Ashes Chronicles - Part 8: Denness encounters Lillee-Thomson firestorm in 1974/75

HUW TURBERVILL looks back on a six-match series that was dominated by Australia's fast men, Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson

“As the plane left Australia for New Zealand, some of the lads said they were glad to get out alive. That was difficult to take. I was upset I hadn’t picked up on it earlier. They were thinking about their livelihoods, and whether they were going to get hit on the head. It was why helmets came in soon after.”

While England’s captain, Mike Denness, had not feared for his own life at the hands of Australia’s fearsome fast-bowling duo Jeff Thomson and Dennis Lillee, he certainly had plenty to worry about during the 1974/75 Ashes.

Denness was a controversial choice to succeed Ray Illingworth in September 1973, not least because critics suggested that he could not be guaranteed his place as a batsman. He led England to a draw in the Caribbean that winter, however, then achieved a series win against India and a draw with Pakistan in the summer of 1974.

After making only 65 runs in six innings in the first three Tests and with his side 2-0 down, though, the Scot became the only England captain to drop himself because of form during an Ashes series in Australia.

Denness had been ill at the start; he was being slaughtered in the press, who harshly described him as ‘an embarrassment to his side’ and ‘a captain isolated’; and his technique was also found wanting against pace. He had considered stepping down after the second Test at Perth, and finally made the move without consulting anyone, not even tour manager Alec Bedser.

Reaction was mixed. Tony Greig said it “showed a courage that demanded admiration”, while Fred Titmus thought he should have “believed in his own ability... or not been out there”.

John Edrich stood in for the fourth Test. It was a painful experience for him. Although he made a half-century in the first innings, he had a rib broken by Lillee, and England were crushed by 171 runs in a bad-tempered match, and the Ashes were back with Australia.

More than 35 years later, Denness, then 69, and looking fit and well-groomed in a suit and tie, told me he still thought it was the right decision. “I’d made runs in the tour games, but not many in the Tests,” he said. ‘“Keith Fletcher had scored heavily against the states, so if we were going to change the side at 2-0 down and win the fourth Test at Sydney, I had to be the one to make way. I didn’t feel in form at all.

“If you get off to a good start in a series you’re all right, but the state games were totally different to the Tests, facing Lillee and Thomson. I had mainly been caught behind. I was never bowled, because they didn’t pitch the ball up enough.

“It was a lack of proper technique. Nowadays you would have picked it up quicker because of television. To change it wasn’t going to be easy as I was accustomed to playing a certain way. I never got too down in the dumps because I was more concerned about the team having collective success. I didn’t have time to go to my room and mope about.

^{The captains, Ian Chappell and Mike Denness, share a drink after the final Test in Melbourne}

“No one’s really dropped themselves before or since, and the media were saying it was the end of my career. But we still had a lot of time left in Australia and New Zealand; I just saw it as a match we had to win. As it was, they thrashed us.”

Although he was to benefit, coming in to score 24 and 11, Fletcher told me: “I couldn’t see any point in it. He came back after one Test anyway. It wasn’t as if someone was going to come in and get more runs.

“If you’re captain for an Ashes Tour, you’re in charge for the whole series. Australia simply had a much better side than us – dropping himself probably gave them an extra buzz they didn’t need.”

No one saw England’s 4-1 defeat in the six-Test series coming. They had, after all, enjoyed such a triumphant tour four years earlier. Wisden had also been uncomplimentary about the Australians before the series. They said Rod Marsh’s keeping had been “clumsily fallible”, while Thomson, in his only previous Test, against Pakistan, had taken 0 for 110 in 19 overs. Wisden called him a “comic character rather than a Test bowler”.

No Englishman was laughing now as they faced a hurricane from the 24-year-old, with his slingshot action, and the more aesthetically pleasing Lillee, who was a year older. Both unleashed a wave of missiles into the gloves of the teak-tough Marsh. Thomson, although still sometimes erratic, took 33 wickets in the series, and Lillee 25. Many felt umpires Robin Bailhache and Tom Brooks allowed them to get away with too much short-pitched bowling, but Don Bradman said: “Lillee and Thomson were probably, as a pair, the fastest and most lethal opening pair in Australia’s history.”

They were particularly clinical against England’s top order. Greig and Alan Knott, at No.6 and No.7, made eight of England’s 14 scores of 50 and above.

Home fans sang: “Ashes to Ashes, dust to dust, if Lillee doesn’t get ya, Thommo must.”

With a vocal slip cordon lapping up every minute of the barrage, the age of the Australian macho man had arrived.

England were missing two key players, however. Boycott withdrew a month beforehand because “he couldn’t do justice to himself”, although missing out on the captaincy had rankled, and he would not play under Denness. They were also without John Snow, who had been out of favour since colliding with India’s Sunil Gavaskar in the Lord’s Test in 1971.

^{Brian Luckhurst winces after being struck by Jeff Thomson}

Denness chuckled when I said Ray Illingworth had been given the team he wanted in 1970/71. “Dear old Gubby Allen,” said Denness, tongue in cheek. Allen, the quintessential Establishment figure who refused to bowl Leg Theory in 1932/33, remained influential in the MCC, who absurdly still retained a crucial say in England’s selection for overseas series.

“When captains became too powerful, picking their own teams, that’s when they got the sack. Illy had lost to the West Indies in 1973 in this country and I took over for the one-dayers. I wasn’t allowed any say for overseas tours – they pressed the reset button. For the Ashes tour, Allen said, ‘Snow’s unacceptable’. It was very sad.

“We could have done with him, because Bob Willis broke down with knee trouble in Adelaide, although he fought on. Peter Lever became the stock bowler. Mike Hendrick was injured in the third Test and never bowled again on the tour. Geoff Arnold and Chris Old were not as quick, so we could have done with some Snow firepower to combat Lillee and Thomson.”

Fletcher said: “Leaving Snow out over the Gavaskar incident was ridiculous – a load of codswallop. They could have left him out for one Test, but leaving him out of an entire Ashes series because he had nudged into someone was madness. He was still a fine bowler and had one over the Australians from four years earlier. Marsh, the Chappells and Walters much preferred him not to be there!”

Perhaps the flight to Australia should have warned Denness that it would not be a smooth trip. “We travelled British Airways Economy via Beirut,” he said. “We weren’t allowed off the aircraft as it had developed engine problems, and we were eight hours on the ground – there were guns all over the place.

“Then we flew to Hong Kong, and as we left there, the captain asked me to come to the cockpit, and we took off towards land as opposed to over the harbour. At the old airport, you just had the mountains and the skyscrapers. We were in this massive 707 and I thought, ‘We’ll never get above there’. I wish I’d been at the back! It wasn’t the best experience.”

After stopping at Sydney to meet the press, the team flew on to Adelaide. “Alec and myself were driven from the airport to the hotel by Don Bradman,” said Denness. “I’d picked up a bug on the flight and I don’t remember any of the journey, and 24 hours later there was a knock on my door. It was the physio, Bernard Thomas, and he said, ‘What the hell is all this?’ I’d just got into bed, unpacked, and left my clothes on the floor because I felt terrible.”

Australia had changed markedly from the country Bedser toured just after the War. While Britain had just entered the Common Market, Japan had become Australia’s chief trading partner. Affection for the Motherland was diminishing, with Australians encouraged to throw off their British roots.

There was also anti-British sentiment when, in 1975, Prime Minister Gough Whitlam was dismissed by John Kerr, the Governor-General. Many Australians had not realised a British Head of State had the power to dismiss an Australian PM.

^{Australia's slip cordon lies in wait...}

England drew their opening tour games against South Australia and Victoria, and beat New South Wales and Queensland. “It was probably the best start of most England touring sides there, but we hadn’t seen much of Thommo and didn’t know if Lillee would play,” said Denness. Lillee had suffered four stress fractures to three vertebrae during the 1972 Ashes tour, and broke down again in the West Indies in 1972/73. But when he saw the pitch for the first Test at Brisbane, Denness knew conditions were being tailored to suit the hosts’ dynamic duo.

“There was uneven bounce throughout the series,” he said. “The pitches were pretty well prepared by their so-called ‘curators’. Except for Perth, which was lightning quick and true, the others were hard, uneven, grassy, with lots of bounce.

“Thommo, goodness, we’d heard about him enjoying hitting batsmen, and blood [on the pitch].” Indeed, Thomson was quoted as saying: “I enjoy hitting a batsman more than getting him out. I like to see blood on the pitch.” Lillee, meanwhile, had published a book called Back to the Mark, in which he talked about aiming to hit batsmen. No fast bowler had been so explicit in print before.

“Because they became a great partnership, it seemed to lift the whole Aussie team,” said Denness. “They all became more macho.”

Bizarrely, the Brisbane pitch had been prepared by the Lord Mayor of Brisbane, Alderman Clem Jones, after the curator was dismissed 10 days beforehand.

England would not have been too disheartened to restrict Australia to 309 after losing the toss, captain Ian Chappell scoring 90 and Knott making his 200th dismissal in Tests.

Greig dominated England’s reply, hitting an unbeaten 110 out of 265. Lillee was easing his way into the series, but still took two wickets and broke Edrich’s hand, while Thomson made an instant impact, taking three wickets and fracturing Amiss’s thumb.

Australia then made 288 for 5 declared, setting England 333 to win, or six hours and 40 minutes to bat for the draw. The tourists were dismissed for 166, Thomson taking 6 for 46.

“They were eight-ball overs, and against Lillee and Thomson you weren’t getting too many opportunities for runs,” said Denness. “It was never going to be easy, with the uneven bounce. They were never pitching the ball up, and there was no control by the umpires as to what was acceptable and what was not.

^{Dennis Lillee took 25 wickets in the series}

“You might, if you were lucky, get two balls that were possible to score off. You could bat for an hour and look at the board and you were four not out. So we did reasonably well with the scores we got.

“Tony decided he was just going to attack, no matter where the ball was. Australia had Marsh, Greg Chappell, Ian Chappell, Doug Walters, Ashley Mallett and Max Walker in the slips. With Rick McCosker at bat-pad, there were not many fielders in front of the wicket.

“Greigy decided if the ball was up there he would hit it. He loved to stir it up. He hit one over extra-cover and it was halfway to the boundary and he’d turn to the scorer and signal four himself. That didn’t go down well with the bowler, and the Chappells, and it didn’t go down too well with the non-striker who knew he was going to get down that end and cop it!

“Greigy had amazing belief and a very good record – the South Africans couldn’t believe it, they never rated him – but runs, wickets and catches, it was a great all-round performance. You can’t really compare it to today – we were away six months, six Tests in Australia and three in New Zealand, whereas now they play much fewer – you needed stamina to live out of a suitcase that long.”

England were accused of rather foolhardily starting a ‘bouncer war’, as Willis and Lever aimed a few bumpers at the tail-enders. Maybe they wanted to get their retaliation in first.

Sledging also reached a new level, although, noticeably, Thomson did not say a huge amount.

“The quiet ones in the Australia side were Mallett, Walters, Walker and Ross Edwards,” said Denness. “They probably couldn’t get a word in edgeways as all the others were going off the whole time. You had the Chappells, Marsh, Lillee – who else do you need to say anything or wind anybody up?

“Off the field Thommo didn’t say much either. Lillee was fine – we had a beer with him after play, always good company. The batting side would always come into the fielding side’s dressing room after the game for a beer, but a lot of my lads said, ‘I don’t want to drink with them, they’ve been trying to knock my head off’, which I understood. If they didn’t want to socialise I wasn’t going to make them.”

England knew what to expect when they arrived at Perth. “It was the quickest pitch I’d seen,” said Denness. “Two or three bouncers went so high over Marshy’s head, he didn’t even bother moving. We were never going to dominate – we just had to wait until Walker or Mallett came on, and you had the chance of getting some runs.”

^{Max Walker celebrates the wicket of Derek Underwood in the final Test at Melbourne}

Colin Cowdrey, now nearly 42, joined for his sixth tour to Australia (equalling the record of Lancashire’s Johnny Briggs) as cover for Edrich and Amiss, after averaging 38 for Kent the previous summer.

“I asked for Colin,’” said Denness. “I said to the selectors, ‘We need somebody with experience, who is good against quick bowlers.’ And I said: ‘Is it right we look at a youngster? We could ruin him by bringing him here.’ I rang Colin and he said he’d been following it on TV and radio. I said, ‘We need somebody with experience who could open or go in three or four’. He said, ‘I’d love to. I haven't been in cricket practice since the season ended, but I play squash and am quite fit.’ Love was not the word I’d use!

“He’d always try to get out of anything. He was so indecisive at times, although he was a great one for media relations. I saw him binding up his wrist, so I went over and I said, ‘Christ, you’re not injured are you?’ and he said, ‘No, but everyone else seems to have a bandage on, and when I go to the nets the press will probably ask me what it’s all about’.

“Even he struggled against Thommo. He’d faced Wes Hall, Charlie Griffith, Ray Lindwall and Keith Miller, but he was a lot younger then. At 41, on different wickets, it was maybe too much of a tall order. On the other hand I still believe it was right to go for experience.”

Cowdrey endured a nightmare journey out. The Boeing 727 bringing him and several of the players’ wives developed engine trouble and was diverted to Bombay where spare parts had to be found.

He arrived in Australia after nearly 48 hours’ travelling, only to be greeted with the news that Thomson had promised: “Cowdrey is going to cop it as quick as anyone.”

He came in to bat at No.3 in the second Test at Perth, joining debutant David ‘Bumble’ Lloyd, at the crease. Lloyd told Cowdrey: ‘You stay up that end against Walker because it’s all going off down this end.’ Cowdrey described it “as the most generous act I ever knew in cricket.”

Lloyd was left flabbergasted, though, when Cowdrey, after settling in, told him: “This is fun.” He had approached Thomson and shook hands with him. “Good morning, my name’s Cowdrey,” he said. Thomson said: “I shook hands with him. I thought, ‘Good luck if you think that’s going to do you any good.’” Cowdrey put his body on the line, however, grinding out 22 runs from 101 balls as England struggled to 208 all out.

^{Jeff Thomson was the leading wicket-taker in the series}

Australia established a huge lead as Ross Edwards and Walters made centuries in a total of 481. Somehow England avoided an innings defeat, however. Cowdrey opened in the second innings and made 41. But he lost his partner Lloyd who retired hurt on 17 when he was struck in the groin by a delivery from Thomson. “We wore little pink plastic boxes which were totally unsuitable,” said Lloyd. “It cracked open and what I had inside fired through before the box snapped shut again like a guillotine coming down. I lose my voice just thinking about it. There’s retired hurt and then there’s retired hurt.”

He returned to reach 35 but could not prevent a nine-wicket win. Fletcher had noticed a change in the crowds from four years before. “They were more boisterous,” he said. “There was more chanting and noise because they were winning. Australia had become a good side – they hammered everyone for the next five years. It was the quickest bowling I’d encountered from both ends. I’d faced Andy Roberts, Sylvester Clarke and Malcolm Marshall, but you could have a rest facing the other end. This was from both ends on ideal wickets.

“It was difficult unless you took on the hook because four balls an over were short. With no helmets you didn’t want to get it wrong. You’d lose all your teeth!”

Denness had other issues to deal with. “The families came out for Christmas and New Year, but the players paid for that,” he said. “I was called to Lord’s before the tour, and told by Gubby and [MCC secretary] Billy Griffith that they were worried about the number of wives going out. They thought it would be disruptive, so they put in the contract that wives would only be allowed to stay in the same hotel as their husbands for 21 nights. I said if the players are paying, you can’t then say wives have to stay in a different hotel – where do you think the players are going to be? I was told in no uncertain terms, ‘Don’t be so ridiculous, this is going to happen’.

“They got shirty when I told them, ‘I have quite a lot on my plate on this tour, and I hope you’re not expecting me to knock on doors and ask if it’s their wives, or somebody else, in their rooms’. So I said to Bernard, who was in charge of rooming, that as long as the wives don’t interfere with the business of the tour, when the team meets for dinner or whatever, we don’t check up at night. I didn’t want to hear, ‘My wife and I have booked a table for 8pm, or whatever’, but I never had any trouble.”

The third Test at Melbourne started on Boxing Day and for once it was an even contest, with the four totals within six runs of each other. The tourists took a one-run lead in the first innings, Willis taking five wickets to bowl Australia out for 241 after Thomson’s 4 for 72 had reduced England to 242. The tourists then made 244 (Thomson and Mallett taking four wickets each) and Australia, chasing 246, finished on 238 for 8.

“I had the option of taking the new ball in the second innings earlier than I did,” said Denness. “When we did, Marshy smashed Willis all around the park. I had Titmus and Derek Underwood bowling in tandem through the mid-afternoon session, and after about six or seven overs with the new ball I had to bring Underwood back on, almost with a Sunday League field, to Marsh, as otherwise they were going to win easily. Cowdrey said, ‘You must take the new ball, don’t delay, what will you tell the press?’ I said: ‘It’s not about the press, for goodness’ sake, I want to win this Test’.

^{David Lloyd made his Ashes debut in the Perth Test}

Denness led England to victory over Australia in a one-day international in Melbourne, but it did not help them in the next Test at Sydney. Without their captain, England lost by 171 runs.

Australia made 405 (Geoff Arnold taking 5 for 86) and 289 for 4 declared, with England managing only 295 and 228, Mallett (who passed away recently) hastening their demise in the second innings, taking 4 for 21. England nearly escaped, with only 5.3 overs remaining.

Although Lillee took only four wickets in the game, the sight of him bowling left vivid memories. The crowd on the packed Hill chanted ‘Lill...lee, Lill...lee’ as he ran 30 yards to the crease, followed by an expectant hush as he hit his delivery stride.

The Australians particularly enjoyed clinching the series at Sydney, where they had surrendered the Ashes in 1970/71. The attendance for the match was 178,027, a record for the venue.

“We went to congratulate the Australians in their dressing room,” said Denness, “and the usually quiet Dougie Walters kept clicking on a little tape of the song England made [with Brian Johnston] four years ago, ‘We brought the Ashes back home’. I kept telling him to knock it off, but it was all very amiable.”

While Denness had clearly failed to emulate the success of fellow Scot Douglas Jardine 42 years earlier, he at least regained form, making 157 not out against Tasmania and 99 against New South Wales. He recalled himself in place of the injured Edrich for the fifth Test and then put Australia into bat at Adelaide. They struggled to 84 for 5, but recovered to 304, in spite of Underwood’s 7 for 113. Denness then scored a quick 51, but England collapsed to 172, Lillee taking four wickets and Thomson three.

Underwood took another four in the second innings, but Australia made the game safe, declaring on 272 for 5, before bowling England out for 241, despite Knott’s unbeaten 106. It was only the second hundred by a keeper in the 219 Tests between the countries. The first was also by a Kent and England player, Les Ames, who made 120 at Lord’s in 1934.

Lillee had his best Test of the series, taking eight wickets in the match. “It was a slightly different pitch,” said Denness. “It had looked grassy and we thought it was going to be a nightmare, but the Don [Bradman] had a word and it got cut back. Knotty batted well. That was the first time anyone had run Lillee of the face off the bat over Marsh’s head – they had a back-stop.”

There was another drama for Denness after Adelaide. “I had pain in my back,” he said. “Doctors thought I might have three kidneys. I heard people say they might have to operate; well I’m sorry, but if anybody’s going to open me up then I’ll have it done in this country, not when I’m on a cricket tour! Actually, a kidney develops at the end of a tube, and I had an extra tube. The warmer we got, the more severe the pain became. They concluded this tube was infected so they gave me some antibiotics. A couple of weeks later it got better.

“During this time we were staying at the Windsor Hotel in Melbourne. I’d rung home briefly about four times just to tell my family what was happening, so I asked Alec if he could settle the bill. ‘Oh no, MCC won’t allow these, Mike, you’ll have to pay for them yourself,’ he said. That was the world we were in.

“We had a tour fee – I got £3,000 for the whole six months, but Ian Chappell told me for the five Tests he got £5,000. So I said to MCC at Lord’s that we needed to look into the fees, and I was told in no uncertain terms, ‘You play for the love of the game, not what you’re going to get out of it’.”

John Woodcock, cricket correspondent of The Times, wrote: “Alec would be up at six o’clock in the morning, going through the books and working out how many oysters the team had consumed the night before.”

Denness at least ended the series with something to savour in the sixth Test at Melbourne. Australia were bowled out for 152, Lever taking 6 for 38, before Dennis contributed his highest first-class score, 188, in England’s 529, also boosted by Fletcher’s 146. In the absence of Lillee and Thomson, Walker toiled for a Test-best 8 for 143, including a spell of 4 for 5.

Despite Greg Chappell’s 102, Australia could manage only 373 in their second innings, and England won by an innings and four runs.

“The thing that shone through was that however much the media said it was because the Aussies had eased off, we showed a lot of courage,” Denness said. “Albeit Thomson wasn’t playing and Lillee broke down after six overs with a bruised foot – we still showed character.” Fletcher admitted, though: “It was a totally different game without Lillee and Thomson.”

It was a chastening trip for England. Of four selectors, only Bedser was retained for the following English season, while Denness relinquished the captaincy – and his place – after the first Test against Australia at Edgbaston. After winning the toss he mistakenly put Australia in. They made 359, and England were dismissed cheaply twice by Lillee, Thomson and Walker on a rain-affected pitch.

Greig took over and impressed with his leadership, but Australia retained the Ashes, winning the series 1-0.

“In my last five Test innings I averaged 109,” Denness said. “I was only 34 and could have carried on as a player for a couple of years but in those days no captain stayed on.’

Australia may have been cock-a-hoop at the time, but little did they know of the trouble just around corner. There had been a warning, during the 1974/75 series, when media tycoon Kerry Packer approached the Australian Cricket Board to inquire about obtaining the television rights for his station, Channel Nine. Furious at being rejected, he founded World Series Cricket, with many of the world’s leading players quitting their international sides to join his revolution. It left Australia seriously short of talent in 1978/79, the next time the Ashes were contested down under.

RELATED STORIES

Ashes Chronicles - Part 1: The hastily arranged tour of 1946/47

Ashes Chronicles – Part 2: Bedser carries struggling England as Close has a nightmare in 1950/51

Ashes Chronicles – Part 3: Typhoon Tyson blows Australia away in 1954/55

Ashes Chronicles – Part 4: England find series a drag in 1958/59

Ashes Chronicles – Part 5: Illy blasts ‘The Sussex Tour’ – 1962/63

Ashes Chronicles – Part 6: Air travel spooks England in 1965/66

Ashes Chronicles – Part 7: Illingworth shows bottle at Sydney in 1970/71

 

Subscribe to The Cricketer for exclusive content every day: The inside track on England's Test tour with George Dobell in Pakistan, award-winning analysis, breaking news and interviews and the only place for in-depth county coverage all year round. Plus: An ad-free app experience at your fingertips. Subscribe to thecricketer.com today for just £1.