Murray Chapple served cricket in many roles

Press, 7 August 1985, Page 31

Murray Chapple served cricket in many roles

By

R. T. BRITTENDEN

Career records show that Murray Chapple was one of the most gifted New Zealland cricketers of his time. The gathering of test players and administrators from all over the country at his funeral last week was some measure of the respect in which he was held. As a player, a captain and an administrator, his judgement was razor-sharp, and he was regarded as having the best cricket brain in New Zealand in his time. New Zealand cricket suffered a very severe blow with his loss. After his successful first-class career ended in 1966 he became involved in the running of cricket, and from 1969 was a member of the Board of Control. He had been manager of New Zealand teams in the West Indies — where he played another first-class match in 1972 — and Pakistan, and was to have taken the team to England next year. Moreover, he was a very strong candidate to take over the chairmanship of the board on the retirement of Bob Vance. A very good tennis player at Cathedral Grammer School — he was a Canterbury junior champion — and briefly a senior hockey player for University, Mr Chapple always had cricket at the top of his sports priorities and he made his first appearance for Canterbury when he was only 19. He was then a very promising right-hand batsman and a left-arm swing bowler. He made 40 in his first innings, against Auckland in 1949-50, and opened the bowling. Mr Chapple played for Central Districts in 1950-51

and was in the team which beat Wellington by one wicket. The match had, it seemed, ended in a tie with the fall of the last Central Districts wicket but then it was found that a no-ball had been overlooked. The comings and goings among players, umpires and scorers before a decision was reached no doubt ap-

pealed to Mr Chapple’s keen sense of humour. Mr Chapple was back with Canterbury in 1952-53 and he had perhaps his finest hour when the province played the touring South Africans. Mr Chapple opened for the first time in top cricket and scored 165 with typically aggressive batting based on a wide

range of strokes. With Matt Poore he scored 125 for the second wicket, 86 with Des Moynihan for the third, 41 with Zin Harris for the fourth. He batted 286 minutes, hit 25 fours and a six, and made his last 65 in only 83 minutes. Mr Chapple scored an equally impressive 88 in the second innings, and these performances took him into the second test team, and on the subsequent tour of South Africa. He was 22 when he won his first test cap. He had some excellent performances in South Africa, including an innings of 71 when he shared an opening stand of 128 with Bert Sutcliffe in the first match of the tour, and 76 in the third test. There was a two-day match against North-east Transvaal in which he scored 213, New Zealand making 291 without loss, although Sutcliffe had been forced to retire with cramp. In the summer which followed, Mr Chapple had more than his fair measure of success. In 1956 he was in the New Zealand team which won a test match for the first time, and in 1957-58 he became captain of Canterbury. Any regrets he might have had at not winning a place in the 1958 team in England were probably forgotten as the side limped through that wet and unrewarding trip. In 1959-60 he led Canterbury to victory in the Plunket shield competition, and he had a personal average of 54.3. The following

season his side finished only two points behind Wellington and in 1961-62 he was in South Africa again, he and John Reid being the only survivors of the first team eight years earlier. Mr Chapple was in the side which won the third test and levelled the series. In 1962-63 Mr Chapple was back with Central Districts and in 1964-65 he led that team splendidly; it lost the competition to Canterbury by a single point. Mr Chapple captained New Zealand against England at Lancaster Park in 1965-66, but had to withdraw from the following matches through injury. Mr Chapple was a New Zealand selector from 196566 to 1969-70. In his first-class career Mr Chapple scored 5344 runs at 28.9, including four centuries. It did not take him long, with his acute judgment, to revert from swing bowling to left-arm spin, and in all he had 142 wickets at 25 runs each. Mr Chapple was a powerful asset to the Lancaster Park club for 13 seasons, scoring 4821 runs at 42.7, with 13 centuries, and taking 237 wickets at 15.1, with five in an innings 10 times, 10 in a match once. Mr Chapple’s runs and wickets will be lines in the record books in the future. But he will be long remembered, also, for his skills as a captain, his delight in the game and its players, his sharp sense of humour, and his warm personality.