Underarm documentary delivers

Tunnel Vision Malcolm Hopwood

When it comes to sporting contact with Australia we remain punitive and immature. That’s what I felt when NZ On Air funding was spent on highlighting a grievance that needs to be put to rest.

But I was wrong. The documentary Underarm: The Ball That Changed Cricket (Prime, Monday) was objective and impressive.

It retold the story, showed the images, interviewed everyone who could offer an opinion and concluded that underarm was unnecessary because Australia was going to win anyway. Melbourne Cricket Ground is bigger than Sandringham Estate and Prince Philip can drive for days without hitting anyone.

Mckechnie, batting at Number 10, simply couldn’t do it. As former Aussie captain Kim Hughes said, Mckechnie ‘‘couldn’t hit the skin off a rice pudding’’. I’m sure if a rice pudding was interviewed it would admit its skin was intact.

The doco, narrated by Eric Young, was balanced and generous. Greg Chappell stuck to his story that he’d ‘‘had a gutsful’’ and his actions were a protest against his cricket board, which made little sense.

Kiwi captain Geoff Howarth related how wicketkeeper, Rod Marsh, apologised to him and we again saw Martin Snedden catching Chappell but it was disallowed. Afterwards he said ‘‘there was a definite feeling that Aussie umpires weren’t to be trusted.’’

However, the casualty was younger brother Trevor Chappell, instructed to bowl the underarm. Nearly 40 years on he still looks shattered. His reputation was maligned by one delivery.

If he plays lawn bowls, I hope one day he’ll pick up the bowl, deliver a smart overarm to smash the kitty and then give his brother a one finger salute.

While we’re still in retribution, we should also re-enact the 1978 rugby test against Wales when Andy Haden collapsed his limbs and fell from the lineout to cause an infringement.

He did, Wales was penalised and, ironically, Brian Mckechnie kicked the goal. We won 13-12.

Cricket has its underarm, rugby has its underleg and we’ve conveniently forgotten.

Oscar Kightley presents an intriguing travelogue called Following Twain (TV One, Saturdays).

It’s ‘‘once over lightly’’ Kightley as he traces the steps of Mark Twain who visited New Zealand in the 1880s.

To understand it, you need to remember Twain wrote the children’s classic, Tom Sawyer.

In Dunedin Twain met Thomas Hocken, a physician and artefact collector. I’m not sure about the significance of the meeting.

More importantly, Hocken, in his tireless research, rescued the Treaty of Waitangi which he found rolled up in a corner of a Wellington basement.

Thank you Thomas, without you we wouldn’t have a holiday.

Twain also visited South Canterbury and Kightley attempts to connect Twain with future characters such as Timaru blacksmith Bob Fitzsimmons – the Freckled Freak – who won three world boxing titles, including the heavyweight championship in 1897.

But there’s one story Oscar missed. It concerned the headmistress of Timaru Girls High who had the wonderful name of Nora Dickie.

When she retired, the city’s memorial hall was named after her. It became the home of South Canterbury Drama League.

When they decided to present a famous West End comedy, the announcement went viral.

It read South Canterbury Drama League presents No Sex Please, We’re British at the Nora Dickie Memorial Hall.

Timaru was on the map globally.