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I made my Test debut in the same match as Graham Gooch. He got a pair.I was at midwicket when Jeff Thomson bounced Zaheer Abbas once. Zaheer spooned it up into the leg side and both myself and Thommo went for the catch. We got there at the same time and somehow our arms got locked together as we fell. He got a popped shoulder; I got knocked out.Sam Trimble was Queenslands leading run scorer before Stuart Law. And he was born in New South Wales. That still sends shivers down my spine. Im a New South Welshman and would never play for anyone else.I rejected the WSC offer after I found that these matches would be played in direct opposition to the Australian Cricket Board matches that were being sponsored by British American Tobacco, the company that had employed me since 1969. I felt I couldnt turn my back on a company that had supported me in cricket for nearly ten years, and by then I wasnt really enjoying playing cricket for a living.Some joker calling himself Michael Angelow ran naked across the Oval pitch, jumped the stumps at both ends and when two police officers escorted him off, one put his helmet over his backside the other over the blokes nether regions.In 1975, the NSW players were being paid A$8 per day. The guy at the SCG gate got $30 per day.Before the 1975 World Cup, apart from England and a lot of the West Indies players, who had been playing county cricket in England, there wasnt much one-day experience. Australia had only played a handful of one-day internationals.Rod Marsh once said, I bet that Im the tallest in the team sitting down. He threw down ten bucks on the table and ran a book on it. Rod mustve got his information from somewhere, because it turned out he was right. Short legs but a long upper body.In my first Test England captain Mike Denness won the toss at Edgbaston, put Australia in, we scored 359, and then it rained. Wickets were left uncovered back then, only the bowlers run-ups were covered. Australia won by an innings. Denness never played another Test for England.Geoff Boycott, Englands best batsman, made himself unavailable in 1975. No matter what the excuse, it was clear that he did not want to engage with Lillee and Thomson.Tony Greig brought an intensity to the England team which made them more competitive.Our first World Cup match, at Leeds against Pakistan, was my first appearance for Australia. I helped get us off to a fast start with 46.Against Kent in the 1975 tour game, Ian Chappell declared at lunch on the last day with Australia 354-odd ahead. I sat near Ian and Colin Cowdrey at lunch. Colin told Ian that he believed himself to be a little beyond first-class cricket and that he was contemplating retirement. After lunch Kent lost an early wicket. Enter one MC Cowdrey, to face Dennis Lillee, Alan Hurst, Gary Gilmour and the rest. Fifteen minutes before the end, Cowdrey walked off with 151 runs and a four-wicket win for Kent. He played another year after that. I scored 156 in the first innings.During the 1980s and early 90s, I managed Benson and Hedges sponsorships, including cricket.I was not selected for the 1977 England tour. McCosker was still not fit for the Jubilee Test at Lords, and second wicketkeeper Richie Robinson opened the batting with Ian Davis.Greg Chappell took over the captaincy from Ia, in 1976, and while he wasnt quite the leader that his brother was, he led mostly with his bat. To say that Greg was a great player at that point in time was an understatement.I underestimated the toughness of an Ashes battle. It was a lot more intense than I imagined, and I failed to distinguish myself with the bat.The Australian cricket administration failed to acknowledge the growing unsettledness of the players and ignored their approaches for greater remuneration. Cricket was becoming a business, and historically, businesses that subjugate their workers more often than not end up with industrial action.I only ever had two overs in first-class cricket, both at John Edrich and Geoff Boycott, when NSW played the MCC in 1970-71. After one over, Boycott said, Im not going to face any more of that. I asked him whether he was scared of my bowling.The World Cup final was an epic event at Lords. Clive Lloyd played a masterful innings.It was my first tour, 1975 to England, so I thought Id see if I could room with my friend Gary Gilmour, who was on his first tour too. Ian Chappell said, No way, hes rooming with Max Walker and youre rooming with Ross Edwards, so you can both learn something.I played my last Test in Auckland in February 1977 and was dropped for the Centenary Test. We had three openers: myself, Rick McCosker and Ian Davis, and the selectors wanted to find room for David Hookes in the middle order. While we were in New Zealand, Hookes had scored five consecutive Sheffield Shield centuries. That demanded his selection for the Centenary Test.My career with British American Tobacco Australia lasted 43 years, during which I had management roles in finance and accounting, sales, marketing, and supply chain.By 1973, Australian cricket was sponsored and television money had started to flow into the game. Players received little more than what they had received since the 60s. The cricket administration was na?ve and shortsighted not to recognise the players right to share in this situation. The administrators created a situation whereby a breakaway tournament like World Series Cricket was possible.On day one [of the Centenary Test], McCoskers jaw was broken by a bouncer from Bob Willis and I was asked to get my gear flown to Melbourne. The Queen was to attend again on day five, and if the match finished early, there would have been a one-day game, in which I was to play.At one point I was Ranwick Cricket Clubs first grade captain and president. So I ran the team and the board.As a senior player you have an obligation to young players to make sure they have fulfilled their potential.During the Boxing Day Test against Pakistan in Melbourne in 1976, a number of personal, one-on-one discussions took place between the players and an anonymous representative of an Australian businessman, which later, of course, turned out to be Kerry Packer.I saw Tom Graveney play for Queensland. He was in his forties by then, but still made batting look easy, just nudged it around, no fanfare. He had 50 on the board almost before you realised he was out there.I played junior cricket with Jeff Thomson in NSW. He played a couple of games for us before he went up to Queensland and then I had to play against him for the rest of my life.We were told that WSC would cover three years. Money was discussed and agreed on the condition that no one said anything. Secrecy was imperative.Before the 1975 Ashes, we went on a ten-day development tour of Canada. Ian Chappell had some connections out there. Matches were played on coir matting stretched over rolled mud. Wed never played on this surface and struggled with the pace, spin and bounce. We won most of our games but lost one to a Toronto team, containing a lot of former West Indian first-class players.No one said much to me before my first Test. You were an Australian, youd got there because you could play, and you were expected to man up.I scored a hundred before lunch against Sri Lanka at The Oval in 1975. This was the first one-day international century scored by an Australian.If I walked into a Test match dressing room today, youd have trouble finding a place to put your backside down to sit, because theyve got so many hangers-on, coaches for that, mentors for this. We had a manager who managed all the off-field stuff and a captain who managed the on-field stuff. The senior players were your mentors.Today youd be rooming with your wife. When my wife came to see me on that [1975] England tour, I had to move out of the team hotel. Doug Walters wife was the only one who travelled around with us, but even she wasnt allowed on the bus. She had to travel on the baggage cart.By the end of the 1975-76 season, Australia were the best side in the world, but on their day West Indies could beat anyone. We beat them 5-1, but the one Test they won, in Perth, in four days, was the most convincing victory in the series.That Australian team was very committed to each other and to the cause. There were no divisions. Viv Richards ran me out in the World Cup final, but I thought I had made my ground. After looking at the replays, Ian Chappell agreed with me. If it werent for Vivs three run-outs, wed have won that game.I walked into the NSW dressing room for the first time aged 18 and someone asked me my name. I said Alan Turner. And someone replied: Well call you Fitteran [A fitter and turner manufactures mechanical parts and assembles those parts together to manufacture a mechanical device.] The nickname stuck.It was so windy during the 1977 tour match in Wellington that we had to play without bails and trust the batsmans honour that theyd walk off if the ball hit the stumps.We were having breakfast in our hotel just north of Leeds before the start of the last day of the 1975 Ashes Test, when someone from Headingley arrived and asked Ian Chappell and our manager, Fred Bennett, to go down to the ground for a meeting. When the rest of us arrived an hour later, we found that vandals, supporters of convicted murderer George Davis, had dug holes in the wicket and also poured oil on it.During the 1975 World Cup, 60 overs per team made for a long day and a three-day turnaround between matches meant players had to focus on recovery, particularly the bowlers.John Snow was every bit the excellent bowler and fierce competitor that I imagined he was after seeing him in Australia in 1970-71, when hed bowled England to victory.Ian Chappell was a tremendous captain. He put his heart and soul into every match, he backed his players to the hilt. His leadership was exemplary and his strategy spot on. He was probably the best captain that I ever played under.I was chairman of the Benson and Hedges Company between 1991 and 1994. When Mike Whitney got 11 wickets against India in Perth in 1992, I gave him the Man-of-the-Match award. That was nice for both of us, as Id been Mikes captain when he started playing first-grade cricket at Randwick Cricket Club. I got to the WACA just after lunchtime, went up to have lunch, and then Michael cleaned up the tail, so I had to rush down to the presentation. He still owes me lunch. LaDainian Tomlinson Jersey . Arsenal failed to take full advantage of its main rivals stumbles on Saturday as substitute Gerard Deulofeu levelled with a hard shot from a tight angle in the 84th minute to give Everton a deserved point. Ahead of a crucial fortnight that will see them play against Napoli in the Champions League, Manchester City and Chelsea, Arsenal leads by five points ahead of Liverpool and Chelsea. Curtis Martin Youth Jersey . The Olympic champion curler and TSN curling analyst immediately went online to look at the Halls long list of honoured members. Thats when the enormity of the honour sunk in. http://www.authenticnyjetspro.com/Joe-namath-jets-jersey/ . "Were just throwing s--- at the wall hoping something sticks," said Tortorella about the possible line combinations for Fridays game against Columbus. The Canucks have lost five straight games and six of their last seven, leaving them in a logjam in the Pacific Division, currently sitting fifth - good for ninth in the Western Conference. Curtis Martin Jersey . -- Most satisfying to Russ Smith about No. Wesley Walker Youth Jersey . It was hard for Luck to pull off another comeback, or even get into the end zone, while standing on the sideline. Rivers threw a 22-yard touchdown pass to rookie Keenan Allen and Nick Novak kicked four field goals to give the Chargers a 19-9 victory against the Colts on Monday night. TWIN FALLS, Idaho -- Professional stuntman Eddie Braun successfully jumped over the Snake River Canyon Friday afternoon in an ode to his boyhood idol, Evel Knievel.Braun soared over the southern Idaho canyon in a custom-built rocket dubbed Evel Spirit.It launched off a steep ramp on the edge of the canyon rim just before 4 p.m. as hundreds of onlookers watched.The rocket reached an estimated 400 mph (644 kph) before its parachute deployed, allowing Braun and the ship to land safely in fields on the other side of the 1,400 foot-wide (427 meters-wide) canyon.I feel like the no name third string quarterback of a junior varsity team that just won the Super Bowl. My team got me there. I ran it into the end zone. We scored and won, Braun said in a statement after the jump.Scott Truax, the designer of the rocket, told the Idaho Statesman that after Braun got the OK to launch he didnt hesitate.He was gone in a cloud of steam and I couldnt see anything until just before he pulled his chutes, Traux said.Braun has said the rocket was identical to the model Knievel used for his failed canyon attempt on Sept. 8, 1974. Knievel landed at the bottom of the canyon when his parachute prematurely deployed partway across the canyon, but walked away with only minor injuries. The spot where Knievel jumped was 1,600 feet (488 meters) wide.Braun hoped his effort would prove that Knievel could have made it across the canyon if his parachute had deployed at the correct time.Before the jump, the 54-year-old Braun said he was optimistic he would make it across the canyon.I wouldnt be doing this if I thought it couldnt be done, he said.Still, he had prepared for the worst in the days beefore the stunt, asking his young son to one day walk his sisters down the aisle at their wedding if Braun died in his attempt.ddddddddddddonths of testing was performed on the rocket designed by Scott Truax, whose father constructed the original X2 Skycycle for Knievel.Truax followed his fathers blueprints down to the last bolt and deviated only by updating the parachute system.Braun had trouble finding corporate sponsors for the stunt, and said he spent about $1.5 million of his own money on the jump.He looked at the stunt as a way to pay homage to Knievel, who inspired him to become a stuntman.I like to say Im not doing something that Evel Knievel couldnt do, he told the Statesman before making the jump. Im simply finishing out his dream. How many people get to finish the dream of their hero?Not all in the southern Idaho town of Twin Falls have such fond memories of Knievel. Many residents remember Knievels promise of a weeklong festival complete with celebrities and a golf tournament.Knievels attempt drew plenty of spectators, and the resultant partying, fighting and mischief upset locals. The daredevil was later accused of leaving town without paying debts to area businesses.But the mystique of Knievels failed stunt has lived on, with would-be daredevils showing up every decade or so to propose similar jumps. Knievels son Robbie visited Twin Falls in the 1990s and in 2010 to float the idea of a possible jump, though it never came to fruition.Braun appears to have been the first to actually try the stunt since Knievels attempt. ' ' '