Ian Chappell

Ian Michael Chappell is a former cricketer who played for South Australia and Australia. He captained Australia between 1971 and 1975 before taking a central role in the breakaway World Series Cricket organisation. Born into a cricketing familyhis grandfather and brother also captained AustraliaChappell made a hesitant start to international cricket playing as a righthand middleorder batsman and spin bowler. He found his niche when promoted to bat at number three. Known as Chappelli, he earned a reputation as one of the greatest captains the game has seen. Chappells blunt verbal manner led to a series of confrontations with opposition players and cricket administrators the issue of sledging first arose during his tenure as captain and he was a driving force behind the professionalisation of Australian cricket in the 1970s.

The first of three sons born in Adelaide to Martin and Jeanne , Chappell was steeped in the game from an early age. His father was a noted Adelaide grade cricketer who put a bat in his hands as soon as he could walk, and his maternal grandfather was a famous allround sportsman Vic Richardson, who captained Australia at the end of a nineteenTest career. Chappell was given weekly batting lessons from the age of five, as were younger brothers Greg and Trevor, who both went on to play for Australia.

Source: Wikipedia