Peter Toohey’s Test career fizzled out after starting with a bang. Kalyanbrata Bhattacharya looks back at his curious career.
The chasm in the cricket world
1977 was a year which rocked the cricket world. One Mr. Kerry Packer from Australia, a media tycoon, had been in the hunt for promoting World Series Cricket and broadcasting through his own Television Channel Nine. Alongside was the promise that the players would be paid handsomely.
The all-powerful mandarins of Australian cricket administration were not ready for this disturbing quasi-revolutionary sounding idea which could throw traditional cricket into wilderness. Understandably they were averse to any sort of negotiation.
Packer, with his wealth and connections, revolted against the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Packer supposedly posed a question to the members of the Australian Cricket Control Board, ‘There is a little bit of the whore in all of us, gentlemen. What is your price’? An imminent clash was looming large in the cricketing firmament.
Nonetheless, the lure of the dividends, and in the words of Clive Lloyd in his autobiography Living for Cricket, ‘the whooping sum’ was simply irresistible at a time when international cricketers were paid a meager remuneration which often made their lives difficult. They often had to take recourse to menial jobs, dignified or otherwise, in order to feed their family.
Richie Benaud, indubitably one of the most revered personalities in the game for more than one reason, along with the esteemed duo of Tony Greig and Asif Iqbal, felt that the mere pittance for Test cricketers could be addressed in a more respectable manner if this move came into operation. The Australian Cricket Board, including Sir Donald Bradman, in their traditional and antiquated frame of mind, felt that it was quite an anathema, a blasphemy, to traditional cricket. They thoroughly disapproved of it, declaring that anybody connected with Kerry Packer’s temptations would be debarred from representing the official Australian cricket team.
Much to the dismay of the international cricket fraternity, most of the players from all the countries welcomed preferred to join Packer’s team. This exodus led to the depletion of quality cricketers from most of the countries.
It is rumoured, though not unequivocally proven, that Sunil Gavaskar, Bishen Singh Bedi and Syed Kirmani from India, were tapped but they were reluctant to join Packer’s adventure.
The whole show was dubbed ‘Pyjama Cricket’, a term coined by the eminent critic Christopher Martin Jenkins. Except Jeff Thomson and Alvin Kallicharan, virtually all the notable cricketers of Australia and West Indies were playing for Packer’s project. Day and night cricket was introduced, as was the white ball, coloured clothing, black sightscreen. Limited overs cricket, though already an established mode of play, started getting firmer roots. That was the time when the Australian and the West Indian cricket teams had virtually been ruling the cricket world.
The traditional Tests continue
In this backdrop, an Indian cricket team led by Bishen Singh Bedi arrived in Australia in 1977-78. In the absence of quality contemporary cricketers, the Australian Cricket Board was left with Hobson’s choice of summoning the 41-year old Bobby Simpson from obscurity to lead the side. Simpson had played his last Test match in 1968 at Sydney against the Pataudi-led India. As many as six newcomers, Paul Hibbert, David Ogilvie, Tony Mann, Steve Rixon, Wayne Clark and Peter Toohey participated in the first Test match at Brisbane. Only Simpson himself, Gary Cosier, Jeff Thompson, Craig Sergeant, and Alan Hurst had played for Australia earlier.
Thus, Simpson was leading a thoroughly inexperienced bunch of cricketers against a vastly experienced Indian team. Toohey did well for his native state New South Wales in the match against India, scoring 64 and 31, and his talents were recognised immediately. Initially he was chosen as the 12th man for the first Test but with just an hour to go, Simpson told him that he was included. Toohey later remarked, ‘It was good, I didn't have much chance to get nervous.’
Much to everybody’s surprise, Australia won the first two Test matches and Toohey played the pivotal role on both occasions. He played in the middle order, and coming out to bat at a dismal 49 for 5, scored 82 in a total of 166 at Brisbane in his debut innings. This was followed by 83 out of 346 at Perth, when he shared a match-winning partnership with Tony Mann. Mann, the night watchman, scored 105 runs (only the second ever century by a night watchman in Test cricket after Nasim-ul-Ghani of Pakistan against England at Lord’s in 1962). Toohey followed it up with 85 in the 4th Test match at Sydney. He was cruising almost inevitably towards his maiden century when an incredible running catch by 12th man Madan Lal ended his innings. He had hooked a Karsan Ghavri bouncer when Madan Lal ran from long leg to deep square-leg and held on to the catch diving on the boundary.
Toohey finished the series in style with 60 in the 5th Test match at Adelaide as Australia won the series by 3-2. Thus Toohey was the fundamental architect in this apparently upsetting outcome and many experts saw a touch of Doug Walters about his batting. It seemed that Australia had unearthed a batsman of rare class, though unlike Walters he relied on precise timing rather than brute power.
The hits and misses
Born in 1954, Toohey was influenced by his father and uncle. He grew from strength to strength, particularly between 1968 to 1971, and was selected for Western Districts to visit New Zealand along with his brothers, David and Mark.
He played for Western Suburbs under the leadership of Bobby Simpson in 1972 and made the State team the very next season. In 1974-75, he was selected to play in the Sheffield Shield.
After the successful season against India in 1977-78 , he was an automatic choice for the tour to the West Indies where Simpson led again. Disaster struck in the first Test at Trinidad when he was struck by Andy Roberts resulting in a broken thumb.
More calamity was to follow after resumption of his innings when he was hit between his eyebrows by a bouncer, again from Roberts. He collapsed, the bat and the baggy green lying by his side, and Gary Cosier from the other end rushed towards him. Toohey covered his face with a handkerchief and blood started trickling down his nose and lips. Viv Richards raised an arm towards the pavilion asking for the stretcher and Roberts rushed towards him to assess the magnitude of the injury as did Clive Lloyd, Gordon Greenidge and Alvin Kallicharan. He was still conscious and the injury was stitched.
In tragic coincidence, Carl Rackemann, the Brisbane fast bowler, hit him precisely at the same spot in a Sheffield Shield match next year, which required further thirteen stitches. He still bears the mark of injury on his forehead. Toohey later said, ‘It was a nasty injury and it probably affected how I played in future years because I was always wary of short balls.’ Yet, he returned magnificently in the final Test at Kingston, with 122 and 97, narrowly missing the distinction of being the first Australian batsman to score two centuries in the same Test match in West Indies.
A taste of The Ashes
A few months later in 1978-79, an English team led by Mike Brearley toured Australia to play a six Test match series. Australia was under their new captain Graham Yallop, another cricketer who preferred to stay away from the Packer’s enterprise.
The home team was humiliated 5-1. Chinks were beginning to show up in Toohey’s technique and his form hit a new low. His string of scores in 5 test matches, 1,1, 81 not out, 0, 32,20, 1,5,8,0 was shocking and was the portent of things to come. The series will be remembered for the emergence of the Australian fast bowlers Rodney Hogg, who bagged a record 41 wickets in his debut series.
That was the time when the World Series cricketers who defected were summoned and recruited to play for their country again and Toohey found it hard to retain his place among the luminaries. He played in two more Test matches, his final Test match being against the West Indies at Melbourne in December 1979.
Thus he finished his 2-year career of paroxysms of brilliance with a rather indifferent 10 and 7. Around this time he was offered a place in the World Series Cricket but refused. ‘I was better off staying where I was,’ he recalled Some experts felt that his stance at the crease was too rigid which almost locked his knees and hindered his mobility. Thus, what seemed to be shaping into a fine career was tragically cut short and Toohey announced his retirement at the tender age of 30.
The Riot
Incidentally, Toohey had been witness to the much talked-about incident in the match at Kingston, where he played the best two innings of his life. Apart from his 122 and 97, Graeme Wood scored 90 and the Australians had reason to feel that they would the winners.
The Jamaican crowd was well known for their volatility and interrupting the match at the slightest provocation. In 1953-54, when Len Hutton led England to the West Indies, local boy Jack Holt, making his debut, and was adjudged leg before wicket by umpire Perry Burke to a Brian Statham off-cutter at his score of 94. In utter disgust, Holt had flicked off the bails and all hell had broken loose. The aggrieved Jamaican spectators, sozzled by heavy doses of their native drink, hurled empty bottles, beer cans or whatever missiles they could find and attacked the umpire’s family. The match came to a temporary halt and could be resumed only after assurance from the West Indian authorities, and Hutton was not particularly appeased.
Later, during the 1967-68 Test match against the visiting England side, Basil Butcher was caught behind by Jim Parks off the bowling of Basil D’Oliveira. Even before the umpire’s verdict, Butcher had started his walk back to the pavilion. West Indies were in a perilous state and before David Holford could join skipper Garfield Sobers in the middle, bottles and food were thrown into the ground. John Snow, the England fast bowler, Colin Cowdrey the England skipper and Sobers tried to placate the incensed crowd but it was to no effect. Hurling of rubbish continued unabated till the police arrived with batons and tear-gas. The match came to a halt temporarily and the lost time of 70 minutes were added to the last day’s play. The Test finally it ended in a sensational draw, England saving the match by the skin of their teeth.
In 1975-76, when India visited the West Indies, the Jamaica Test saw as many as five Indian batmen injured when Michael Holding bowled at his fastest from round the wicket. Sunil Gavaskar was highly critical of the crowd in his autobiography Sunny Days, observing that they had been baying for his blood and had been shouting, ‘Kill him Maan!’.
Toohey himself wrote an account of his experience in Jamaica in an article, Rumble in Jamaica. On the final day of the Test match the West Indies were set to score 367 for victory and were soon reeling at less than 100 for 5. Alvin Kallicharan, the West Indian skipper refused to baulk as Bruce Yardley and Jim Higgs, the Australian spinners toiled hard. Finally Higgs dismissed Kallicharan when they were still more than 100 runs away with only two wickets in hand.
Vanburn Holder was soon caught behind the stumps of his glove, and started walking off without any sign of dissent. But, more out of disgust at himself, he pulled off his gloves and snapped them against his hip. The crowd judged it as his reaction to a questionable decision. As usual, bottles of beer and rum, and broken chairs were pelted onto the ground. Some of the missiles even reached the middle.
Police arrived after 40 minutes and the cricketers were escorted to the pavilion when suddenly they were startled at the sound of gunfire. It was mostly water bullet but with a liberal sprinkle of real ones, mainly because the spectators had been setting th stands on fire. The cricketers needed an armed escort back to the hotel.
Quite justifiably, Simpson strongly urged for one more day to play in order to win the match but the West Indian Cricket board were not willing. Of the umpires, Wesley Malcolm agreed while Ralph Gosein and a third umpire John Gayle were reluctant. And thus Toohey with his magnificent batting took Australia so close to win and yet had to settle for a draw.
Final analysis
In 15 Tests, Toohey scored 893 runs at an average of 31.89, with only one hundred and 7 fifties. He was dismissed thrice in the 80s in his debut series and once remained unbeaten on 81. In first-class cricket he managed 5,735 runs in 94 matches at 37.98, with 12 hundreds. The somewhat indifferent statistical details hardly do justice to the way he started off. Indeed, he is one cricketer whose career stumbled somewhere, and that too very early in his life, the near-fatal injury on his forehead possibly resulting in a sort of mental block.
Thus he remains a paradox who began with a bang but in quite an inexplicable manner, ended in a whimper.
Later, Toohey served as a selector for New South Wales for three years and takes pride in selecting Mark Taylor, Steve Waugh and Mark Waugh during his tenure.