by Arunabha Sengupta
He was tall, myopic, often silent for long periods, and sometimes comically uncoordinated. At the Poona Turf Club, for instance, he started a frame of billiards, took careful aim with his cue, and then tore an agonising zigzag straight through the felt.
Among the ugly Australians of the 1970s, he looked, according to Gideon Haigh, like a bookkeeper at bikers’ convention.
Perhaps that is why Kerry Packer was lukewarm towards him. In spite of Ian Chappell’s insistence, the tycoon insisted that the off-spinner would have to bowl at Packer himself and would get a contract only if he impressed him.
However, with his height and deft use of whatever breeze was available, Ashley Mallett bowled better off-spin than anyone in Australia since Hugh Trumble. The country, with the hard wickets, produced champion leg spinners as if on a production line, but did not quite manage too many finger spinners. Ashley Mallett was an exception.
In India in the 1969-70 series, even as he massacred billiard tables, he captured 28 wickets at 19.10, bowling maiden after frustrating maiden and managing an economy rate of 1.79. In the same series Prasanna managed 26 wickets at 25.84 with an economy of 2.27. Venkat 12 at 26.66 with economy 2.02. Australia won the series 3-1.
In other words, in that series Mallett’s off-spin and McKenzie’s pace upstaged Bedi, Prasanna and Venkat on the turning wickets of India. Strange that Bill Lawry did not regard him too highly.
Mallett had moved to Adelaide from Perth to learn the tricks of the trade from Clarrie Grimmett. And he idolised him. A bit too much perhaps, as can be made out from the frequency with which he went overboard while penning Grimmett’s biography.
Yes, he could write decent prose. A quiet one among the boisterous brigade of Australians of that era, he was introspective. So silent that he was nicknamed ‘Rowdy’. He also wrote Ian Chappell’s ‘as told to’ autobiography, a volume on Trumper, two autobiographies and a fairly decent account of the 1868 Aboriginal Tour of England titled Black Lords of Summer.
And in spite of his quiet nature, he became the humourist of the side.
But Mallett was primarily the premier off-spinner of the world during the heydays of the vaunted Indian spin quartet and the second half of the career of Lance Gibbs. His 8 for 59 against Pakistan at Adelaide 1972 remains the best effort in Australia by a finger spinner. And while Lillee and Thomson struck terror into the hearts of Englishmen during the 1974-75 season, with Max Walker the third prong of the pace trident, Mallett’s 17 wickets at 19.94 was second in the bowling charts and underscored his value to the unit.
And apart from bowling off-break, Mallett was a superb fielder at gully, in spite of his apparent lack of coordination.
Packer finally offered him a contract without going through his threat of padding up and taking him on. After all, by then Mallett had 125 Test wickets at 27.95 and was acknowledged to be a master of his craft.
He needed the contract, because in spite of his success the selectors and captains of a side thriving on aggression often did not understand the worth of a gentle, wily tweaker.
Ashley Mallett played three more Tests after the Packer era, and finished with 132 wickets.
He was born on 13 July 1945.