EXCLUSIVE

Melbourne: Former opener Keith Stackpole, who turned out for Australia in the very first ODI, 44 years ago, spoke to The Telegraph on Saturday evening.

Now 74, Stackpole is based here.

Excerpts...

Q You played in the first-ever ODI, back in 1970-71, at the MCG. Today, what are your memories of that historic match?

A Actually, one school of thought is that an Australia-South Africa limited overs match, in Johannesburg, was the first... I played in that, too... But, officially, the one at the MCG is regarded as the very first... We were supposed to play a Test match, but the first three days got rained off. The idea of a 40-over match then took shape, largely to thank fans for their support. What I recall is that over 44,000 spectators turned up, but the gate earnings were around AUD 33,000 - less than one dollar per person. Can't imagine that in the present times.

[Australia then had eight-ball overs.]

How did the players approach the ODI?

We used to have limited overs matches in grade cricket, where we learnt that thrashing the ball wouldn't do. One had to build an innings... The ODI was important as there was plenty to play for in the Test series and runs would do batsmen no harm. We won by five wickets... I didn't get many runs, but my leg spin fetched three wickets. I did make a contribution.

Geoffrey Boycott was one of the openers for England...

( Laughs) Yeah... We had Bill Lawry, the captain, so they cancelled each other out.

Did you expect ODIs to become a rage, in the 1980s and in the 1990s?

Not at all. The ODIs really took off after Kerry Packer's WSC in the late 1970s... Before that, I remember Ian Chappell, the captain at that point in time, trying to convince me to play till the first World Cup, in 1975. But I knew my time was up and retired in 1974... Maybe, I should have played a year more.

Now, T20 is a rage...

I don't bother about the T20 format... T20 is artificial cricket. Some very ordinary players tend to look good in the T20 game... There's no responsibility on a batsman except to throw his bat around.

You still swear by Test cricket...

Definitely. Good Test players can play T20 cricket, but it won't work the other way. The bats are bigger and better, the boundaries are shorter, but Test cricket remains the ultimate.

Is the future of Test cricket secure?

I'm more worried about the future of the West Indies... Look at what the one-time champions have come down to... Do they have a team? The International Cricket Council has a problem on its hands and the fraternity must ensure that West Indies cricket is back on track.

Who're the batsmen you'd pay to watch in ODIs?

Brian Lara, Sachin Tendulkar, Mark Waugh, Viv Richards and Adam Gilchrist.

Some words on each of them...

 LARA: Provided edge of the seat excitement.

 TENDULKAR: Operated like a top surgeon, very precise.

WAUGH: Had the shots, had so much grace.

 RICHARDS: Magical, with a swagger to complement his game.

GILCHRIST: A vigorous batsman, a game-changer.

To talk of this World Cup, who're the batsmen who'll make the biggest impression?

( Pauses) Virat Kohli, David Warner and AB de Villiers... Kohli's approach and confidence stand out.

Nowadays, batsmen play a lot of outrageous shots. Are you left awestruck?

They look great when they come off, damn stupid when they don't. I don't have an issue with improvisation.

Finally... You and Lawry were at the crease when trouble erupted at Eden Gardens during the 1969-70 Test. Decades on, what are your recollections?

That a riot broke out and that the Indian team, led by (Mansur Ali Khan) Pataudi went off the field when, I think, we needed just one to win... The Indians came back and Pataudi told Lawry that he'd asked Subrata Guha to bowl a full toss. I was the striker and I hit it for a four. That was the only time in my career that I knew beforehand what the next ball would be... While the Indians had gone off, there was an incident involving a photographer who'd got to the square. Lawry kept asking him to leave, but he didn't. Lawry then tried to chase the photographer away... The poor chap fell down at the same time that Lawry's bat touched him... The impression created was that Lawry hit him. It was a prod, no more. The Test wasn't over and, so, the photographer had no business running on to the square... What I also recall is that Calcutta then had hammer and sickle flags all over the place. A different ideology was, clearly, gaining ground when we were there.