaked in 1958–59 during the English tour of Australia. He started the season with a match for Victoria against the tourists, taking 4/69 and 1/16 in a losing effort. His wickets included English Test batsmen Peter RichardsonPeter Richardson (cricketer)
Peter Edward Richardson is an English former cricketer, who played for Worcestershire, Kent and, in thirty four Tests, for England....
(twice), Arthur Milton
Arthur Milton
Clement Arthur Milton was an English cricketer and footballer. He played County cricket for Gloucestershire from 1948 to 1974, playing six Test matches for England in 1958 and 1959. He also played domestic football for Arsenal between 1951 and 1955, and then for a brief period for Bristol City...
and Raman Subba Row
Raman Subba Row
Raman Subba Row is an English former cricketer who played for England, Cambridge University, Surrey and Northamptonshire.-Life and career:...
.
The Test team was now under the leadership of Benaud—Craig had been forced to withdraw from cricket due to hepatitis
Hepatitis
Hepatitis is a medical condition defined by the inflammation of the liver and characterized by the presence of inflammatory cells in the tissue of the organ. The name is from the Greek hepar , the root being hepat- , meaning liver, and suffix -itis, meaning "inflammation"...
; Meckiff retained his place in the side. Prior to the Tests, English all-rounder Trevor Bailey
Trevor Bailey
Trevor Edward Bailey CBE was an England Test cricketer, cricket writer and broadcaster.An all-rounder, Bailey was known for his skilful but unspectacular batting...
privately described Meckiff as "the worst bowler ever to represent Australia", and felt he posed little threat to the visitors. However this proved to be questionable. The Benaud era started well for Australia and Meckiff, with a comfortable eight-wicket victory in the First Test in Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
. The paceman took 3/33 and 2/30, removing Milton, Colin Cowdrey
Colin 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...
and captain Peter May
Peter May
-External links:* * at Cricket Archive*...
early on the first day to help Australia take the initiative after the tourists had batted first. The match also marked the start of behind-the-scenes rumblings about the bowler's action.
Meckiff's career peaked at the Second Test, which began on New Year's Eve, 1958 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground
Melbourne Cricket Ground
The Melbourne Cricket Ground is an Australian sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne and is home to the Melbourne Cricket Club. It is the tenth largest stadium in the world, the largest in Australia, the largest stadium for playing cricket, and holds the world record for the highest light...
. It was his first international fixture in front of his home crowd, and also marked the start of his career-long public problem with accusations of throwing. The match was dominated by the Victorian and his left-arm pace partner Davidson; the pair took 18 of the 20 English wickets to fall. England's first innings was headlined by Davidson's 6/64; Meckiff took 3/69, including the wicket of England captain May for 113 with a swinging ball
Swing bowling
Swing bowling is a technique used for bowling in the sport of cricket. Practitioners are known as swing bowlers. Swing bowling is generally classed as a subtype of fast bowling.-Physics of swing bowling:...
, which breached the batsman's defence and crashed into the stumps. This ended a century partnership with Cowdrey, and triggered a collapse that saw England be dismissed for 259, the last six English wickets falling for 49 runs. Meckiff rated the ball as the best of his career. He made a duck as the hosts replied with 308 to take a 49-run lead. It was in England's second innings that Australia's left-arm pacemen were at their most potent; apart from one over from Benaud the pair bowled unchanged to dismiss England for 87 in the 32nd over, Meckiff taking 6/38. Backed a by a vocal home crowd, the Victorian dismissed opener Richardson for three, before removing Bailey, Tom Graveney
Tom Graveney
Thomas William Graveney in Riding Mill, Northumberland, is a former English cricketer and was the President of the Marylebone Cricket Club for 2004/5. He went to Bristol Grammar School...
and Cowdrey in quick succession. He followed this by removing the English skipper for a second time to leave England at 7/71. This set up a comfortable Australian victory as they reached their target of 39 with the loss of two wickets. The Australian pace duo were aided by a series of difficult, diving catches. The pair combined forces when Davidson caught May, and then Graveney, in the leg trap behind square from the bowling of his fellow left-armer, who called the reflex catches "absolutely unbelievable". Meckiff described the hometown atmosphere as "electrifying", and attributed his performance to the crowd support.
The match ended on the eve of Meckiff's 24th birthday, but Australian celebrations were marred by English journalists, who levelled accusations of throwing against him and some of his colleagues. The evening edition of the Melbourne Herald carried a column by former English spinner Johnny Wardle
Johnny Wardle
Johnny Wardle was an English spin bowler of post-war cricket. His Test bowling average of 20.39, is the lowest in Test cricket by any recognised spin bowler, since World War I....
, accusing Meckiff of "throwing England out". Wardle's piece was written confrontationally, as a series of sentences starting with "I accuse". This was followed by more anti-Meckiff comments in the English press, including one that dubbed the bowler "the greatest ogre of international cricket since Larwood
Harold Larwood
Harold Larwood was an English cricket player, an extremely accurate fast bowler best known for his key role as the implementer of fast leg theory in the infamous "bodyline" Ashes Test series of 1932–33....
". The Evening News proclaimed: "Meckiff's throwing was devastating" and The Star
The Star (London)
The Star was a London evening newspaper founded in 1788.The first edition was printed on 3 May 1788 under the editorship of Peter Stuart. Founding sponsors of the new paper included publisher John Murray and William Lane of the Minerva Press...
said: "at least two of his wickets were obtained by deliveries which looked to be thrown". Former England spinner Ian Peebles
Ian Peebles
Ian Alexander Ross Peebles was a cricketer who played for Oxford University, Middlesex, Scotland and England. After retiring from cricket he became a cricket writer, working as a journalist on The Sunday Times and as the author of many books on cricket.Peebles had one of the strangest...
asserted that Meckiff and Gordon Rorke
Gordon Rorke
Gordon Frederick Rorke is a former Australian cricketer who played in 4 Tests in 1959.Rorke made his Test debut in January 1959 in the Fourth Test of The Ashes series against England in Adelaide...
threw "the greater number of balls they deliver", while former English paceman Alf Gover
Alf Gover
Alfred Richard Gover MBE was an English Test cricketer. He was the mainstay of the Surrey bowling attack during the 1930s and played four Tests before and after the Second World War...
claimed that none of the left-armer's deliveries were legal; it was "ridiculous that a player of his action should be the agent of England's destruction". According to Australian writer Jack Pollard
Jack Pollard
Jack Ernest Pollard OAM was an Australian sports journalist, writer and cricket historian.-Early life:Born in Sydney, New South Wales on 31 July 1926, Pollard began his journalism career in 1943 as a copy boy at Sydney's Daily Telegraph newspaper...
, such headlines relegated the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
, which usually occupied the front pages, to the interior of the English newspapers.
By contrast to the strident condemnation of Meckiff in the English press, Australian opinion was mixed. The former Test opener and leading commentator Jack Fingleton
Jack Fingleton
John "Jack" Henry Webb Fingleton OBE was an Australian cricketer who was trained as a journalist and became a political and cricket commentator after the end of his playing career...
said: "when he [Meckiff] delivered to Bailey, his fastest ball looked most suspect" and that the left-armer should have been called for throwing. Fingleton claimed to know of five former Australian Test cricketers who felt that Meckiff threw, but only named the 1930s paceman Ernie McCormick
Ernie McCormick
Ernest Leslie McCormick was an Australian cricketer who played in 12 Tests from 1935 to 1938....
. Former Australian player Tommy Andrews claimed: "if they stop throwing in Australia, cricket will die". Former Australian captain Ian Johnson
Ian Johnson (cricketer)
Ian William Geddes Johnson CBE was an Australian cricketer who played 45 Test matches as a slow off-break bowler between 1946 and 1956. Johnson captured 109 Test wickets at an average of 29.19 runs per wicket and as a lower order batsman made 1,000 runs at an average of...
argued that if Meckiff were to be cited for an illegal action for jerking his wrist, then leading English bowlers such as Trueman, Brian Statham
Brian Statham
John Brian "George" Statham, CBE was one of the leading English fast bowlers in 20th-century English cricket. Initially a bowler of a brisk fast-medium pace, Statham was able to remodel his action to generate enough speed to become genuinely fast...
and 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:...
, who played against Australia during the season, should also be sanctioned. As with Meckiff, Lock was under scrutiny at the time and later tried to change his bowling action but the new style coincided with a downturn in results. Johnson also noted that any successful spinner would be called for throwing if the law were enforced strictly because of their flicking of the wrist and fingers during the delivery of the ball, as they could not otherwise extract spin. In 1993, Robert Coleman, the historian of the Victorian Cricket Association, decried the anti-Meckiff campaign as "Fleet Street
Fleet Street
Fleet Street is a street in central London, United Kingdom, named after the River Fleet, a stream that now flows underground. It was the home of the British press until the 1980s...
bleating", and said: "there have been no more hysterical outbursts on the subject [of throwing] than occurred during England's 1958–59 tour". Writing decades after the event, Pollard said "Meckiff, in fact, went to the crease with a beautifully relaxed approach, paused momentarily with his arm absolutely straight, and then let the ball go with a blurred swing of the arm that was impossible to follow from 60 yards away, even with the aid of good binoculars."
Journalists who wrote books about the 1958–59 season made thinly veiled references to the controversy in the names of their work. Fingleton’s account on the series was entitled Four Chukkas
Throwing (cricket)
In the sport of cricket, throwing, commonly referred to as chucking, is an illegal bowling action which occurs when a bowler straightens their arm when delivering the ball. The Laws of Cricket specify that a bowler's arm must be fully extended and rotated about the shoulder to impart velocity to...
to Australia, while E. N. Wellings labelled his tome The Ashes Thrown Away, and accused Meckiff, along with Burke, Rorke and Keith Slater
Keith Slater
Keith Nichol Slater is a former Western Australian and Australian cricketer and WAFL player....
of throwing for Australia in the Tests. An Australian television debate program featured an entire session where English journalists Wellings and Crawford White discussed the throwing issue with former Australian Test cricketers Keith Miller
Keith Miller
Keith Ross Miller MBE was an Australian Test cricketer and a Royal Australian Air Force pilot during World War II. Miller is widely regarded as Australia's greatest ever all-rounder. Because of his ability, irreverent manner and good looks he was a crowd favourite...
and Sid Barnes
Sid Barnes
Sidney George Barnes was an Australian cricketer and cricket writer, who played 13 Test matches between 1938 and 1948. Able to open the innings or bat down the order, Barnes was regarded as one of Australia's finest batsmen in the period immediately following the Second World War...
.
In the Third Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground
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...
Meckiff took one wicket—Bailey—in the first innings, before breaking down with an injury in the second. This ruled him out of the Fourth Test, and he missed a month of cricket before returning for the final Test in Melbourne in mid February, where he removed specialist batsmen May and Ted Dexter
Ted Dexter
Edward Ralph Dexter CBE is a former English cricketer...
. On the field it had been a successful series for the Victorian; he had taken 17 wickets at 17.17, as Australia claimed the series 4–0. These efforts placed him top of the Test bowling averages for the series. When Lindwall was recalled for the Fourth Test in place of the injured Meckiff he was reported to have said "I'm the last of the straight-arm bowlers". The veteran paceman played alongside Meckiff in later matches, including the Fifth Test. Meckiff was also prominent in the two Shield matches against New South Wales, when both teams were at full strength. In the first contest he had match figures of 5/129, his victims including Test teammates Burke, O'Neill and Davidson (twice), but his efforts were unable to prevent defeat. In the return fixture, Meckiff took a total of 7/162; five of his victims were Australian Test batsmen. Victoria held the upper hand, and were 45 runs short of victory in the second innings when time ran out.
Within the wider cricket community there was a steady crescendo of comment condemning the prevalence of bowlers with suspect actions. Prior to the alteration of the bowling law by the Imperial Cricket Conference in 1960, the law stated:
Reaction by players and officials
In contrast to the heated debate in the media, players and administrators refrained from publicly questioning or condemning Meckiff. Neither the England captain May nor manager Freddie Brown raised any concerns about Meckiff's action after the Test. However, it was later revealed that Brown had wanted to lodge an official complaint with the Australian Board of ControlCricket Australia
Cricket Australia, formerly known as the Australian Cricket Board, is the governing body for professional and amateur cricket in Australia. It was originally formed in 1905 as the Australian Board of Control for International Cricket...
, but May had refused, fearing accusations of sour grapes. Years later, Richardson and some of his fellow batsmen accused the Australian fast bowler of throwing them out, while England paceman Fred Trueman
Fred Trueman
Frederick Sewards Trueman OBE was an English cricketer, generally acknowledged as one of the greatest fast bowlers in history. A bowler of genuinely fast pace who was widely known as Fiery Fred, Trueman played first-class cricket for Yorkshire County Cricket Club from 1949 until he retired in 1968...
said: "Meckiff's action was totally illegal and that he should never have been allowed to play". Richardson's 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...
ning team-mate Jim Laker
Jim Laker
James "Jim" Charles Laker was a cricketer who played for England in the 1950s, known for "Laker's match" in 1956 at Old Trafford, when he took nineteen wickets in England's victory against Australia...
likened Meckiff's and Burke's arm actions to those of dart-throwers.
Benaud said he was "completely satisfied that [Meckiff's] delivery was fair and legitimate", while the selection panel of Don Bradman, Dudley Seddon and Jack Ryder continued to pick the paceman, implying that they regarded his action as legal. Bill Dowling, the chairman of the Australian Board of Control, denounced the media attention on suspect bowling actions as excessive and "magnified out of all proportion".
Off the field, the throwing controversy was beginning to affect Meckiff adversely. In his 1961 autobiography, prophetically titled Thrown Out, he said the accusations took a deep personal toll on him and his family, and prompted him to shun the public. He became known by the derisive nickname "Chucker
Throwing (cricket)
In the sport of cricket, throwing, commonly referred to as chucking, is an illegal bowling action which occurs when a bowler straightens their arm when delivering the ball. The Laws of Cricket specify that a bowler's arm must be fully extended and rotated about the shoulder to impart velocity to...
" and was credited on the front cover of his autobiography as "Ian 'Chucker' Meckiff". Meckiff reported that from the Melbourne Test onwards, his son was verbally abused by classmates; Meckiff's parents were persistently told their son bowled illegally. He added that doctors believed his anxiety was contributing to stomach ailments. At the time, players were not allowed to talk to the media during the season, and Meckiff was upset because he could not rebut his accusers while they were free to attack him. He denied ever throwing, but admitted he may have been open to suspicion after bowling 15 to 20 overs in a day's play, as his body would begin to fall away in the delivery stride due to fatigue. He had a permanently bent bowling arm; he generated his pace from his wrist action, and asserted that his thin wrists gave the impression that his whole arm was bending.
Subcontinent tour
In 1959–60, the season started with a Test trial between the XIs of Lindwall and Benaud. Meckiff claimed a match total of 4/90 for Lindwall's men and was selected for the Test tour of PakistanPakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
and India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. Before the team departed, Meckiff demonstrated his new bowling action, which used a rigid left arm during the run-up, before swinging the arm over during the delivery stride. Over the next two years, sceptics and sporting opponents mostly regarded his action as fair, and said so in public. He was not called for throwing in either India or Pakistan, meaning that he had played in five nations without being sanctioned.
Meckiff was wicketless in Australia's win in the First Test against Pakistan on a matting wicket
Cricket pitch
In the game of cricket, the cricket pitch consists of the central strip of the cricket field between the wickets - 1 chain or 22 yards long and 10 feet wide. The surface is very flat and normally covered with extremely short grass though this grass is soon removed by wear at the ends of the...
in Dacca
Dhaka
Dhaka is the capital of Bangladesh and the principal city of Dhaka Division. Dhaka is a megacity and one of the major cities of South Asia. Located on the banks of the Buriganga River, Dhaka, along with its metropolitan area, had a population of over 15 million in 2010, making it the largest city...
(now in Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
). In the first innings of the Second Test in Lahore
Lahore
Lahore is the capital of the Pakistani province of Punjab and the second largest city in the country. With a rich and fabulous history dating back to over a thousand years ago, Lahore is no doubt Pakistan's cultural capital. One of the most densely populated cities in the world, Lahore remains a...
, he took three wickets, including that of opposition captain Hanif Mohammad
Hanif Mohammad
Hanif Mohammad is a former Pakistan cricketer. He played for the Pakistani cricket team in 55 Test matches between 1952/53 and 1969/70 and averaged 43.98, with twelve hundreds....
; the match was Australia's last Test win on Pakistani soil for 39 years. Before the Third Test, he helped the tourists beat the President's XI in a low-scoring game in which none of the four innings totalled over 140. Meckiff claimed four wickets in the match, and was batting (he scored two not out) when Australia reached their victory target with three wickets in hand. He missed the drawn Third Test in Karachi
Karachi
Karachi is the largest city, main seaport and the main financial centre of Pakistan, as well as the capital of the province of Sindh. The city has an estimated population of 13 to 15 million, while the total metropolitan area has a population of over 18 million...
.
In the next leg of the tour, Meckiff returned to the Australian side for the First Test against India 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...
. After claiming 1/52 in the first innings, he compiled his Test best score of 45 not out. He came in to bat with his team's score at 8/402 and helped Lindsay Kline
Lindsay Kline
Lindsay Francis Kline is former Australian and Victorian cricketer. He played in 13 Tests for Australia and 88 first-class matches between 1955/56 and 1961/1962...
and Rorke push Australia's score to 468, a first innings lead of 333. Meckiff was unable to capture a wicket in the Indian second innings as Benaud's men won by an innings and 117 runs. He bowled with little success in the Second Test in Kanpur, taking 1/52 in a spin-dominated match in which Jasu Patel
Jasu Patel
Jasubhai Motibhai Patel was an off-spinner who played Test cricket for Indian cricket team. His fame lies entirely on a single match against Australia where he took 14 wickets.-Early days:...
claimed 14 wickets to bowl India to their first-ever Test win over Australia. Meckiff was unbeaten on 14 when India secured the final wicket. In his first two Tests on Indian soil, Meckiff’s only victim had been Chandu Borde
Chandu Borde
Chandrakant Gulabrao "Chandu" Borde born 21 July 1934 in Poona In Marathi Christian Family, is a ex-cricketer who was a member of the Indian team between 1958 and 1970. Following his retirement, Borde became a cricket administrator, serving as the Chairman of national selectors...
, whom he dismissed twice.
Meckiff's most successful Test during the Indian tour was the drawn third match at Brabourne Stadium
Brabourne Stadium
The Brabourne Stadium is a cricket ground in the Indian city of Mumbai. It is located on 90,000 square yards of reclaimed land along Marine Drive near Churchgate railway station in South Mumbai. The stadium is owned by the Cricket Club of India . Brabourne Stadium is India's first permanent...
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...
, where he captured 4/79 and 3/67. In the Indian first innings, after removing opener Nari Contractor
Nari Contractor
Nariman Jamshedji "Nari" Contractor is a former cricket player. He was left-handed opening batsman whose international career was ended abruptly by a serious injury....
for 108, Meckiff captured four of the next five wickets as India collapsed from 3/199 to 8/246—they were eventually all out for 289. In the second innings he secured three quick wickets as the hosts slumped from 0/99 to 4/116 before a recovery which prevented their defeat. Meckiff continued to hold the upper hand over Borde, dismissing him in both innings. The Victorian bowler had little success in the final two Tests, taking only three wickets as Australia won the series 2–1. He ended the subcontinental tour with 15 wickets at 35.73, and scored 70 runs at 23.33. He had particular success against Borde, dismissing him five times in as many Tests. Meckiff returned to Australia in time to play his solitary Sheffield Shield match for the 1959–60 season, taking the only ten-wicket match haul of his career. He took 5/41 and 5/84 to set up an easy win over Western Australia. His first innings effort helped dismiss Western Australia for 141, and Victoria replied with 431 to move into a match-winning position. He also helped South Melbourne to another district title, taking 9/51—including a hat-trick
Hat-trick
A hat-trick or hat trick in sport is the achievement of a positive feat three times during a game, or other achievements based on threes. The term was first used in 1858 in cricket to describe HH Stephenson's feat of taking three wickets in three balls. A collection was held for Stephenson, and he...
—in the last match of the regular season against Fitzroy. This victory allowed South Melbourne to climb from seventh to fourth in the table and become the last qualifier for the semi-finals. They subsequently won their semi-final and the grand final to secure the title.
Alterations to the throwing law
In 1960, at a meeting of the Imperial Cricket Conference in London, cricket's "throwing law" was changed to forbid the straightening of the arm at the instant of the ball's delivery. The Australian Board of Control were so concerned about the controversy and its possible impact on the Australian game that they sent Board chairman Dowling and Board member Sir Donald Bradman to the meeting, rather than the customary Britain-based representative. Despite the agreed change in the law, because of conflicting interpretations in different countries a compromise was agreed, which specified an amnesty during the forthcoming 1961 Australian tour to England. It was agreed that on the tour, umpires would privately report any concerns about bowling actions to the teams concerned, for them to remedy. After the tour, umpires would "call" bowlers whenever they felt the new law to have been breached.On his return to Australia Dowling angrily accused the English cricket community of pre-judging Meckiff. Dowling said the strident press attacks on Meckiff had amounted to intimidation of umpires through the media, and claimed that some administrators had privately told him that the Australian paceman would be called if he toured England. The president of the Marylebone Cricket Club
Marylebone Cricket Club
Marylebone Cricket Club is a cricket club in London founded in 1787. Its influence and longevity now witness it as a private members' club dedicated to the development of cricket. It owns, and is based at, Lord's Cricket Ground in St John's Wood, London NW8. MCC was formerly the governing body of...
, Sir Hubert Ashton
Hubert Ashton
Sir Hubert Ashton KBE MC was an English cricketer and politician...
, said he hoped Australia would not choose Meckiff for their 1961 tour.
Tied Test against the West Indies, 1960–61
The Victorian was not called during the 1960–61 Australian season, but his performances were ineffective and he was repeatedly hampered by injuries. In particular, a strained achilles tendonAchilles tendon
The Achilles tendon , also known as the calcaneal tendon or the tendo calcaneus, is a tendon of the posterior leg. It serves to attach the plantaris, gastrocnemius and soleus muscles to the calcaneus bone.- Anatomy :The Achilles is the tendonous extension of 3 muscles in the lower leg:...
restricted his speed and penetration, particularly in the lead-up to the opening Test. Meckiff played in the First and the Third Tests, taking two wickets at 117.00 and scoring 12 runs at 6.00; he was unable to complete either match, sustaining injuries during the second innings of both fixtures. These fitness problems resulted in his omission for the three other Tests. During the summer, Meckiff's bowling was passed by Col Egar, who later ended his career. He noted that the umpire had told him there was little point in changing his action.
Meckiff took match figures of 4/90 as Victoria started the season with a nine-wicket win over South Australia, but he managed only 2/122 as his state lost by an innings to the touring West Indies in the next fixture. The paceman removed 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...
, who made 252 of the visitors' 493, and captain Frank Worrell
Frank Worrell
Sir Frank Mortimer Maglinne Worrell is sometimes referred to by his nickname of Tae and was a West Indies cricketer and Jamaican senator...
, who contributed 82. During the heavy defeat, Meckiff equal top-scored with 24 not out in the first innings, as the hosts struggled against the mysterious spin of Sonny Ramadhin
Sonny Ramadhin
Sonny Ramadhin was a West Indian cricketer, and a dominant bowler of the 1950s. He was the first West Indian cricketers of Indian origin, and was one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1951.- Biography and career :...
. Despite his unpenetrative performance with the ball, the paceman was retained for the First Test in Brisbane. The Caribbean team batted first and attacked Meckiff, taking more than seven runs per over
Run rate
In cricket, the run rate , or runs per over is the number of runs a batsman scores in an over of 6 balls. It includes all runs, even the so-called extras awarded due to errors by the bowler. Without extras and overthrows, the maximum run rate is 36 – if every ball were struck for six and, as...
from his bowling. The paceman ended with 1/129 from 18 overs as the visitors amassed 453; his only wicket was that of Gary Sobers for 132. The West Indian batsman had been particularly severe on Meckiff and was ironically dismissed by "the day's worst ball"— a leg side full toss
Full toss
A full toss is a type of delivery in the sport of cricket. It describes any delivery that reaches the batsman without bouncing on the pitch first....
that he hit to mid-on
Fielding (cricket)
Fielding in the sport of cricket is the action of fielders in collecting the ball after it is struck by the batsman, in such a way as to either limit the number of runs that the batsman scores or get the batsman out by catching the ball in flight or running the batsman out.Cricket fielding position...
. In the second innings, Meckiff broke down after only four overs, but came out to bat on 14 December, late in Australia’s climactic run-chase, for which he was often remembered. At the end of a dramatic final day, Australia needed seven runs from the final over for victory, and they had three wickets in hand. The home side had seemed destined for a win after Davidson and Benaud had fought back with a century stand for the seventh wicket in the final session. Both were well set and had passed 50, but the tourists halted Australia's momentum by running out
Run out
Run out is a method of dismissal in the sport of cricket. It is governed by Law 38 of the Laws of cricket.-The rules:A batsman is out Run out if at any time while the ball is in play no part of his bat or person is grounded behind the popping crease and his wicket is fairly put down by the opposing...
Davidson with a direct hit from the last ball of the previous over. Benaud was caught behind on the second ball of the final over attempting a hook and Meckiff came to the crease to join Wally Grout
Wally Grout
Arthur Theodore Wallace Grout was a Test cricketer who kept wicket for Australia and Queensland.Grout played in 51 Test matches between 1957 and 1966...
. Five runs were needed from six balls with two wickets in hand.
The injured paceman blocked the first ball he faced—the third of the over—and ran a bye
Bye (cricket)
In the sport of cricket, a bye is a run scored by the batting team when the ball has not been hit by the batsman and the ball has not hit the batsman's body.-Scoring byes:...
after missing the next. The West Indian wicket-keeper tried to run Meckiff out, but missed the stumps at the non-striker's end with the batsman many metres out of his ground. Grout top-edged the following ball straight up into the air, but the two fielders who converged beneath it collided and dropped the catch, allowing the Australians to take another run. The hosts thus needed three runs from the last three balls. Meckiff faced the sixth ball; it was a half volley
Half volley
A half volley in tennis is a shot that is hit immediately after the ball bounces before it reaches the apex of its flight. It is sometimes called an "on the rise shot".-Technique:...
and he lofted it over square leg
Fielding (cricket)
Fielding in the sport of cricket is the action of fielders in collecting the ball after it is struck by the batsman, in such a way as to either limit the number of runs that the batsman scores or get the batsman out by catching the ball in flight or running the batsman out.Cricket fielding position...
. The ball looked as though it would reach the boundary for a match-winning four runs; however, after landing close to the fence, it stopped rolling a metre short on the slow outfield. Grout attempted a third run, which would have won the match, but an accurate long throw saw him run out. The last man Lindsay Kline
Lindsay Kline
Lindsay Francis Kline is former Australian and Victorian cricketer. He played in 13 Tests for Australia and 88 first-class matches between 1955/56 and 1961/1962...
came in for the final two balls, with scores level, and the Australian pair agreed to run under all circumstances. Meckiff backed up significantly in anticipation of a quick single, and set off for the winning run after his partner hit the ball to square leg. However, he was run out
Run out
Run out is a method of dismissal in the sport of cricket. It is governed by Law 38 of the Laws of cricket.-The rules:A batsman is out Run out if at any time while the ball is in play no part of his bat or person is grounded behind the popping crease and his wicket is fairly put down by the opposing...
by roughly a metre when Joe Solomon
Joe Solomon
Joseph Stanislaus Solomon is a former West Indian cricketer who played 27 Tests for the West Indies. He played Test cricket from 1958 to 1965, scoring 1326 runs, mainly from number six and seven in the batting line-up...
directly hit the stumps from side on, causing the first tie in Test history. Umpire Col Hoy
Col Hoy
Colin Hoy , was an Australian cricket Test match umpire, the first Queenslander to be appointed....
said of his decision to give Meckiff out: "God, it was easy. He was miles out." The entire stadium—players and spectators alike—invaded the ground in excitement, but nobody was sure of the exact scores. It was only later that they realised the match was the first Tied Test; Meckiff initially thought Australia had lost and blamed himself for the result.
After missing the Australian victory in the Second Test due to injury, Meckiff returned for the Third Test and he was again attacked, taking 1/74 from 13 overs in the first innings, his sole victim being Conrad Hunte
Conrad Hunte
Sir Conrad Cleophas Hunte, KA was a Barbadian cricketer. Hunte played 44 Test matches as an opening batsman for the West Indies.-Early life and career:...
. He then broke down after five overs in the second innings. Davidson also left the field with injury and the tourists took advantage; they attacked the remaining bowlers, levelling the series 1–1. The Victorian did not recover in time for the rest of the Tests.
Persistently hampered by ankle and back injuries, Meckiff aggregated only 19 first-class wickets at 40 for the summer. His best innings performance was 4/39 against Queensland and he was unable to claim more than five wickets in any single match. In one match against arch-rivals New South Wales, the Victorian took a total of 5/155, all of his wickets being Test batsmen. Meckiff was not selected for the Ashes tour. His lack of form saved the Australian selectors the difficult choice of whether to omit him because of his action and avoid a potential run-in with umpires in England. Critics claimed that his new bowling action adopted in 1959–60 had made him legitimate but reduced his pace and effectiveness.
No-balled in the Sheffield Shield, 1962–63
The throwing controversy subsided during the 1961 English season, and the 1961–62 Australian season was purely domestic, with no touring international teams. As a result, there were no pressing diplomacy imperatives involving throwing. Meckiff was Victoria's leading bowler with 28 wickets at 27.14 in eight matches and was not called. His best performance was 5/53 in the first innings of the match against Queensland at the MCG, which ended in defeat for the home team. Despite healthy results for the season overall, the paceman struggled and took match figures of 2/136 and 3/112 as Victoria lost both their matches against the dominant New South Wales XI, who won their ninth successive Shield. At the end of the season, Meckiff was part of an International XI that toured New Zealand and played against the hosts' national team and against teams from India and Pakistan. He had little success, taking four wickets at 53.00 in three matches.In 1962–63, Meckiff was again under the spotlight when Ted Dexter
Ted Dexter
Edward Ralph Dexter CBE is a former English cricketer...
's Englishmen toured Australia. He topped the bowling averages for the Australian first-class season with 58 wickets at 19.86 from ten matches, as Victoria won the Sheffield Shield, ending New South Wales' run of titles. Meckiff and Alan Connolly
Alan Connolly
Alan Norman Connolly is a former Australian cricketer who played in 29 Tests and one ODI from 1963 to 1971. Connolly had been a fast bowler in his youth, but slowed his pace to increase his accuracy and became a reliable support bowler in partnership with Garth McKenzie...
formed an effective pace pairing, helping Victoria to win four of its eight Shield games, and take first innings points in two others.
Meckiff was hoping to regain his Test place, and started his 1962–63 campaign in a Sheffield Shield match against South Australia. After Victoria made 174, the paceman took 4/65 to dismiss South Australia for 141 in the first innings. In the second innings he took 3/76 to help seal a win. He continued his early season form in taking match figures of 7/179 against Western Australia, but was unable to prevent defeat. Despite these performances, Meckiff was overlooked for the First Test. He had another chance to vie for national selection when Victoria played England after the opening Test, and took match figures of 4/90 as the tourists completed a five-wicket victory. He dismissed 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...
, Geoff Pullar
Geoff Pullar
Geoffrey Pullar was an English cricketer, who played for Lancashire, Gloucestershire and in twenty eight Tests for England....
and Alan Smith
Alan Smith (cricketer)
Alan Christopher Smith, known as A. C. Smith is an English former Test cricketer, who appeared in six Tests for England. Primarily a wicket-keeper, Smith was also a capable right-handed middle-order batsman and right-arm seam bowler...
as Victoria took a four-run first innings lead, but the hosts collapsed in their second innings and Dexter's men reached their target of 180 with five wickets in hand.
Victoria then played the first of their two matches for the season against their arch-rivals New South Wales, just before the Second Test. Meckiff took 3/33, removing Grahame Thomas, Benaud and Martin as Victoria dismissed the reigning champions for 132. He contributed 32 runs at the end of the Victorian first innings reply, helping to extend his team's first-innings lead to 135 runs. In the New South Wales second innings Meckiff took 3/73, removing Test players Simpson, Davidson and Benaud, to leave his team with a target of 95 runs to win, which they reached with eight wickets in hand.
Despite this effort, he was not selected for the Second Test. His season was then marred when he was called for throwing for the first time in any competition. In January 1963, Victoria played South Australia 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...
. After Victoria had made 218, Meckiff removed both openers—Les Favell
Les Favell
Leslie Ernest Favell was an Australian cricketer who played in 19 Tests from 1954 to 1961. He was a strong batsman who liked to hit the ball around the ground and was a much loved character...
and Ken Cunningham—for the cost of 19 runs before Jack Kierse no-balled the fourth ball of his fourth over. He continued to bowl; his remaining deliveries were deemed legal by the umpires, and he ended with 5/84 in South Australia's reply of 8/408 declared. The hosts had a target of only 108 in the second innings for victory, but Meckiff removed Favell, Cunningham and Neil Dansie
Neil Dansie
Hampton Neil Dansie OAM is a former first-class cricketer and long term administrator for South Australia.Nicknamed "Nodder" due to his habit of nodding in agreement when in conversation, Dansie was born in Nuriootpa, South Australia, the grandson of Sam Dansie, a leading country cricketer who...
with the new ball to destabilise the run-chase. He ended with 3/25 as the South Australians stumbled to 7/86 and held on for a draw.
Meckiff took a total of 3/50 in a seven-wicket defeat of Western Australia before the return match against New South Wales, in which Victoria were 34 runs short of victory with seven wickets in hand when time ran out, Meckiff's match figures being 6/121. He had a final chance to push for Test selection in the second of his state's two matches against England. The tourists batted first and made 375; Meckiff took 5/93, dismissing Pullar, Peter Parfitt
Peter Parfitt
Peter Parfitt is an English former cricketer. He attended Fakenham Grammar School, and King Edward VII Grammar School, in Kings Lynn, Norfolk....
, Fred Titmus
Fred Titmus
Frederick John Titmus MBE was an English cricketer, whose first-class career spanned five decades. Although he was best known for his off spin , he was an accomplished lower-order batsman who deserved to be called an all-rounder, even opening the batting for England on six occasions...
, David Allen
David Allen (cricketer)
David Arthur Allen is a former English cricketer, who played first-class cricket for Gloucestershire between 1953 and 1972. He also played 39 Test matches for England.-Life and career:...
and top-scorer Tom Graveney
Tom Graveney
Thomas William Graveney in Riding Mill, Northumberland, is a former English cricketer and was the President of the Marylebone Cricket Club for 2004/5. He went to Bristol Grammar School...
, who had made 185. He took 2/47 in the English second innings, removing Barry Knight and Ken Barrington
Ken Barrington
Kenneth Frank Barrington , better known as Ken Barrington, played for the English cricket team and Surrey County Cricket Club in the 1950s and 1960s. He was a right-handed batsman and occasional leg-spin bowler, well known for his jovial good humour and long, defensive innings "batting with bulldog...
. England set Victoria 287 for victory, and the hosts faced defeat before Meckiff batted late in the order to score 38 and help his side to a draw with one wicket in hand. Despite this continued run of prolific wicket-taking and his success against England, Meckiff was overlooked for the Fifth Test. In his absence, Australia struggled to make inroads into the English batting, and the series ended 1–1.
Victoria's season ended with consecutive matches against Queensland. In the first, Meckiff took a total of 5/88 as his side completed an innings victory at home. In the final match in Brisbane, his slower ball
Slower ball
In the sport of cricket, a slower ball is a slower-than-usual delivery from a fast bowler. The bowler's intention is to deceive the batsman into playing too early so that he either misses the ball completely or hits it high up in the air to offer an easy catch...
was no-balled in his fifth over of the second innings by umpire Bill Priem. Meckiff bowled 14 further overs without incident and ended the innings with 4/74. Victoria drew the match and sealed their Sheffield Shield victory. Meckiff had been the state's leading wicket-taker and one of the key figures in their triumph, but his bowling action was the main talking point at the end of the match.
Test no-ball
Meckiff's performances as the leading wicket-taker during the 1962–63 season meant that he could not be justifiably denied national selection on grounds of productivity, so the matter of his legitimacy had to be resolved. Meanwhile, the retirement of pace spearhead Davidson left a vacancy in the Australian team ahead of the 1963–64 home Test series against South Africa. In the opening Shield matches of the season in Melbourne, Meckiff took match figures of 5/102 and 6/107 against South and Western AustraliaWestern Warriors
The Western Australia cricket team are an Australian first class cricket team representing the state of Western Australia...
respectively. His wickets included Test batsmen Les Favell
Les Favell
Leslie Ernest Favell was an Australian cricketer who played in 19 Tests from 1954 to 1961. He was a strong batsman who liked to hit the ball around the ground and was a much loved character...
, Garry Sobers, Keith Slater
Keith Slater
Keith Nichol Slater is a former Western Australian and Australian cricketer and WAFL player....
and Barry Shepherd
Barry Shepherd
Barry Kenneth Shepherd was an Australian cricketer who played in 9 Tests from 1963 to 1965....
. In the latter match he took the first five wickets in the innings to reduce Western Australia to 5/54. Despite his contributions, Victoria were unable to secure victories against either of their opponents. However, as a result of these strong personal performances, Meckiff was selected for the First Test in Brisbane.
At the start of the season, the Australian Board of Control had issued a directive calling on the umpires to "get tough" in enforcing the laws of cricket, and asked the state associations to "back the umpires to the fullest extent". In the lead-up to the Test, Meckiff was the centre of media attention, and one report described him as cricket's "bogey man". The South Africans were reportedly stunned by Meckiff's selection, giving the impression that they considered him an illegitimate bowler. Reaction in England was also hostile, ahead of Australia's forthcoming tour in the English summer of 1964. Colin Ingleby-Mackenzie wrote in the News of the World
News of the World
The News of the World was a national red top newspaper published in the United Kingdom from 1843 to 2011. It was at one time the biggest selling English language newspaper in the world, and at closure still had one of the highest English language circulations...
: "there is no room in cricket for throwers. Let us hope that...the Australian selectors realise this...otherwise the throwing war will be waged in earnest".
The Brisbane Test was dubbed "Meckiff's Test" by the Australian media; speculation abounded that the bowler was being chosen so he could be no-balled as a public relations effort to promote Australia's anti-throwing credentials. Keith Miller described the left-armer's selection as having "peppered this once drab-looking series into a curry hot-pot, with all the excitement and trimmings of an Alfred Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...
thriller". Miller further predicted that the umpires Egar and Lou Rowan
Lou Rowan
Louis Patrick “Lou” Rowan , was an Australian Test cricket match umpire.He umpired 25 Test matches between 1963 and 1971. His first match was between Australian and England at Sydney on 11 January to 15 January 1963, when Alan Davidson took 9/79, and Bobby Simpson took 5/57 and made 91 and 36 not...
would be having sleepless nights and predicted that the selectors would be biting their fingernails, adding that he hoped Meckiff was not being used as a scapegoat for the anti-throwing movement. Former Test 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 Bill O'Reilly
Bill O'Reilly (cricketer)
William Joseph "Bill" O'Reilly , often known as Tiger O'Reilly, was an Australian cricketer, rated as one of the greatest bowlers in the history of the game. Following his retirement from playing, he became a well-respected cricket writer and broadcaster.O'Reilly was one of the best spin bowlers to...
—a correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald
The Sydney Morning Herald
The Sydney Morning Herald is a daily broadsheet newspaper published by Fairfax Media in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1831 as the Sydney Herald, the SMH is the oldest continuously published newspaper in Australia. The newspaper is published six days a week. The newspaper's Sunday counterpart, The...
—described the selection as "one of the most fantastic somersaults in cricket policies in our time". As a close friend of the fast bowler, umpire Egar was in a difficult situation; the duo had won a pairs lawn bowling competition just a few months earlier. Nevertheless, the paceman and umpire socialised freely at the pre-match function.
Incident
In the Test match, which began on 6 December 1963, Australia batted first; Meckiff contributed seven runs before being bowled by Peter PollockPeter Pollock
Peter Maclean Pollock, has played a continuing role in the South Africa cricket team as a player, selector, and father of a future captain. He was voted a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1966...
. On the second day, after the Australian innings ended on 435, South Africa began to bat just after the luncheon interval. Bowling from the Stanley Street End, Graham McKenzie
Graham McKenzie
Graham Douglas "Garth" McKenzie is a former Australian and Western Australian cricketer. He was a fast bowler. First selected to play for Australia at age of 19, he toured England in 1961 under Richie Benaud...
conceded 13 runs from the first over. Meckiff took the ball for the second over, bowling from the Vulture Street End to South African captain Trevor Goddard
Trevor Goddard (cricketer)
Trevor Leslie Goddard is a former left-hand cricketer. An all-rounder, he played 41 Test matches for South Africa from 1955 to 1970, captaining them over the 1963-64 season and drawing an encounter with Australia. A left-handed, classically correct opening batsman, he was also a successful swing...
. At the same time, the South African manager Ken Viljoen
Ken Viljoen
Kenneth George Viljoen was a South African cricketer who played in 27 Tests from 1930 to 1949, but he is more greatly renowned in cricketing circles as a manager of post-World War II Springbok teams....
set up a camera square of the wicket among the spectators and began filming the left-armer's bowling action. Meckiff was no-balled four times by Egar—who was standing at square leg—in what would be his only over of the match. After the Victorian bowled a gentle "loosener" as his first ball (and escaped a front-foot no-ball call), "the drama began". Egar ruled the second, third, fifth and ninth balls to be throws, and therefore illegitimate. After the third and fifth balls—the latter a full toss
Full toss
A full toss is a type of delivery in the sport of cricket. It describes any delivery that reaches the batsman without bouncing on the pitch first....
that Goddard hit for four—Benaud came over to consult his fast bowler. After the ninth ball, Meckiff and Benaud had another meeting, and the remaining three balls were deemed to be fair. In the meantime, the crowd roared loudly, heckling Egar and supporting the beleaguered bowler. Meckiff had previously been passed in five countries, having played Tests in four of these nations. Egar had cleared his bowling on five previous occasions, in three Shield matches and two Tests; the Victorian had bowled 119.1 overs in these games without incident. Egar later said "My only judgement was what I saw at the time". Benaud removed his paceman from the attack and Meckiff did not bowl again in the match, later saying he could not remember the over because he was absorbed by a feeling of complete deflation.
Meckiff conceded eight runs—Goddard's boundary and the four no-balls—from his solitary over and the tourists were eventually out for 346. Meckiff did not bat in the second innings of the weather-interrupted match; Australia declared at 1/144 before South Africa reached 1/13 when the match ended as a draw. After his single over, Meckiff's participation in the match was limited to his fielding, during which he caught Goddard from the bowling of Benaud in the South African first innings. He retired from all forms of cricket at the end of the game, but continued to proclaim that his bowling action was fair.
Barry Gibbs
Barry Gibbs (cricket)
Barry Gibbs was a South Australian cricket administrator.Gibbs was the Chief Executive of the South Australian Cricket Association between 1988 and 1997. He was responsible for the opening of the Bradman Stand at Adelaide Oval. He died from cancer, aged 73.-References:...
, the secretary of the Queensland Cricket Association and the manager of the Australian team, called the "humiliation" of Meckiff "without a doubt the most dramatic and emotion-charged" sporting moment he had witnessed. Egar's actions also ignited "one of the most emotional crowd displays in Test history", as the public backed the paceman. During Meckiff's over, the crowd expressed strong disapproval of the umpire's calls. Half an hour before the close of the day's play, proceedings were suspended for two minutes as the crowd repeatedly chanted "We want Meckiff". When play ended, spectators stormed the field and carried the fast bowler off the arena on their shoulders, hailing him as a hero. They returned to the field and formed two lanes, booing Egar from the ground. After this incident, the Queensland Police escorted the umpire to and from the match venue. The police presence at the ground was increased because of fears the crowd might attack Egar or Benaud. During the Second Test, which was held in Meckiff's home town of Melbourne, Egar was given a police escort throughout the match after receiving death threats.
Reaction
During a rest day after the second day's play the media dissected the events of the previous afternoon. The majority of reporters believed all of Meckiff's deliveries had been bowled with an identical action. Louis Duffus of the Johannesburg Star expressed "sympathy for Meckiff as well as admiration for Egar." The South African writer Charles Fortune said that Meckiff's action was "not according to the laws of cricket" although he would not call the Australian bowler a "chucker". England captain Dexter implicitly accused Meckiff of throwing, saying: "One courageous Australian umpire has brought it to a timely end".Team manager Gibbs reported that at the end of the first day's play the Australian dressing room was stunned into silence. Egar asked Benaud for permission to enter, and after the Australian captain allowed him in, the umpire sat quietly for a period before speaking to some other players and then to Meckiff. The pair were close friends, and shook hands before putting their arms around one another's shoulders. The condemned bowler did not take Egar's judgment personally and did not have hard feelings about the incident. Egar claimed to be "the second most upset person in the world", and later added that he thought Meckiff's first ball was suspect. He said that he could have called more deliveries, but was worried whether the over would ever end.
When asked why he had not asked Meckiff to bowl at the other end to gauge the judgment of the other umpire, Lou Rowan, Benaud replied "over the years I have always accepted the umpire's decision". The Australian captain was criticised for being acquiescent, and one of his predecessors Lindsay Hassett
Lindsay Hassett
Arthur Lindsay Hassett MBE was a cricketer who played for Victoria and Australia. The diminutive Hassett was an elegant middle-order batsman, described by Wisden as, "... a master of nearly every stroke ... his superb timing, nimble footwork and strong wrists enabled him to make batting look a...
believed Meckiff should have been used at reduced speed. Rowan later indicated his concurrence with Egar, writing in his book The Umpire's Story, "There is nothing I can now say that will alter the opinions already expressed that his [Meckiff's] delivery was unfair". For his part, Meckiff said: "the game is bigger than the individual" and he backed Benaud's decision because doing otherwise "could only have added fuel to the controversy".
Retired Test umpires Col Hoy
Col Hoy
Colin Hoy , was an Australian cricket Test match umpire, the first Queenslander to be appointed....
and Les Townsend
Les Townsend
Leslie Hyde Townsend was an Australian cricket Test match umpire....
were watching at the ground when Meckiff was called. The day after the incident, both asserted that they would not have no-balled the paceman. Hoy said he had never had any problem with the bowler's action during matches in which he officiated. He described Meckiff's action as "slightly different" but attributed this to an accentuated wrist action used in an attempt to get more life out of dead pitches, rather than his elbow. Townsend watched the paceman through binoculars and deemed all of his 12 deliveries to be identical. Townsend regarded Meckiff's arm action as "peculiar" but felt he did not throw. Former Test spinners Ian Johnson and Doug Ring
Doug Ring
Douglas Thomas Ring was an Australian cricketer who played for Victoria and Australia in 13 Tests from 1948 to 1953...
said Meckiff's action was fair.
After his retirement, Meckiff agreed to put his name to a series of ghost-written articles about the no-ball incident. He said that Egar's calls "hit him like a dagger in the back", but described the umpire as "a fair and just man who acted according to his convictions".
Allegations of a conspiracy
Sections of the cricket community believed Meckiff was no-balled to prove that Australia was serious about dealing with the wave of complaints regarding suspected throwing in the 1950s and 1960s. Leading cricket historian David FrithDavid Frith
David Edward John Frith is a leading cricket writer and historian. Cricinfo describes him as "an author, historian, and founding editor of Wisden Cricket Monthly".-Life and career:...
wrote: "Meckiff was a popular Australian, and won much sympathy among those who believed him innocent or to have been victimised in a 'clean-up campaign'." A dinner hosted by Don Bradman at his Adelaide home in January 1963 for visiting state captains was later cited to suggest that Meckiff may have been a sacrificial offering. At the dinner, attended by 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...
of Victoria, Barry Shepherd
Barry Shepherd
Barry Kenneth Shepherd was an Australian cricketer who played in 9 Tests from 1963 to 1965....
, Ken Mackay
Ken Mackay
Kenneth Donald Mackay was an Australian cricketer who played in 37 Tests from 1956 to 1963....
and Benaud, Bradman had showed frame-by-frame slow motion film of Meckiff and other suspect Australian bowlers, which purportedly depicted incriminating actions. This indicated Bradman's doubts over Meckiff's legitimacy, yet Bradman was one of the selectors who agreed to the bowler's inclusion in the Brisbane Test team.
Many members of the Australian media alleged a conspiracy against Meckiff. Ian McDonald of Melbourne's Sporting Globe said the bowler's action had not changed in the previous eight years and stated: "the whole affair smacks of a set-up". Sydney's Mirror labelled the paceman "the most obvious fall-guy in Australian cricket history". On the third morning of the match, former first-class cricketer Percy Beames
Percy Beames
Percy James Beames was an Australian rules footballer with Melbourne and first-class cricketer at state level for Victoria. He later became a distinguished journalist, covering both sports for Melbourne's The Age until 1976....
, writing for Melbourne's The Age
The Age
The Age is a daily broadsheet newspaper, which has been published in Melbourne, Australia since 1854. Owned and published by Fairfax Media, The Age primarily serves Victoria, but is also available for purchase in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and border regions of South Australia and...
, claimed Meckiff had been used as a "sacrificial goat" and called for the selectors’ resignation. Keith Miller wrote a column calling for Bradman's and Jack Ryder's removal from the selection panel, noting that they had watched Meckiff's performance against Western Australia which prompted his Test selection. Miller felt that if the selectors deemed the bowler illegitimate, then they should not have allowed him to be "executed" by the umpires. Jack Pollard
Jack Pollard
Jack Ernest Pollard OAM was an Australian sports journalist, writer and cricket historian.-Early life:Born in Sydney, New South Wales on 31 July 1926, Pollard began his journalism career in 1943 as a copy boy at Sydney's Daily Telegraph newspaper...
said: "there is little doubt Meckiff was sacrificed to end the long-running controversy and the way it was done irked many cricket-lovers." Cricketer-turned-journalist Dick Whitington asserted that Benaud was aware his fast bowler had been set up, claiming that the Australian captain knew of Bradman's views on Meckiff’s action. Whitington further cited the fact that Egar and Bradman had travelled from Adelaide to the Brisbane Test together as evidence of a plot. Others saw Bradman's tea-time conversation with Benaud after the no-balling as proof of a conspiracy. Benaud repudiated allegations claiming he was involved in a set-up.
Former Australian captain Hassett hinted at a conspiracy when he stated that, as the selectors must have considered Meckiff to be legitimate, then
If the selectors are right, Egar is wrong, and if he is incapable of interpreting the laws correctly, he should not stand in first-class cricket. On the other hand if the selectors as a body threw Meckiff into this arena merely to be tested by the opinion of a single umpire, they are very much guilty of passing the buck, and of exposing both the bowler and the umpire to extreme embarrassment.
The records of the Australian Board of Control attest to board member Clem Jones
Clem Jones
Clem Jones AO a surveyor by profession, was the longest serving Lord Mayor of the city of Brisbane, Australia, representing the Australian Labor Party from 1961 to 1975.-Public life:...
's protestations against Meckiff's inclusion when the selectors' proposed team list was submitted for approval. Jones cited the bowler's questionable action but the Chairman Ewart Macmillan rejected his objection as unconstitutional. Two other board members attempted to overrule the chairman, but their motion was defeated.
More than 40 years after the Meckiff incident, Jones was sure the bowler's fate had been predetermined. He said "They'd decided to do it a week before the game, so the poor bloke had no hope...I was chairman of the umpires selection committee." Jones remained convinced of Bradman's intention to have Meckiff called for throwing, something Bradman flatly denied. Gibbs remains suspicious of the motives for selecting Meckiff. He pointed out that although the pitch was conducive to spin bowling, Australia chose five specialist batsmen, two spinners and three fast bowlers. Gibbs speculated that the selection of an extra fast bowler—the most common strategy is to use four bowlers and six batsmen—instead of another batsman betrayed fears that Meckiff would be unable to complete the match. Alan Connolly remained adamant that his teammate's action was legitimate and implied a conspiracy, saying "I wasn't amazed [by Egar's call]...There was a good reason for that which I can't disclose and won't disclose." Tom Veivers
Tom Veivers
Thomas Robert Veivers is a former Australian cricketer who played in 21 Tests from 1963 to 1967. He was an all-rounder who bowled right arm off-spin bowler and batted left-handed. He later had a brief political career, holding the seat of Ashgrove in the Queensland Legislative Assembly from 1983...
, who made his Test debut for Australia in Meckiff’s last match, hinted at the same. He recalled Rowan's words at the pre-match function: "It's going to be a very interesting game".
Outside cricket
After finishing high school, Meckiff worked as a hardware salesman and lived in Mentone until he married and moved to BeaumarisBeaumaris, Victoria
Beaumaris is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 20 km south-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Bayside. At the 2006 Census, Beaumaris had a population of 12,441....
. The couple had a son. After his retirement, the former paceman worked in advertising, and as a cricket commentator. As of 2001, he was a senior executive with Boyer Sports Media and frequently worked with cricket administrators. However, he refused to play the sport—even at social level—after the incident in Brisbane.
Meckiff played Australian rules football
Australian rules football
Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...
for Mentone in the Federal League, helping them win the premiership in 1956. He received offers to play in the Victorian Football League
Australian Football League
The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...
, the top-tier competition at the time, but declined contracts so he could pursue his cricket career. Meckiff also played golf in pennant competition and captained the Victoria Golf Club.
In retirement, the throwing issue continued to dog the former paceman. Former Australian captain and teammate Simpson wrote a book titled Captain's Story in which he assailed various cricketers—Meckiff chief among them—for throwing. Meckiff sued for libel in a five-year case, which ended with an out-of-court settlement and apology from Simpson. Despite this, Meckiff has continued to socialise with people involved in his last Test, including Simpson, Egar, Gibbs, Rowan and Peter van der Merwe
Peter van der Merwe
Peter van der Merwe was born in Cape Town, South Africa. He is a musicologist, author, and librarian at the Natal Society Library. He has written several books on the history of modern classical music. He studied at the College of Music at the University of Cape Town. He also works as a cataloguer...
, South Africa's vice-captain. He says that he never brings up the topic of the no-ball with them. Victorian and Test teammate Lawry rated Meckiff "along with Graham McKenzie
Graham McKenzie
Graham Douglas "Garth" McKenzie is a former Australian and Western Australian cricketer. He was a fast bowler. First selected to play for Australia at age of 19, he toured England in 1961 under Richie Benaud...
, Brian Booth
Brian Booth
Brian Charles Booth is a former Australian cricketer who played in 29 Tests from 1961 to 1966. He captained Australia for two Tests during the 1965–66 Ashes series while regular captain Bob Simpson was absent due to illness and injury. Booth was a graceful right-handed middle order batsman...
, Peter Burge and one or two others as really nature's gentlemen" and said his exit was "one of the saddest [days] of [Lawry's] life". Lawry credited his fellow Victorian for being dignified despite the torment and said the bowler was a "pretty fair example of the old expression that good guys run last". Connolly said "'Meckie' was one of the nicest guys. It was to his great credit that he wasn't soured by the whole incident."
See also
- List of international cricketers called for throwing
- List of cricketers called for throwing in major cricket matches in Australia
- Tied TestTied TestTied Test refers to a rare result in Test cricket. Only two ties have occurred in the 2,000 Tests played since 1877. The first was in 1960 and the second in 1986...