No one told Ian Meckiff he was walking into what amounted to a premeditated ambush in the 1963 Gabba Test against South Africa.
One of the great misnomers of Australian cricket is that there was much in the way of “mystery” to the no balling of Ian Meckiff by Colin Egar for throwing during the Test match against South Africa at the Gabba in 1963.
And yet they did not do so without considerable background briefing that throwing had become the foremost ill in the game. Before the summer, Bradman lectured umpires in South Australia, of which Egar was the most senior, about the problem of illegal bowling actions. State cricketers were also present.
English cricket officials, with whom Bradman corresponded regularly and voluminously over his 40 years at the head of Australian cricket’s administration, were watching the 1963-64 season closely, as the team led by Benaud but then Bob Simpson were to be touring England in the northern summer.In truth, Bradman’s attitude had been largely influenced by exchanges of views with English administrators, including his former opponent “Gubby” Allen, and the MCC’s president Harry Altham.
Egar then began a rise to positions on the boards of the South Australian Cricket Association, the ACB, and ultimately the exalted post of chairman from 1989 to 1992. He was also team manager on the ugly tour of Pakistan in 1988, where Egar was as much a participant in the ill-feeling about umpiring decisions as any of the players.
But it is overly kind to the figures arrayed around Meckiff, if not outright disingenuous, to suggest there is “mystery” about how and why he was so ingloriously marched out of the game in 1963. Had Meckiff been given the explicit advice that those searching for an answer to the supposed riddle have always sought, then the whole ugly spectacle at the Gabba would never have happened.