Here’s a little story about a man named Greg

Former Australian captain Greg Chappell has given a light-hearted recall of the infamous underarm delivery nearly 40 years on, saying their next match in New Zealand was ‘‘like the Beverly Hillbillies’’.

A guest on the Seven Network’s The Front Bar show, Chappell was asked about the moment he ordered his younger brother Trevor to roll the final ball along the ground to New Zealand tailender Brian McKechnie, with six needed to tie the tri-series ODI finals cricket match in February, 1981.

Greg Chappell told the show: ‘‘I was having a beer with Geoff Howarth, who was New Zealand captain at the time, at the end of the game a couple of days earlier. We were going to New Zealand soon after this and Geoff was bemoaning the fact that we had huge crowds in Australia but in New Zealand he said ‘we don’t get anyone to turn up’.

‘‘[Howarth said] The All Blacks are the big thing and the cricket team run a very distant second, and we find it really hard to get people motivated to come and watch us. I said ‘leave it with me’,’’ Chappell said to laughter.

The next summer Australia toured New Zealand and the first ODI in Auckland drew a mammoth crowd with spectators crammed around the boundary rope.

Chappell likened some of the scenes to the old American TV sitcom, complete with livestock.

‘‘Funnily enough the response from the New Zealand team and the public has been fantastic. We went to New Zealand soon afterwards and the first one-dayer we played was at Eden Park and they turned up from everywhere, a lot of them,’’ Chappell told The Front Bar.

‘‘It was like Beverly Hillbillies – they all turned up, seriously, they’ve all come from the farm. As I walked out to bat there was a duck pushed out on the ground, there was a pig that was let loose, and next thing there was a lawn bowl came rolling out.’’

Chappell also related a meeting with then-Prime Minister Rob Muldoon, who had previously labelled the underarm delivery an act of cowardice and that ‘‘it was appropriate the Australians were wearing yellow’’.

Australia’s captain said he got a warm reception.

‘‘It was interesting. He hosted us at a Prime Minister’s function on the tour a few months later, and invited Geoff Howarth and myself to meet him in his office before we went to the function. And he said ‘listen, don’t worry too much about all that, you’ve got to do those things for the press’.

‘‘We had a very good night at his expense that night.’’

Asked about the idea to bowl underarm, Chappell said he hadn’t seen it done in a cricket match before but it had been discussed in the Australian camp.

At the time it was within the rules.

‘‘Doug Walters practised it. He couldn’t believe that Brian McKechnie just blocked the ball because Dougie used to flick the ball up with his front foot and then hit it out of the park.’’

Chappell said the relationship was fine with brother Trevor afterwards, despite the outpouring of anger from both sides of the Tasman.

‘‘As he said, ‘it was my older brother, what do I do? Just do as I’m told’. The funny thing is, I think if it had been anyone else I wouldn’t have asked them to do it.’’

‘‘It was like Beverly Hillbillies – they all turned up, seriously, they’ve all come from the farm.’’

Greg Chappell on the crowd at Eden Park in the wake of the underarm delivery

American Magic skipper Terry Hutchinson has complimented Team New Zealand’s new boat and wondered about its evolution as they get set to test themselves against the America’s Cup defenders.

American Magic have been off the water this week getting their boat ‘‘race ready’’ with official practices, including some practice races, to be held under the eye of regatta director Iain Murray and his officials next week.

That leads into the world series and Christmas Cup regatta on December 17-20 with American Magic set to take on the Kiwis in the fourth race of the opening day.

Team New Zealand have only had their new boat Te Rehutai on the water for the past two weeks since its belated launch and the boat’s precision has been turning heads.

The performance of Te Rehutai hasn’t been lost on Hutchinson whose reconnaissance team have been keeping a close eye on the Team New Zealand training sessions. ‘‘It’s exactly what you would expect from the defender of the America’s Cup,’’ Hutchinson told Stuff.

‘‘They are a great team with a lot of really smart people. It’s very well thought out, very meticulous in its design . . . they’ve done nice work in prioritising the aerodynamics and the hydrodynamics.’’

American Magic and the other two challengers, Luna Rossa and INEOS Team UK, will keep a close and wary eye on Team New Zealand in January and February when the Kiwis have two months to develop and refine Te Rehutai while the Prada Cup challenger series plays out.

‘‘The evolution of that boat will be interesting to watch,’’ said Hutchinson, who was part of Team New Zealand’s 2007 challenge in Valencia.

‘‘We all get the opportunity to test against each other in another week or so. But after December 20 they [Team New Zealand] go into hibernation in regard to racing other teams and the challengers get to go out and beat up on each other. So that’s a hard spot for the defender to be in.’’