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6 unusual facts about Graham Yallop


Cricket helmet

Graham Yallop of Australia was the first to wear a protective helmet to a test match on 17 March, 1978, when playing against West Indies at Bridgetown.

Graham Yallop

In his account of the 1978-79 Ashes series "The Ashes Retained" England captain Mike Brearley reported that the English players nicknamed Yallop "Banzai" because of his tendency to adopt suicidally attacking fields at all times, when on occasion a more defensive approach may have prevented the England team's free scoring.

Englishman Mike Brearley (his opposite number in the 1978–79 series) noted that Yallop used to "... slide his back foot to and fro in a grandmotherly shuffle ... More than most Test players, Yallop can range from the inept to the masterly."

He scored an elegant 172 against Pakistan at Faisalabad yet found himself on the outer two Tests afterwards.

He injured himself in a club match, which forced him out of the second (and last) Test in the series when Australia finally reversed their losing streak under Kim Hughes.

These were desperate times, but most observers thought veteran John Inverarity (who was not of test class as a player) would have been a more astute choice once the Australian Cricket Board (ACB) decided that the veteran incumbent Bobby Simpson could not be guaranteed the captaincy for the season.



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