Yallop, Graham Neil

Thrust into the role of Australia's Test captain in 1978-79 when the cream of the country's talent had defected to the one-day circus, Graham Yallop certainly did his best to lead by example and hit a century in the first Test and sixth Test. He alone could not carry an undermanned, inexperienced team and Australia lost the series to England 5-1. Captaining Australia was just one of Yallop's achievements. Scoring his many runs so stylishly was another.

Graham Neil Yallop was born at Balwyn, an eastern suburb of Melbourne, on October 7, 1952 and educated at nearby Carey Grammar School. He graduated from the Richmond club to the Victorian team, making his debut at Christmas 1972 against the old foe New South Wales. In his first innings the left-hander showed promise with 55 in 84 minutes, including nine 4s. He played three times for the state in his initial season but could not get beyond 12th man in 1973-74.

Yallop became a permanent member of the Victorian team in 1974-75, making his first century late in the season when he hit 100 not out against South Australia in Melbourne. His Test debut came in the fourth match of the series against the West Indies the next season and his first Test century was a hand of 121 against India in the fifth Test in 1977-78.

The game of cricket at first-class level was changed forever in 1977 when big money was offered to players by media tycoon Kerry Packer to play in a series of one-day "Super Tests". By playing in these matches they disqualified themselves from Test and Sheffield Shield games. One cannot blame the players for accepting the money because they were not adequately remunerated for their services in first-class games, especially at state level. The mass exodus of leading players ripped a big hole in the Test fabric and for a time it seemed Australian first-class cricket was doomed as far as spectators were concerned.

Former Australian captain Bob Simpson was persuaded to come out of retirement at 41 to lead his country against India in Australia in 1977-78 and in the West Indies in 1978. But there was a limit to how long Simpson could endure at his age and he returned to retirement after the West Indies tour. A new captain was needed for the Ashes series in Australia in 1978-79 and Yallop was chosen. Yallop also led Australia in one Test against Pakistan at the end of the same season before the captaincy passed to Kim Hughes when Yallop was injured.

After a somewhat disappointing tour of England in 1980, ‘Wally' Yallop's career peaked in the early 1980's when he had prolific seasons in 1982-83 and 1983-84. In the former season he hit four hundreds for Victoria, including an innings of 246 against Queensland at St Kilda, on his way to an aggregate of 1418 runs in all first-class fixtures. His average of 67.52 was his highest to date but was eclipsed the next season when he averaged 113.20 when he batted half as many times for 1132 runs.

Highlight of Yallop's heavy run scoring in 1983-84 was his 268 in the fourth Test against Pakistan in Melbourne. Only Bob Cowper's 307 against England in 1965-66 and Don Bradman's 270 against England in 1936-37 were bigger Test innings at the MCG. At that point Yallop had hit the seventh highest Test score by an Australian. Showing remarkable concentration, Yallop was at the crease for 716 minutes and hit 29 4s. He shared a third-wicket stand worth 203 with Kim Hughes (94) and a seventh-wicket partnership of 185 with Greg Matthews (75). Yallop's innings dominated an Australia total of 555. The match was drawn. By coincidence Yallop had taken 220 off the Pakistanis' attack to help Victoria compile 5/555 (dec) earlier in the season. On that occasion he batted for 440 minutes and hit 24 boundaries comprising one 6 and 23 4s. Yallop also hit 141 in the first Test against Pakistan that season and made a century in each innings against Western Australia in Melbourne.

In 1984-85 Yallop managed a total of only three runs in the opening Test against the West Indies and was dropped. Apart from a century in both matches against New South Wales, his form fell away and he did not play first-class cricket again in Australia although he toured South Africa twice, in 1985-86 and 1986-87, with rebel teams that did not have Australian Cricket Board approval.

Yallop's final first-class aggregate of 11,615 runs at an average of 45.90 was an impressive one that included 39 Tests with 2756 runs at 41.13 an innings and eight hundreds. Throughout his career he maintained his elegant stroke play that will remain memorable to many people.

From "Australian Elegance" by Marc Fiddian.
Reproduced with the kind permission of the author.