Ashley Mallett

Ashley Alexander Mallett (13 July 1945 – 29 October 2021) was an Australian cricketer who played in 38 Tests and 9 One Day Internationals between 1968 and 1980. Until Nathan Lyon, he was Australia's most successful off spin bowler since World War II. He extracted a lot of bounce from his high arm action, coupled with his height. He was a part of the Australian squad which finished as runners-up at the 1975 Cricket World Cup.

Early life Mallett was born in Chatswood, New South Wales, and moved to Perth, Western Australia, as a child. He attended Mount Lawley High School.

Early career Mallett was a member of the Western Australian squad in the 1966–67 season, but made no appearances, only being 12th man in two Sheffield Shield matches. On the bouncy pace friendly WACA Ground, where the Western Australians played their home matches, only one spinner was required, and left arm orthodox spinner Tony Lock, the former English Test player blocked Mallett's path. Along with young leg spinner Terry Jenner, Mallett transferred to South Australia in the winter of 1967, and immediately became a regular members of the state team, which often fielded two spinners on the Adelaide Oval's turning surface. Mallett took his maiden wickets in the next match against India, taking 2/55 in an innings win. His first victims were Ramakant Desai and Bhagwat Chandrasekhar, both caught by his spinning partner Jenner.

In the next match, Mallett took 4/54 and 4/52, helping South Australia to defend a target of 190 against Queensland and win by 14 runs.

During a stopover in Ceylon, he took 4/63 in a drawn match against Sri Lanka, but did not have immediate success after arriving in India. In the drawn warm-up match against West Zone, he took only 1/85. In the First Test in Bombay, he took 0/43 in the first innings, before removing wicket-keeper Farokh Engineer and tail-ender Erapalli Prasanna and ending with 2/22 in the second innings as Australia won by eight wickets.

In his most successful season with the bat, Mallett scored 374 runs at 28.76. but missed the subsequent tour to the West Indies. Although Mallett was immediately playing Tests in the following season, reaching his 100 wicket milestone in his 23rd Test, he was subsequently used in a defensive capacity from the mid-1970s onwards. Keeping one end tight while Jeff Thomson and Dennis Lillee attacked the opposition with pace from the other, he only managed 32 wickets in his last 15 Tests. In tandem with Jenner, he was part of a successful era in South Australian cricket, playing in three Sheffield Shield winning sides in 1968–69, 1970–71 and 1975–76. His best bowling was 13/122 against his native state in 1971–72.

Mallett had little ability with the bat, with a Test best of 43* made on his debut against England, with a first class best of 92 against Western Australia. He had good reflexes and completed many difficult catches in the gully position, despite appearing to be short sighted. He captained the state team on two occasions in 1980–81, his final season.

Nickname Quietly spoken and bookish, Mallett was ironically nicknamed "Rowdy" by his teammates. Mallett wrote biographies of Victor Trumper and Clarrie Grimmett.

Books Books by Mallett include: 1985: 'Trumper': The Illustrated Biography, batsman Victor Trumper. 2002: Lord's Dreaming: The Story of the 1868 Aboriginal Tour of England and Beyond, a scholarly account of the Australian Aboriginal cricket team in England in 1868 2005: Thommo Speaks Out, a biography of Australian bowler Jeff Thomson 2007: Chappelli Speaks Out, a biography of Australian batsman Ian Chappell 2008: One of a Kind: the Doug Walters story, a biography of Australian batsman Doug Walters 2018: The Boys from St Francis, Stories of the remarkable Aboriginal activists, artists and athletes who grew up in one seaside home 2020:

Death Mallett died from cancer on 29 October 2021, at the age of 76 in Adelaide.