READ MORE:<\/strong> Warner ends drought in clinical Australian win<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n READ MORE:<\/strong> Baffling keeping blunder that saved Warner<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n READ MORE:<\/strong> Why Josh Cavallo's announcement matters<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n He was picked for the 1968 Ashes tour on the back of a splendid debut season for South Australia in 1967-68, when he took 30 wickets at 23.80 in just six matches.<\/p>\n His Test debut came in the fifth match of that series at The Oval, where he took five wickets for the match, including the scalps of Colin Cowdrey (twice), Basil D'Oliveria and John Edrich.<\/p>\n It was on the 1969-70 tour of India that he first really came to prominence, taking 28 wickets with his off-spin at 19.11, as Lawry's side scored a 3-1 series win, the last series win for Australia in India until 2004.<\/p>\n "'Rowdy' was brilliant in that series," his former skipper Ian Chappell told Wide World of Sports.<\/p>\n "Erapalli Prasanna was the best spinner I faced, and 'Rowdy' matched him over those five matches." <\/p>\n Mallett's 8-59 against Pakistan in Adelaide in 1972-73 remains the eighth best bowling figures by an Australian in a Test innings.<\/p>\n "He was a much loved teammate, he'll be sorely missed," Chappell said.<\/p>\n "A measure of how good he was, he reached 100 Test wickets in 23 matches, which is the same number of games as Shane Warne."<\/p>\n Not only an outstanding spinner, he was a fine gully fieldsman, and was ironically nicknamed "Rowdy" for his quiet demeanour.<\/p>\n "For a tall man, who was clumsy and could hardly see, he was unbelievable in the field," Chappell recalled with a laugh. <\/p>\n Chappell<\/a> persuaded Kerry Packer to sign Mallett for World Series Cricket in 1977, but as he recalled on Ian Chappell, A Glorious Life,<\/em> it wasn't straightforward.<\/p>\n "I asked him if I could add Ashley Mallett to the list, and he didn't like it," Chappell said.<\/p>\n "He said: 'I'm not paying that f—ing straight-breaker.'<\/p>\n "That's when we had to do the deal. I asked him if Mallett could dismiss him (Packer) in an over would he sign him? Kerry thought for a minute and answered yes.<\/p>\n "He had all these speakers and buttons on the side of his desk, so he hit one of the buttons, and this female voice comes back, 'Yes Mr. Packer?'<\/p>\n "And he asked her to book him in to Barry Knight's Indoor Centre for a week.<\/p>\n "He went straight there to get some coaching!"<\/p>\n A prolific author, Mallett published a number of books, most recently a biography of Neil Harvey in July this year.<\/p>\n He died in Adelaide after a battle with cancer.<\/p>\n For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/em><\/strong> clicking here!<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n
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