Tony Dell was a tall left-arm fast bowler and Australia’s 255th Test cricketer playing 2 Tests under Ian Chappell. His debut was against England in the seventh Test at Sydney (1970-71), where he took five wickets; opening the bowling with Dennis Lillee. Dell claimed six Test wickets at 26.66, and took 137 first-class wickets at 26.70 (best 6 for 17) before retiring at just 27 years old.
Cricket is only part of Delly’s fascinating story – he is the only living Australian to have played Test cricket and served in active combat having been called up for National Service and serving in the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Australian Regiment in Vietnam in 1967 & 1968. In an era where sport is too often likened to war as a marketing exercise, Tony knows all too painfully that sport, even at the highest level is just a game. Following retirement he experienced great highs and soul-destroying lows before being diagnosed with Post-traumatic Stress Disorder in 2008. Since he has created Stand Tall for PTS, an organisation to raise awareness of PTS. His is a great tale and we urge you to support Stand Tall 4 PTS
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What year you were born?
I was born in 1945, the day the Americans dropped the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima which effectively prompted the end of WW2. I was born in Hampshire England before moving to Brisbane at the end of 1959.
Can you remember you first game of cricket?
Not really. I guess I was about 10. By then we were living in Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire. I started as a wicket keeper batsman at school but when I played with the local kids after school we played against a big brick wall and there was no need for a keeper. That’s when I found out I could bowl a bit. I guess I became fixated on cricket with the 1956 Ashes on television and Jim Laker’s nineteen wickets in the Manchester Test. As a young Pom Peter May, Tom Graveney and Fred Trueman were my heroes. Fred had the most perfect side on action and I guess he was my role model, as was the Australian Ray Lindwall.
Tell us briefly about your cricketing journey?
After Hemel Hempstead we moved to Cardiff where I played at Howardian High School. I fractured my left knee cap in a fall running around a swimming pool. In those days it was six weeks in ankle to thigh plaster. It didn’t heal properly so it was another six weeks in plaster and I guess that took care of one season. However my cricket interest was kept alive by listening to the 1958/59 Ashes on Radio. I’ll always remember the time when Alan Davidson had England 3 for 7 in Melbourne I think it was.
I guess my real cricket journey began at Churchie at the end of 1959. I was in the same class as Denis Lillie and he asked me if I’d like to play in the form cricket competition just before the summer holidays. He said that two other classes were the favourites as they had all the gun players. Well, Denis with his leg spin and I cleaned them all up and we were the sub junior champions.
In which grade and at what age did you make your debut in grade cricket?
In first term of 1960 I was playing under 15C on concrete at Churchie. Gary Bird got me to go down to East’s and there I was playing under 17s on turf. By the 1960/61 season I was playing under 15A at Churchie and having my second season in the under 17s at East’s and then I made the Churchie firsts in 1961
At what age did you make your first grade debut in grade cricket and can you remember how you performed in debut?
At the beginning of the 1962/63 season I played in an East’s first grade trial and got my one and only hat trick. So, I made my first grade debut at 17 against Toombul. So, here was this young Pom playing with and against Peter Burge, Ken Mackay and Wally Grout who he had watched on TV and listened to on Radio just a few years earlier. I played two matches and had to go back to school cricket and win a couple of premierships.
If you can share with our audience, how would you describe yourself as a cricketer?
I could only classify myself as a bowler who invariably batted at number 11 and fielded passably.
What was your highest score in senior cricket?
I can lay claim to scoring 50 not out for Queensland against Toowoomba when Geoff Dymock and I put on a hundred for the last wicket. Can you believe that, my only 50 and a hundred partnership? Never before and never after. But my proudest batting performance was in a semi-final against Wynnum when Alan Kennedy and I resisted Rackemann, Maguire and Albury for a whole session to get to the final which we won.
What were your best bowling figures in senior cricket?
I don’t remember figures or wickets for that matter. It’s a PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) thing. I did get over 500 wickets for East’s in first grade. They are the only club I played for. I did get 12 for about 60 for Queensland against NZ when Greg Chappell got 180 and we knocked them over in two days. And I half remember a 6 for 14 against WA.
Who have been the best three fast bowlers you have played against?
I played with and against Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson and neither really needs an explanation. Dennis became the absolute consummate bowler after his back trouble. He was the sort of bowler you could expect to get a wicket with every ball he bowled. I can’t say that about anyone else. Jeffrey is well Jeffrey. He easily bowled at 170k before he damaged his shoulder. He was devastating and he took a certain Shield away from us in Sydney at the end of the 1973/74 season. The third bowler is Gary Gilmour. Very easy run up and a lovely action at the crease. He didn’t bowl quickly but he didn’t have to because of his inswing and control. On his day he was almost unplayable. I didn’t have room for Richard Hadlee.
Who has been the best three spinners you have played against?
Now that’s a hard one. Malcolm Franke always used to say “bloody Jenner and O’Keeffe, they are not fit to clean my boots.” But I will go with Terry Jenner as one. He was Shane Warne’s coach and mentor and I got him up here for a coaching camp at BBC. The plane was late and 40 boys were waiting at the centre wicket when he arrived. After a few quick words and still in his civvies he bowled six completely different balls all perfectly pitched. Ashley Mallett, his spin partner at South Australia is easily the best off spinner I have played against. He had perfect control and loop, drift and turn that Nathan Lyon would kill for. A third is hard but I’ll plump for Derek Underwood. Sometimes he bowled at almost medium pace and on a helpful wicket he was deadly. Hence his nickname.
Who has been the best 3 batsman you’ve played against?
My criteria here are batsman that hard to get out, elegant and had an array of shots which made them hard to bowl to. The two most obvious would be Greg Chappell and Barry Richards plus they are good blokes. The third may surprise you. He is Bill Buckle from University. He scored a double hundred in Shield Cricket which tells you he had ability. As a bowler, there are batsmen in your cricketing life who you just hate bowling to. Rooster was mine. I’d get to the top of my run and say to myself what now. On the old Bottomley Park number one he actually hooked me onto the train line.
Who played the best innings you’ve seen firsthand playing with or against?
We played a one day game in Adelaide against South Australia. They had Barry Richards and the two Chappells. I think they scored about 260 which was massive in those days. Everyone at the ground including us never gave us a chance. We were in trouble early and then Phillip Carlson and Tom Graveney came together. The master and the apprentice. They put together the most sublime partnership I have ever seen. Tom scored 90 odd and Phillip 70 plus. We won and I will never forget their batting that day. I had lunch with Jeff Hammond just recently, 45 years since we’d last seen each other. He brought up the subject of that match. The SACA’s couldn’t believe they had lost.
Was there any batsman in particular that stirred the emotions and competitive spirit where you really wanted their wicket?
Yes. Bill Buckle and I would have liked to have knocked Boycott over.
Who was the best wicket keeper you’ve seen firsthand playing with or against?
Peter Anderson with daylight second, third and fourth and I’m not alone in that assessment.
Who are the two players you admired most in terms of skills and competitive spirit in the competitions you played?
I will go outside of first class cricket here because most of them had skill and for some of them the game was easy. I’ll go for two of my club mates especially in that premiership season. The first is Alan Kennedy who just bowled his heart out every day. He did a bit this way and a bit that way and kept knocking blokes over. The second is Gus Millman, uncle of John Millman. He was our keeper and not all that far behind Ando. He didn’t really look like he would be good but he was. He played well above his weight and he scored important runs for us too.
Who was the best captain you had the good fortune to play with?
I played under Ian Chappell and Greg Chappell but I can’t go past Daryl King who taught me everything I knew about the game. His bowling changes and field placings couldn’t be questioned. He was a natural and you just busted your gut for him.
Who has been your funniest team mate?
Billy Albury who I would have to put in that Alan Kennedy category. In Shield Cricket he just kept keeping on. He thought about playing for East’s before he went to Wynnum. What an opportunity we missed. Bill would constantly have us in stitches with his down to earth opinions.
Can you recall some banter or an exchange on the cricket field that still makes you laugh today?
I’ve told you the Malcolm one. My memory is not good for others
What was your most embarrassing dismissal in senior cricket?
My first two wickets in Shield Cricket were Ken Eastwood caught down the leg side. One in the first inning and one in the second innings
Who was your childhood hero?
Duncan Edwards who played for Manchester United and was killed in the Munich Air Disaster at 18. He was a star. After that it was half the Surrey Cricket team.
Who are the three sports people in the world you’d most like to meet?
David Beckham, Jimmy Anderson and Serena Williams
Who’s your favourite cricket commentator?
Jim Maxwell as a commentator plus he brought me and Sally back together when he interviewed me in 2015.
What was your favourite ground to play at?
The SCG
What there a particular team you especially looked forward to playing against?
NSW in Shield cricket and Norths in club cricket. In both cases they had terrific blokes in their teams. We played hard on the field and enjoyed each other’s company off the field.
What do you enjoy most about playing cricket?
I guess I was pretty good at it. I got to see parts of the country I might not have seen otherwise. Catching up with the likes of David Colley and Jeff Hammond so many years later brings back super memories and I just love running into Bill Albury every now and then. If I hadn’t played cricket I wouldn’t be with Sally now.
What’s been your most memorable moment in cricket?
That would be a toss-up between being selected for East’s first grade at 17, being finally selected for Queensland, being selected for Australia and winning a premiership with East’s.
What’s the best win you’ve been involved with?
Beating Valleys in a grand final and the one day win for Queensland v South Australia in Adelaide is up there.
Who are the three players from your playing days at the top of the list for a Saturday afternoon barbeque?
Peter Evans, Phillip Carlson and Greg Chappell. Plus Kingy if he was alive.
What are your hobbies?
I have no hobbies but I run a totally volunteer entity called Stand Tall for PTS which creates awareness and promotes better treatment for Veterans and First Responders. It is now the leading organisation of its kind in Australia. I founded it after I was finally diagnosed with PTSD 40 years after I came home from Vietnam in 1968. Just as a piece of trivia I’m the only living person to have been involved in military combat and played Test cricket. Good eh??
What’s the best advice you’ve received?
Told to go to the Vietnam Veterans Drop in Centre to ask about replacement medals at a time when I had lost everything including my family. That was when they told me I had PTSD. As a result I got a pension and Gold Card and my life back, it maybe even saved it.
What is your current occupation?
Stand Tall for PTS. Look out for some big announcements
Are you still involved in cricket and if so, in what capacity?
I spent 8 years telling Sutherland, Howard and AB what a crock the Argus report was and now they all hate me. But everything I told them would happen…..has happened and cricket is up the proverbial. I am a very firm believer that the demise of side on bowling destroyed the ability to swing the ball as we used to and Shane Warne is the last slow bowler to really turn the ball. The modern coach has no idea about side on technique in bowling and batting for that matter. I talk to a group of first grade bowlers but they are too far gone to change. And, they don’t really believe what we used to be able to do with the ball.
If you were running Cricket QLD what would be your 2 priorities to ensure cricket in the state remained strong and successful on and off the field?
Get rid of pathways and pay Cameron Tradell, the best junior coach in the world to coach our coaches.
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