Auckland: Former Australian international Trevor Chappell shares one of the most famous names in cricket and the stigma of one of its most infamous incidents.

On February 1, 1981, on the instructions of his elder brother Greg ? the then Australia captain and current India coach ? Trevor bowled underarm the last ball of a ODI against New Zealand at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

His action, designed to prevent tailender Brian McKechnie from hitting a six to tie the match, shocked the cricket world, soured relations between New Zealand and Australia, and earned Trevor and Greg Chappell notoriety which has lasted quarter of a century.

On Wednesday, to mark the 25th anniversary of the “underarm incident,” the principal characters in the episode, including Chappell and McKechnie, gathered in Auckland to recall and partially recreate the incident.

The Trans-Tasman Business Circle hosted a lunch at which Trevor, McKechnie and Bruce Edgar, who scored a century in the match and was at the non-striker’s end when the ball was bowled, spoke of the lasting effect of the incident on their lives.

Trevor went on to a coaching career, taking charge of Bangladesh immediately after their admission to Test cricket.

McKechnie, one of few sportsmen to play both rugby and cricket for New Zealand, never played another international cricket match but became a New Zealand selector.

Neither has been able to escape the legacy of the incident.

“I bowled 736 deliveries in international cricket and only one of them was underarm,” Trevor said on Wednesday.

“It was the only significant one that I bowled,” he added. “I do a lot of coaching these days and kids who were clearly born after 1981 say, ‘are you the guy who bowled the underarm,’ and sort of laugh. I say, ‘yeah, thanks mate.’