Ian Chappell has drawn the curtains on a cricket writing career that spanned more than half a century.
The former Australia captain and legendary commentator will no longer be witing on cricket, penning his “last column” in ESPNcricinfo on February 23, 2025. He had earned a reputation for being forthright in his views, at times dividing opinions.
To explain the timing of his retirement, Chappell, 81 years old, recollected a conversation with Richie Benaud, another former Australian captain and legendary commentator. When he had asked Benaud whether deciding to retire was difficult, Benaud responded with "no Ian, it’s easy: you’ll know the right time”.
“Always astute, Benaud was correct,” wrote Chappell. “Retirement from journalism is similar to cricket – I knew the time was right.”
Chappell, one of Australia's greatest cricketers, had been appointed Test captain when Bill Lawry was sacked unceremoniously during the 1970-71 Ashes. He got his first writing assignment soon after that, in 1973, Eric Beecher organised a meeting with Graham Perkin, the editor of the Age. Perkin contracted Chappell to write for the newspaper.
During their first meeting, Perkin had asked Chappell whether he needed a ghost writer. Chappell wanted to write himself for six weeks, and left Perkin to judge his columns. “I never heard from Perkin, so consequently, writing has been all my own work,” he added.
“I wrote my first column in long-hand and then typed it up,” reminisced Chappell. “Afterwards I thought ‘that’s wasting a lot of time,’ so I dispensed with the long-hand writing. Someone laughingly likened my typing skills to the ‘eagle method’: ‘You search and swoop’.”
He had switched to a computer around 40 years ago: “The improvement over using a typewriter is mainly the ease of being able to cut and paste. It's a big advance on having to discard, then rewrite copy paper.”
Speaking of his “pleasures from writing,” Chappell mentioned “Sachin Tendulkar combating Shane Warne in Chennai” along with the other highlights – “the genius of Brian Lara, Ricky Ponting's aggression, and VVS Laxman's classic 281 in Kolkata”.
Of his several books, Chappell had “most satisfaction” from writing the last one, Chappelli: Life, Larrikins and Cricket.
