Sporting Bygones: When Auckland Test almost ended in tragedy as tail-ender Chatfield was felled by bouncer from England quick Lever

The headlines in the London Evening Standard said it all after one of the most infamous incidents in Test cricket history.

On February 25, 1975, as England pursued the wicket that would give them victory over New Zealand in the first Test at Auckland, Peter Lever, the Lancashire quick bowler, dug the ball in short at Ewen Chatfield, the Kiwis’ No 11.

The ball reared up viciously, touched the batsman’s glove and cannoned into his temple as he took evasive action.

Chatfield staggered away and slumped to the ground, his legs began to twitch and his face turned purple.

For three or four seconds, his heart stopped beating as the impact caused him to swallow his tongue.

Had it not been for the immediate attention of MCC physiotherapist Bernard Thomas, who rushed on to the ground with a local ambulanceman, Chatfield, a 24-year-old industrial chemist playing in his first Test, would almost certainly have died.

As it was, Thomas applied mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and heart massage and Chatfield recovered consciousness an hour later in hospital after suffering a hairline fracture of the skull.

This incident would have come to mind for many this week with Eden Park the venue for the deciding Test.

Lever, born in the Yorkshire market town of Todmorden, was inconsolable as Chatfield lay prone on the turf and wept as the player was placed on a stretcher.

In those days, when helmets were but a twinkle in a batsman’s eye, there was an unwritten rule that you did not bowl bouncers at tail-enders, a rule to which Australia pacemen Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson paid little heed during the Ashes series that preceded the New Zealand leg of the tour.

Now, after feared duo Lillee and Thomson had battered England into submission as Australia dished out a 4-1 Ashes series drubbing, it was the ultimate irony that one of their own should come within a whisker of killing a player.

The background to the injury was that Chatfield had stubbornly frustrated the English attack.

After England made 593-6 declared, Keith Fletcher scoring 216 and captain Mike Denness 181, New Zealand were dismissed for 326 before slipping to 140-9 towards the end of the fourth afternoon while following-on.

Chatfield and Geoff Howarth held out for half-an-hour before bad light brought a premature conclusion, and with a rest day between the fourth and fifth days, along with the prospect of rain on the final day, there was still a glimmer of hope for New Zealand that they could get out of trouble.

The last wicket pair resisted for a further 35 minutes on day five before Chatfield – having earlier almost gloved Lever to short leg – was knocked unconscious.

Lever, now 72, recalled: “When the ambulancemen were working on Ewen, it was the closest I had come to praying for a long time.

“I honestly thought I had killed him as I saw him lying there in convulsions. I felt sick and ashamed at what I had done.

“All I could think when I got back to the pavilion was that I wanted to retire.”

Later that day, Lever visited Chatfield in hospital, and the Kiwi graciously exonerated him of all guilt. He told reporters: “If any one thing did worry me going into this game, it was just what did happen.

“My reflexes are not that quick. It’s not really his (Lever’s) fault. I should have been able to get out of the way.”

The incident sparked a global debate on short-pitched bowling, particularly at tail-enders.

In the same week, Pakistani Intikhab Alam had been struck a sickening blow by West Indies’ Andy Roberts, and Thomson had infamously told reporters ahead of the 74-75 Ashes that he enjoyed hitting batsmen.

Even Denis Howell, the British Sports Minister, entered the debate.

Howell bizarrely said the Government would look at including short-pitched bowling in health and safety regulations; it never happened.

Chatfield, now 62 and driving taxis in Wellington, made a full recovery from the horrific incident.

He went on to play 43 Tests, taking 123 wickets at 32.17 and forming an effective opening attack with Richard Hadlee for over a decade.

Yet he will forever be remembered not for cricketing endeavour but cricketing tragedy – and so very nearly cricketing fatality.

For all those who glory in the gory arts of fast bowling, the name of Ewen Chatfield serves as a warning to echo down the years.