Graham Yallop

In 2014–15 Yallop was appointed chief coach of the Elwood Cricket Club.

The dropping of McCosker angered Ian Chappell and his teammates and I copped the brunt of it. I may have been an unassuming guy at the time, but I was rudely awakened to the facts of life at test level – thanks, or rather no thanks to Chappell and the rest of the team. I was not exactly welcomed with open arms into the team. In fact, I was lucky to discover my locker in the Australian dressing rooms. To top it off, Chappell figured that if I was selected to replace McCosker, that's exactly what I would do... at Number 3. I suppose you could say it was an honour to bat ahead of Ian and Greg Chappell in a test. But I have no doubts that certain members of that team wanted me to fail and therefore prove that the selectors had erred. Normally, a new batsman could expect to be cradled into the side and be 'hidden' down the order until he gets the feel of the test atmosphere. There was no such deal for me. I was thrown into the deep end, to sink or swim, and that will live in my memory forever. While I am captain of a team, no batsman will be given the shoddy treatment I received on my test debut.

Rick McCosker returned to the side for the sixth test at number three, but Yallop kept his place – batting down the order at number six he made 57.

The unprepared and unsupported Yallop made a naïve prediction before the series when he said that his team would win 6–0. Yallop was "bewildered" when his "flippant" prediction was reported straight-faced by the media and taken seriously by the English players.

"A number of us were given the word that the selectors didn't see us as having any future as Test players," said Yallop. "We were told – quietly, of course – that our futures weren't exactly rosy. So when the approach came, we were interested."

In 1994 he was sacked as manager of a sports centre but successfully appealed the decision.

In 1989 Yallop was fined $1,000 for selling alcohol at his cricket centre.

However he was not picked in the side to tour England in 1985.

Yallop toured India with the Australians in 1984. He made 22, 32 and 42.

Yallop worked on his knee through 1984. Despite 0 and 2 in a Victoria-Queensland game and state one day games of 14, and 6 he was picked in the first test against the West Indies. In scoring 2 and 1, he looked very uncomfortable. He had a leg injury ad a knee operation which took him out of a lot of the season.

He beat Bill Ponsford's record for the most runs in a season. He was unable to force his way into the Australian side due to the strong form of Border, Hughes, Greg Chappell and David Hookes. However he earned selection on the 1983 tour of Sri Lanka.

Yallop began the 1983–84 season with 77 and 23 against NSW and 91 in a one-day state game.

Yallop was picked on the 1983–84 tour of the West Indies. However he missed it due to injury in the sole one day game he played for Australia, where he made 13. Dean Jones took his place.

If you were given three words to sum up the cricket career of Graham Yallop... what would you say? Australia's Lousiest Captain? Solid And Reliable? Dodgy Against Pace? A Bit Boring? There is a dollop of truth in them all. Yallop could be dull; if Dean Jones set the pulses of Melbourne grandmothers racing like a couple of shandies over lunch, then Yallop was the comforting mug of Milo who put them back to sleep. He was decidedly more at home when the spinners were on. He was also, especially at his 1983 peak, the epitome of rocklike solidity. And yes, he was a fatally flawed, forlorn captain... He was unimaginative, tactically unsophisticated and lacked the respect of his players. And because he had predicted they would win 6–0, in the dumbest press conference any Australian captain ever gave... More than anyone, Yallop suffered from the chaos of [World Series Cricket]... He was used and abused at every turn. He is not the only Australian batsman of the last 25 years to have been mistreated by selectors... But Yallop was the first, and arguably copped the rawest deal, of them all.... Graham Yallop in three words? Unlucky Uncelebrated Unmissed seem to fit best, more's the pity.

Yallop had a golden run of form in the Sheffield Shield in 1982–83. As captain of Victoria, he made 28 and 151 against South Australia (a game famous for David Hookes' lightning fast century), 84 and 58, 8 and 47, 20 and 73, 69 and 24 (against England), 38 and 33 (against New Zealand), 15 and 38, 23 and 13, 69, 109 and 86, 18 and 168, and 246. In one day games he made 21, 21, 7, and 12.

Against East Zone he scored 81 and 21 (also wicketkeeping). Promoted to opener for the 5th test he made 167 and 4. He followed this with 60 and 4 for the last test. Yallop, with 423 runs at 38, was Australia's best performing batsman on the trip after Alan Border and Kim Hughes.

His place in the Australian middle order was effectively taken by Doug Walters over the summer. However he was picked on the 1981 tour of England.

Much was made of Yallop's susceptibility to fast bowling because of an unusual incident on the 1981 tour of England. Skipper Kim Hughes shepherded him from Bob Willis's bowling, even though Yallop never asked him to. Commentating on the match, Richie Benaud called Hughes's actions "as curious a captaincy decision as I have ever seen".

Yallop began the 1981–82 season strongly: 82 and 31 against Queensland, 46 and 3 against Tasmania, 36 and 68 against Pakistan.

Yallop averaged better than one century every five Tests and never went more than six consecutive Tests without a hundred. He also jointly holds the record for the fastest Ashes half-century, scored off 35 balls in the Old Trafford test in the 1981 series.

Yallop regained his place for the 1980 tour of Pakistan. After 46 in the first tour game he was promoted to opener for the first test and made 12 and 16.

Yallop kept his spot in the side for the 1980 Tour of England.

Yallop was not picked for Australia over the 1980–81 summer. He began the domestic season slowly and did not find form until the middle of the summer. He made scores of 33 and 40, 7, 59 and 51 (against New Zealand), 7 and 5, 13, 10 and 25, 121 and 2, 52 and 70, 0 and 64 (against India), 28 and 21 and 122 and 66.

Yallop kept his place in the team after losing the captaincy, playing in the 1979 World Cup and all 6 tests in the tour of India in late 1979, the last tests before the WSC reunification.

At the end of 1979 the WSC split ended, and Yallop lost his place in the test team (Hughes, Border and Hogg were the only "establishment" players to keep their spots). However he was kept on as captain of Victoria despite the return of Richie Robinson.

He had a moderate 1979–80 summer badly, scoring 0 and 2 against WA, 0 and 49 against South Australia, 51 and 22 against NSW, 55 and 22 against WA and 65 against Qld.

Undoubtedly, Yallop was more at home against slow bowling and was considered one of the best players of spinners during an era when few existed. Although not ideally suited to the one-day game, Yallop's ODI figures are good and he played in the World Cups of 1979 and 1983 and toured India in 1984. He was a safe fielder behind the wicket and was often positioned in the gully.

At the beginning of the 1978–79 series, Australian Cricket Board (ACB) decided that the veteran incumbent Bobby Simpson could not be guaranteed the captaincy for the season. Simpson decided to retire and Australia needed a new captain.

In his account of the 1978–79 Ashes series, The Ashes Retained, England captain Mike Brearley reported that the English players nicknamed Yallop "Banzai" because of his tendency to adopt suicidally attacking fields at all times, when on occasion a more defensive approach may have prevented the England team's free scoring.

Yallop must carry some blame for this fickleness. Englishman Mike Brearley (his opposite number in the 1978–79 series) noted that Yallop used to "... slide his back foot to and fro in a grandmotherly shuffle ... More than most Test players, Yallop can range from the inept to the masterly."

At the end of the summer good form from Craig Serjeant saw him take the last batsman's spot on the 1977 Ashes tour.

Yallop started the 1976–77 summer slowly: he made 10 and 19 against Queensland, and 16 and 1 against NSW. Doug Walters was back from injury and took Yallop's spot in the Australian batting line up. Yallop's form did get better: 61 against South Australia, 100 against Tasmania 1 and 134 against WA 57 against South Australia, 67 against Queensland, and 6 against NSW. However, by the time he made form Kim Hughes and then David Hookes were preferred as middle order batsmen to support Greg Chappell, McCosker, Cosier, and Walters. Ian Chappell wrote an article in January 1977 which ruled out Yallop from his hypothetical tour squad of England:

In 1975 he played in England and scored more than 3,000 runs for North Birmingham Club.

Yallop begun the 1975–76 season slowly. He made 38 in a Gillette Cup game then failed against Queensland making 20 and 8 against the 1975–76 West Indians and 21 and 6 against WA. Things turned around with 79 and 62 against South Australia then 108 and 95 against NSW.

In 1973 he played for Walsall in the Birmingham League. He also played some games for the Marylebone Cricket Club.

Yallop did not play first class cricket during the 1973–74 season. However he was back in the Victorian side over the 1974–75 summer. He played in the Gillette Cup, scoring 2 then made 32 and 48 against Western Australia., 34 and 30 against the touring English side, 21 and 0 against New South Wales, 0 against Queensland 56 and 77 against New South Wales, 23 and 57 against South Australia, and 11 and 38 against WA before making his debut century against South Australia. He ended the season with 5 and 4 against Queensland.

He made his first class debut in December 1972, making 55 and 21 for Victoria against NSW. His next game, also against NSW, saw him score 15 and 5. Then there was 19 and 58 against Western Australia.

In 1971 he topped the averages for the Australian Schoolboys Cricket Council as they toured Sri Lanka.

Yallop played for Richmond in the Dowling Shield in the late 1960s. He made his grade debut for the club in 1970–71.

Graham Neil Yallop (born 7 October 1952) is a former cricketer who played for Victoria and Australia. He captained Australia briefly during the tumultuous era of World Series Cricket (WSC) in the late 1970s. A technically correct left-handed batsman, Yallop invariably batted near the top of the order for Australia during a stop-start international career that began in 1975–76 against the West Indies. In 1978, Yallop made history as the first player to wear a full helmet in a Test match. He also enjoyed a long and successful career with his home state Victoria, leading them to two Sheffield Shield titles.

In the 4th test he made 44 and 1, a test Australia came close to winning. After 43 against WA the 5th game saw him score 0 and 36 and 121 and 17 in the last. His 121 in the sixth Test at Sydney was a lone masterpiece as the team scored a meagre total of 198 and the second top score was 16. Yallop later said this was his greatest test innings.

However Yallop started the summer patchily again: 35 and 14 against Queensland, 61 and 9 against India, and 1 against Tasmania. He was overlooked for the first test in favour of Paul Hibbert, Gary Cosier, David Ogilvie, Craig Sergeant, Peter Toohey and Kim Hughes (12th man).

In a Victoria-Pakistan tour game, Yallop made 220. In the third test he made 68 and 14. The 4th test saw Yallop hit 268. A knock of 30 in the final test brought his series tally to an average of 92.33 in 5 tests.

Against Central Zone he made 21 and 40 not out, the latter after being promoted to opener. The third test saw him make 89 and 15 the 4th 21 and 25.