Underarm incident relived Down Under

Twenty one years have gone by yet few seem to forget the incident. Greg Chappell, Trevor Chappell and Brian McKechnie, the protagonists — or you may call them hero, villain and sidekick in whichever order you may think is right — of the underarm incident, have tried to get over it. They could not.

The public, media and the cricket fraternity have not let them get over it. The three realised this for one more time in Brisbane on Wednesday. It was a rare union of the troika. You may call it a rare reunion.

“I’ve realised I can’t get over it,” Trevor Chappell admitted to DNA on his return to Sydney home after attending the commemoration of that February 1, 1981 incident. “I’ve realised the futility of brooding over it. I’ve to flow with the river,” the younger Chappell, who obliged his skipper and brother Greg to bowl underarm when New Zealand needed six runs off the last ball of the Benson and Hedges tri-series final in Melbourne.

The event in the Capital of Queensland, had nothing to do with Cricket Australia or Cricket Queensland or Cricket New Zealand. It was a private function — held over a lunch, marking the beginning of the Test series between Australia and New Zealand — and attracted nearly 1,000 guests among who were the who’s who of Australia cricket.