When a Canadian Club Cricket Team Played Australia Led by Greg Chappell and Dennis Lillee in 1975

Patrick Pisani | July 09, 2025

If you do some research on the internet about this game you will find a third-hand report which meekly appraises a meaningless game. What really occurred was far more intense, far more important, far more unforgettable.

Many of us on this mailing list are, or were, members of the unique and wonderful Toronto Cricket Skating and Curling Club. The Cricket Club provided us with the best possible opportunities to play, develop our skills, and enjoy the game we loved in the best imaginable conditions. On this warm day in May, The Toronto Cricket Skating and Curling Club gave us the opportunity to play some of the most famous players ever to play the glorious sport of cricket.

TCS&CC players intended to play this game like it was a game that we would never forget. We have never forgotten.

We were holders of the Ross Robertson Trophy as the best team in Canada for 6 years in the 9 year span from 1968 to 1976.

We were about to embark on a season in the highest level of Toronto League cricket. By the end of that season, September 1975, we had earned a record of 16 wins, one loss, and one game rained out, and we captured the championship trophy. All batsmen used during the season had averages in double figures. Sood, Pisani and Pereira were in the top six bowlers in the league in both wickets taken and runs per wicket average. And in each game that trio followed two of Stevens, Hayes or Burn who opened the bowling.

We were a club team playing a great national team - but we were certainly the very best club team across Canada and the USA.

Not playing for us on that day against Australia were five of our regular top contributors: Rick Stevens, Peter Burn, Alasdair Hayes, Ron Aldridge, and Keith Gouviea.

And we were a team with many talented Canadian born players who distinguish themselves playing skilled opposition players from many countries in our league play.

The Australian team

Back row - Dennis Lillee, Gary Gilmour, Bruce Laird, Greg Chappell, Rick McCosker, Richie Robinson, Max Walker

Front row - Ross Edwards, Rodney Marsh, Alan Turner, James Higgs

This was going to be a game against The Australian National Team comprised of some of the most accomplished cricketers ever to play Down Under who were visiting our ground at Armour Heights. It was their third game in three days in Toronto. Many of these Aussies had lost on the same ground two days before: Greg Chappell, Lillee, Higgs, Marsh, Walker, Laird, Turner and McCosker.

It was their last game before heading off for the headline series, the Inaugural World Cup which would take place in England in a few days.

Australia was going to bat first. I had the honour of being one of the opening bowlers along with Basil Peters. And it wasn’t just an honour. I knew if the captain was giving me the new ball that I had a job to do.

It wasn’t that I was unprepared. I was 23 years old. In my life I had already played and been undefeated in three games played at prestigious Test Match sites. The Kensington Oval in London twice, and the Edgbaston Test ground in Birmingham, when I was a member of the Canadian Colts National Youth Team on two tours of England. In those matches we played Surrey Colts and the English National Schools Team. The Canadian Colts XI won one and had likely victories in two games taken away by English rain.

Several members of this Australian Test Team were also 23 or 24 years old.

It was not like I was unprepared. For four years, I had played in the Toronto district 1st division against very accomplished batsmen including Test players Larry Gomes and Faoud Bacchus.

On the Cricket Club ground in 1973 I had competed against the Irish National Team. I bowled my medium pace swing deliveries for 25 overs, including 12 maidens, taking three wickets for 34 runs.

Two weeks after that, I played against the Kent County Team. I bowled to Test batsmen Brian Luckhurst, Robert Woolmer, John Shepherd, and Alan Knott. My statistics were 18 overs, 2 maidens, 3 wickets for 50 runs in that match versus Kent.

I was also prepared by having the opportunity of playing at The Toronto Cricket Skating and Curling Club since I was 12 years old, learning the fine details of the game from many outstanding Cricket Club members.

When Tony Clarke, the TCS&CC captain handed me the ball, he passed over to me his confidence, his recognition that I could responsibly fill this role.

I took that beautiful ruby gem and began to gently shine the kookaburra picture on one side. The kookaburra was my lucky symbol. If I could keep that bird looking pretty, if I could keep it shining, I could control the movement through the air. Let that bird get scuffed up, roughed up, and tarnished then the differential of friction of one side of the ball to the other would not be a big enough contrast to permit my swing bowling.

It wasn’t like I was unprepared to deliver this first over.

I had bowled against an Australian Test batsman on May 12, 1973. That was Greg Chappell. He, Ian Chappell and Terry Jenner were visiting Toronto and were playing in a special match at The Club.

In 1973 I only bowled one over to Greg Chappell. He was on 7 runs and he had only been batting for ten minutes. It was my first over of the day. On my first delivery, I knew I had to be careful so I bowled a good length straight delivery towards the off stump. It brought him forward in defence. The next four were in-swingers swinging in towards off stump in the final phase of the flight path. Chappell played each one on the front foot.

For the last ball I changed my grip, two fingers split wide across the seam, and as I delivered I turned my wrist in the motion of turning a door handle. The line and the length were identical to what had preceded - the rotation of the ball was not. Perhaps because Greg had not played on matting often, he did not read the bite of the off-spin and it beat him between bat and pad and rocked the off stump.

I was shocked and amazed.

Greg Chappell was shocked and amazed.

It was the end of the over and I walked to my place at third-man on the boundary touching The Cricket Club patio. A spectator in the crown called out to me, “Hey Pisani, we came to see Greg Chappell bat, not to see you bowl!”

It happened to be my father’s birthday that day. He felt that I never gave him a better present.

Dennis Lillee

A bowler has the luxury, once he has the ball in his hand, that he controls everything that will happen next. He will decide what ball to bowl. He will prepare his grip, start the run up when ready. The fielders, the spectators the umpires and the batsman must wait for the bowler to make the next move, to make the delivery. So just like in the game of chess, the bowler can predetermine the move and then execute it.

As the umpires George LeMarquand and David James called us to play, there was an adrenaline rush, the same rush that every creature gets when it has its moment, the feeling that this is so much fun!

I was about to bowl my first over to their opening batsmen Bruce Laird and Rick McCosker. I knew what I had to do. Be accurate. Maintain line and length. Do what you are best at. Deliver your best ball each time. I was a medium pace bowler with in-swingers and out-swingers and off-cutters, mixing them up as I saw fit. Changing length slightly. Changing direction slightly. Keeping the ball pitched up, nothing short. Keeping the ball away from the pads. Changing my angle of delivery from the stumps and varying the pace.

Rick McCosker, Bruce Laird and Alan Turner, Australia’s 1, 2 and 3 batsmen knew nothing about me. They did not know this was my first game of the season. They had just completed the season Down Under. But what they knew was that they were going to England for the first time right after this match. They knew that in a week’s time Australia would be facing the best bowlers in the world in the initial World Cup competition. They knew this was their last innings before crossing the Atlantic Ocean. They had the professional responsibility to do their very best. This was their last opportunity to prepare themselves for the greatest challenge of their lives which is awaiting across the ocean in the UK. Likely only two of them would make the Australian Ashes Test and World Cup lineup.

McCosker and Laird both batted beautifully. Patiently, and with elegant shots, they gradually amassed an imposing total. They put on 163 runs for the first wicket. Laird made an impressive 80 runs with scoring shots all around the wicket. Was it enough of an impression to satisfy his selectors?

McCosker struck many powerful drives from cover to mid-on which reached the boundary. But when he was finally out with the Aussie total at 222, in his mind, in his aspirations, he had failed. He scored 98. That’s a very painful score to make, 2 runs shy of a century. For McCosker was this enough preparation to be ready for England?

Number 3, Alan Turner, the left-hander, added 32 runs with strong straight drives down the ground. Did he have a big score in store for England?

Even though I watched Australia pass 200 runs with only one wicket down, I felt that my bowling performance was a success. In the end, I bowled 11 overs, with 5 maidens for 20 runs. In the three matches in Toronto against Australia the Canadian sides used 18 bowlers. My economy rate of 20 ÷ 11 = 1.8 was the best.

Basil Peters, the veteran new ball practitioner, was very effective in 15 strong overs and he frequently produced a dangerous out-swinger. Les Pereira, Tony Clarke and Charlie DeSouza introduced off-spin when the shine was off the ball.

Upender Sood was crafty with slow left arm leg-spin, and his arm-ball variant. He had a great day. Imagine taking 4 wickets for 79 runs in 21 overs. Upi bowled beautifully. He dismissed Ross Edwards and Richie Robinson both for only two runs.

Wicketkeeper Mark Foster showed his remarkable keeping skills with three stumpings all done with flair.

Australia declared at 253 for five after 72 overs. This was a daunting total.

The Toronto Cricket Club had developed four Canadian born and trained players in the lineup: Brian Iggulden, John Harvey, Pat Pisani and Christopher Chappell.

As teenagers, on different tours, all four of these players had toured England representing the Canadian Colts National Junior Team. Brian and Chris developed their skills at St. Catherine’s Ridley College. John learned the game at Upper Canada College in Toronto. Pat’s dedication to the game started at the Toronto Cricket Club. In their careers three of them toured representing the Canadian National Team.

Clarke, Moshin Keshavji, Foster, and DeSouza brought a great deal of experience to the Toronto Cricket Club batting lineup. However, they had to face Lillee, Walker and Gilmour. Did I say 253 was a daunting total?

When Dennis Lillee was last on this field, he was leaving defeated through a mob of excited Canadian spectators. Lillee was surprised and deflated by an outstanding Eastern Canada team effort. On this day, when he was given the new ball to begin bowling from the south end what did he have on his mind?

Opening batsmen Tony Clarke and Moshin Keshavji were assigned to work off the opening pace of Lillee and Walker. Remarkably they did their job well. After 18 overs Lillee and Walker were finished without taking a wicket and the score was 32 without loss.

Then a comet exploded out of the sky and caused an immediate climate change in the match. The name of the comet was Gary Gilmour who, in very quick succession, had a hand in 4 wickets.

Leg-spinner James Higgs came on to bowl. In his first over Gilmour made a spectacular one-handed diving catch to dismiss Keshavji. In Higgs’s next over Chris Chappell was dismissed for a duck when Gilmour made another brilliant catch this time with the other hand in a full-stretch dive.

Clarke, now free from the pressure of facing the fast bowlers, played a cover drive which should never have been fielded. Ross Edwards swept across and scooped up the ball with one hand, and in one motion threw the stumps down, only seeing one of them, and ran Clarke out! This game can be cruel!

TCS&CC vs Australia, Tony Clarke hooking Dennis Lillee to the boundary, 1975

Brian Iggulden was on four runs after he hit Gilmour through the covers for a boundary. That was a big mistake! Brian never saw a ball on length again. Everything was short and aimed at his ribs or at his ear. Then the lefty Gilmour unleashed a wicked leg-cutter which clipped the edge of the bat and zipped on to wicketkeeper Robinson. Soon after Charlie DeSouza met his demise in the exact same way - for a duck.

Mark Foster looked like he was settling in when Higgs caught an edge and Richie Robinson had his third consecutive catch behind the stumps.

In quick succession 6 wickets were taken, 4 involved Gilmour. Toronto’s back was broken.

Australia had batted for 73 overs and scored 253. McCosker, Laird and Turner got the valuable exposure Australia was hoping for. Higgs and Gilmour had a chance to gather more wickets. Stallions Lillee and Walker had their meaningful practice run. For the Australians this was enough of an accomplishment today.

Captain Greg Chappell sportingly called off the dogs and used a variety non-specialist bowlers and completed the day.

There was a mysterious LBW (that puzzled the batsman, the bowler and the wicketkeeper) which was given by a replacement umpire (who took over that role late in the day) in response to a muffled appeal from backward square-leg.

Pereira added 21 and Toronto finished at 95 for 9 in 44 overs, as Oz graciously ended the day with a draw with Sood and Peters coming not out.

95 for nine, was certainly a disappointment for the Toronto batsmen, but Gilmour’s performance taking 2 wickets for 8 runs and dismissing two high order batsmen with great catches, and Higg’s 4 wickets for 20, certainly displayed the exceptional skills of the Australians.

The four Canadian Young Guns combined for a total of 9 runs. It was not their day - but life went on, and they did have other days of significant success on this ground and on many cricket grounds around the world.

Cricket is a wonderful game and for the members of the TCS&CC who encountered Australia that day it was a wonderful moment. That occasion was a product of The Toronto Cricket Skating and Curling Club which, remarkably has hosted large number of historical events. In addition, the TCS&CC has prepared many of its members to take part in these high level contests.

I know that Cricket is a game that can humble you in your very next game. I was also humbled (and inspired) every time I left the field and walked into the TCS&CC building - because it was always the active hive of incredible athletes.

Our friends Craig Benson, Gordon Anderson and Clive Caldwell were the top ranked squash players in North America.

I watched figure skaters doing dazzling athletic manoeuvres on the ice at breathtaking speed. They were among the best in the world: Toller Cranston, Linda Carbonetta, Val and Sandra Bezic.

Australian tennis legends Rod Lever, John Newcombe, Ken Rosewall, Evonne Goolagong and Margaret Court played in the Canadian Open Championship Series on our courts.

There were great curlers and lawn bowlers that I didn’t even know about.

John Fredericks was running marathons.

Norm Lee lived an endless cricket career which is probably in its seventh decade now!

The friendly teams, the Leg Trappers, and the associate cricketers enjoyed cricket here as much as cricket has been enjoyed anywhere in the world!

We even had a baseball pitching machine in our practice nets that could bowl accurately at 90 miles an hour.

There was a player on our team who could throw a cricket ball further than I could with his right hand, and he was left-handed! Of course that was John Harvey.

The TCS&CC has hosted prestigious international events such as the North American Skating Championships, The Davis Cup, and the Sahara Cup. Curling Brier champions trained at the Club, as did world class figure skaters.

Each generation has spawned exceptional cricket players and exceptionally devoted Cricket members since 1827. The Toronto Cricket Skating and Curling Club has a proud tradition of sporting excellence which continues to thrive.

The Cricket Club is unique in the world:

• It has the facilities to host remarkable events

• It has talented athletes trained and developed on site

• Its members, coaches and management create both the participants and the environment that allows for wonderful events to take place

• It has capable and dedicated organizers with foresight and dedication

A perfect example is Eddie Bracht, who was the driving force in making this Australian Cricket Test Team visit to Toronto unfold so successfully.

I did my best to be prepared for this match with the Australians through many years of cricket at the TCS&CC. We were not professionals but we could play amongst them.

The TCS&CC develops an individual’s sporting talents to a significant level. It provides unmatched opportunities to enjoy these endeavours, and these endeavours have a lifelong positive effect not only on the individual but on teammates - and on the fellowship of The Club as a whole.

These special events, like the Australian Cricket Team visit, are so nice to recall and celebrate.

By Patrick Pisani

Photos of the TCS&CC players in their playing days

Bruce Iggulden

John Harvey

Chris Chappell

Pat Pisani

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