The First Ball After Lunch
by John Benaud
lan Chappell’s 1973 tour to the West Indies is largely forgotten. Which is surprising, because the leading players, a bunch of ‘desperates’ — they were rebels of remarkable resilience, but restless — would impact the game of cricket in such a revolutionary way that ‘unforgettable’ should be the descriptor. The First Ball After Lunch is a diary of the tour and subsequent events and moments of record that were to influence the game, its players, and fans in ways never thought possible. Fifty years on, the question is: were those radical changes— fatter wallets, white balls, night games, T20-good for cricket or not so good?
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John Benaud, brother of Richie, enjoyed club cricket for Cumberland, Randwick and Penrith, and Stanmore CC in London. Played Sheffield Shield for New South Wales, and Tests for Australia. He was an Australian selector 1989-93, and a former chairman of selectors in New South Wales. He is a journalist by profession, former editor of The Sun, Sydney. Author of Matters of Choice, A Test Selector’s Story; Ziko, The Spinner from Hell; assisted with other titles, notably The Kid from Coraki. He was a cricket columnist for Sydney’s Sun-Herald and London’s Sunday Independent.