Australian captain Greg Chappell, the most prolific batsman in the country, made four ducks in a row across Tests and ODIs during the 1981-82 home summer — and seven ducks across the season — earning the temporary nickname 'Chappello'.
Chappell had returned to the captaincy in 1981 after the post-underarm fallout had subsided.
He scored 0 against Pakistan in two innings, then 0 in two ODIs against West Indies in succession.
The 1981-82 Australian summer pitted Australia against both Pakistan and West Indies, in a triangular ODI tournament and accompanying Test series. Greg Chappell, then 33, had recently returned to lead Australia from his post-underarm-incident exile and was the world's leading batsman. From late November through mid-January, however, his form deserted him entirely. He was dismissed for nought in four consecutive innings — two Tests and two ODIs — before scoring 201 against Pakistan in the second Test at Brisbane. He finished the summer with seven ducks in all internationals, a record for a top-order batsman in a single season at the time. Chappell himself joked that he was 'experimenting with new ways of getting out'. The Australian press christened him 'Chappello'. The 201 at Brisbane was, characteristically, a chanceless 374-ball masterclass and proof that the eye and the technique were intact. Greg retired from international cricket two years later having lost the captaincy back to Hughes and finally to Border.
Four consecutive ducks across Tests and ODIs
201 against Pakistan at Brisbane in the middle of the slump
Press nickname 'Chappello'
Seven ducks total for the summer
Captain throughout
Nov-Dec 1981
Four ducks in a row
Dec 1981
201 vs Pakistan, Brisbane
Jan-Feb 1982
Seven ducks total for the season
1983-84
Retires from international cricket
“I was experimenting with new ways of getting out.”
“Chappello had become Chappell again by mid-season.”
Chappell rebuilt his form by the end of the season but was visibly nearing the end of his career.
A bizarre form slump for the world's best batsman, leavened by a 201 in the middle of it.
The seven-duck summer remains a record-lookup curio; the 201 at Brisbane is a coaching textbook example of resilience.
Zimbabwe vs England
1996-12-22
The first Test between Zimbabwe and England at Bulawayo in December 1996 ended in a draw with the scores level — the first ever in Test history. Coach David 'Bumble' Lloyd, frustrated by Zimbabwe's defensive tactics, told a press conference 'we flippin' murdered em'. He was reprimanded by the ECB.
England vs Australia
4 August 1975
On 4 August 1975, during the second Ashes Test at Lord's, a 24-year-old merchant seaman from Liverpool named Michael Angelow leapt the boundary fence wearing only socks and trainers, hurdled both sets of stumps to the amusement of the players, and was wrestled to the ground by police. He had taken a £20 bet from his shipmates. He was fined £20 in court the next morning, and the BBC commentary by John Arlott — "we have got a freaker, not very shapely, and it is masculine — and I would think it has seen the last of its cricket for the day" — became one of the most replayed pieces of cricket commentary of the decade.
n/a (ground incident)
1944-09-01
Late in the 1944 wartime season at Lord's, a steel cable from a barrage balloon moored on the Nursery Ground broke loose in a wind and snagged the iconic Father Time weather-vane on top of the Grand Stand. The cable wrapped around the figure, brought it down and deposited Father Time among the front-row seats below. The most high-profile damage to Lord's during the Second World War, MCC's curators noted, came not from the Luftwaffe but from one of London's own air-defence balloons.