A BRIEF encounter with Ian Chappell long ago served as early notice to be wary of Australian Test captains. Quite why the air in Swansea turned blue during the tourists’ three-day match against Glamorgan has been lost in the mists of time other than that Chappell was not in the best of moods.
A question from a Sunday paper colleague prompted him to blow a fuse and storm back to the dressing-room, smoke billowing out of both ears. That Chappell admitted years later a preference for his team to be described as ‘a bunch of bastards’ rather than ‘a nice bunch of blokes’ came as no surprise.
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