The Ashes Test at Lords 1972 and England players involved in that series maintain there was something odd about those amazing performances by Bob Massie. Some of them agreed with Ted Dexter’s theory that Lip-Ice, a greasy salve which keeps the lips moist, was used to make the ball swing. Ted Dexter ran the story in a Sunday newspaper after Massie’s two sensational Tests, after which Massie got just two wickets in the last two Tests, admittedly one of them on a spinners’ wicket at Leeds.
I’m sure we will never solve the mystery of Bob Massie and why he managed to swing the ball so astonishingly in two Tests, but the behavior of his captain throughout the decade underlined that Ian Chappell was more pragmatic than most when it came to winning matches—and why did Massie decline so spectacularly after the Lord’s and Trent Bridge Tests?
He dropped out of his state team, and when we saw him in Australia in 1974–5, he could hardly run up to bowl, and his swing had disappeared. To be fair to Bob Massie, his control at Lord’s was astonishing, and during a 60-over spell in that Test, he made experienced, technically proficient batsmen such as Geoffrey Boycott, John Edrich, and Luckhurst look lost. He even contrived to bowl Mike Smith around his legs! The further irony was that at the other end, Dennis Lillee bowled superbly yet took just four wickets in the match. His time came, though, again and again.
Rod Marsh dives to hold John Edrich (6) and give Australia the vital breakthrough on the fateful third day of the Lord’s Test—a day on which the England batting folded up as sensationally against Bob Massie as it had against B. S. Chandrasekhar last year. The pattern of the England innings can be seen from the fact that Gifford and Price, their Nos. 10 and 11, put up the highest partnership of the innings: 35! England’s top batsmen have obviously been shaken by Dennis Lillee and Bob Massie, although Geoff Boycott has yet to show his winning run-getting ability.
