Ashley Mallett - Tour of India

Tour of India

In Australia's 1969–70 tour to India, Mallett took 28 wickets and was an instrumental component of Australia's last Test series victory there for 35 years.

During a stopover in Ceylon, he took 4/63 in a drawn match against Sri Lanka, but did not have immediate success after arriving in India. In the drawn warm-up match against West Zone, he took only 1/85. In the First Test in Bombay, he took 0/43 in the first innings, before removing wicket-keeper Farokh Engineer and tail-ender Erapalli Prasanna and ending with 2/22 in the second innings as Australia won by eight wickets. Mallett then hit form, taking 3/42 and 7/38 to orchestrate an innings win over Central Zone. In the Second Test in Kanpur, Mallett bowled 87.5 overs, 43 of them maidens in an attritional drawn match. He took 3/58 in the first innings and 1/62 in the second innings, removing the top-scorer Gundappa Viswanath for 137.

On a dry, crumbling, turning pitch at the Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi, the hosts levelled the series. After Australia had made 296, Mallett took 6/64 to secure a 73-run lead.

However, Australia were then bowled out for only 107 and the home team made 3/181 to win the match. Mallett took 2/60 and bowled 61.3 overs for the match.

Ahead of the next Test, Mallett took 5/37 and 1/37 as Lawry's men defeated East Zone by 96 runs.

Immediately after the tour of India, the Australians headed to South Africa for four more Tests. Mallett took a total of 10/263 in two warm-up matches and retained his place in the Test team.

The hosts batted first in the First Test at Newlands in Cape Town on a hard pitch not conducive to spin bowling, and made 382, but Mallett still managed to take 5/126, the leading bowling figures for the innings. In the second innings, he took 1/79 and Australia lost by 170 runs.

Despite this performance, Mallett was immediately dropped for the remaining three Tests. He took 4/110 and 4/89 in the next tour match against Border, but was ignored for the Third and Fourth Tests. In the meantime, Australia lost the last three Tests by an innings and 129 runs, 307 runs and 323 runs respectively, the heaviest series defeat in Australian Test history. Mallett ended the tour with 33 wickets at 33.09 and 61 runs at 12.20.

As Mallett sought to reclaim his Test spot at the start of the 1970–71 Australian season, he was in better form with the bat than the ball. In his opening first-class match of the season, against Western Australia, he made his first-class best of 92, but only totalled 2/179 in a drawn match. In the following match against Ray Illingworth's touring England team, he scored 28 but only managed an aggregate of 1/165 with the ball. Mallett then made the second and last half-century of his career, making 76 and totalling 3/25 against Victoria. In his last match before the First Test, Mallett only took 2/80 and he was not included in the national team.

After the Second Test, Mallett found form with the ball, taking 4/59 and 3/61 against England for South Australia, adding an unbeaten 42 with the bat. He followed this with 3/22 and 3/49 in an innings win over Queensland, and was called into the team for the Third Test. Due to persistent rain, the match was abandoned and the inaugural one-day international was scheduled in its place at the MCG.

Mallett had not been in good form in this new format of cricket; in two matches earlier in the season, he had conceded 82 runs from his 10 overs, approximately twice the high as the average of that era.

Despite his poor track record, Mallett took 3/34 from eight overs, removing Edrich, Keith Fletcher and John Hampshire as England were dismissed for 190. Australia went on to complete a five-wicket victory.

Mallett took 4/40 and 2/85 in the Fourth Test at Sydney in the 1970-71 Ashes series, but Australia lost by 299 runs to go down 1–0 down and he was dropped immediately after the Test.

He was brought back for the Sixth Test, his first at the Adelaide Oval. He scored 28 and totalled 0/63 as the match ended in a draw, leaving Australia needing a win in the final Test to retain the Ashes.

The selectors responded by sacking Lawry and several other players, including Mallett.

Mallett returned to South Australia as his state proceeded to the Sheffield Shield title, although he only took one wicket in the last two matches.

In his most successful season with the bat, Mallett scored 374 runs at 28.76.

Returning to the Shield competition, Mallett performed consistently, with 54 and 62 wickets at an average of 19 in the 1971–72 and 1972–73 seasons allowing him a Test recall. In his earlier years, Mallet bowled with a high arm action, curving the ball away from the right-hander before breaking it inwards. He took 8/59 on his home ground in Adelaide against Pakistan in 1972–73 but missed the subsequent tour to the West Indies. Although Mallett was immediately playing Tests in the following season, reaching his 100 wicket milestone in his 23rd Test, he was subsequently used in a defensive capacity from the mid 1970s onwards. Keeping one end tight while Jeff Thomson and Dennis Lillee attacked the opposition with pace from the other, he only managed 32 wickets in his last 15 Tests. As the end of his career approached, he was plagued by arthritis, leading to a lower bowling action which curtailed his effectiveness. His last Test was at The Oval in 1980.