Ashley Mallett, my courageous, brilliant teammate!

After a long battle with cancer Ashley lsquoRowdyrsquo Mallett died aged 76 that brought to an end the successful cricket and writing career of a beloved teammateIt wouldnrsquot have surprised me if Irsquod received this horrible news following Rowdy suffering a bad fall He might just have been the clumsiest man ever to take a hundred Test wickets and a slew of blinding catches in the gully We were never quite sure about the extent of Rowdyrsquos clumsiness as many of his stumbles seemed designed to provide a laugh in the dressing roomHis clumsiness knew no bounds but probably reached itrsquos zenith in the second of three ODIrsquos at Lordrsquos in 1972 Mallett had bowled brilliantly in the first session as he completed the last over before lunch In addition to taking the valuable wicket of opener Dennis Amiss hersquod been especially miserlyThe final delivery was played sedately into the covers and knowing it was lunch along with everyone else bar Mallett Englishman Jack Hampshire tucked the bat under his arm and began to walk towards the pavilion Sensing a run out opportunity Rowdy moved quickly to the offside to retrieve the ball but instead trod on it and twisted his ankle Having been convinced by his teammates that Hampshire was only leaving his crease for the lunch break he then picked up the ball and obligingly returned it to the umpireThere was only one problem the stumps were between Rowdy and the umpire and he flattened all three leg middle and off This episode brought the house down as did his performance in that match 224 off eleven overs and a blinding catch at midon to get rid of the always dangerous Alan KnottHow good was Ashley Mallett as an offspinner He reached 100 wickets in exactly the same number of Tests 23 as Shane Warne I regard Erapalli Prasanna as the best offspinner I played against and in India in 1969 Rowdy matched him by taking 28 wickets to the Indianrsquos 26 in the fiveTest seriesIn 1977 when World Series Cricket WSC was being planned Kerry Packer told me ldquoIrsquom not giving that adjectival straightbreaker a contractrdquo when I asked for Mallett to be included in the playing list A few weeks later we were having dinner in Leeds with a few of the English players who had signed for WSC Packer had reluctantly signed Mallett and wanted an assurance his investment was viable He asked Alan Knott his opinion of Mallettrsquos bowling and when the keeper gave a glowing report he accused me of prompting the EnglishmanMallett was the best Australian offspinner Irsquove seen in addition to being a brilliant gully fielder He could also be a useful lowerorder batsman and once smote Jeff Thomson for four with a perfectly executed coverdrive He didnrsquot move as he admired the shot and when I asked him afterwards why he hadnrsquot run he replied ldquoIrsquove always wanted to just stand at the crease after hitting a boundaryrdquoHe was also a courageous cricketer As an offspinner he was often on the receiving end of a bouncer barrage and one such delivery from Dennis Lillee broke his hand during a Sheffield Shield encounter at the WACA groundAs we chased a target of 291 in the second innings I told Mallett he would bat at 11 and only then if we needed just a handful of runs When the eighth wicket fell with 17 still needed he raced out the door ahead of Wayne Prior to face the bowling of LilleeAlong with rsquokeeper Mike Hendricks Mallett completed the victory but not before hersquod toeended a cut shot from Lillee which must have jarred his injured hand terribly By the time he reached the dressing room his hand was shaking uncontrollably I thanked Rowdy for what hersquod done for the team and added ldquoBut yoursquore a bloody idiot going in to bat like thatrdquoHe simply replied ldquoI couldnrsquot let Wayne a confirmed number eleven go in to face LilleerdquoMallett had best Test figures of 859 in bowling Australia to victory over Pakistan at the Adelaide Oval in 197273 His last Test wicket was David Gower at the 1980 Centenary Test at LordrsquosAfter retirement his journalistic career flourished and he published numerous books and articles with a preference for writing on spin bowling His book on the legendary legspinner Clarrie Grimmett who gave Ashley some worthwhile advice when he was a budding offspinner was a labour of loveHersquod recently just completed a wellwritten and researched book on Australian champion batsman Neil Harvey the last of the 1948 InvinciblesIn addition to his writing he regularly conducted sessions on spin bowling many of them with his mate and fellow tweaker Terry Jenner In recent years hersquod remarried and was as happy as Irsquod seen him in a long time with his soulmate PatsySadly this loving relationship was cut short but Rowdy will be remembered as a fine bowler a valued teammate and a softspoken but witty human being