The man who came up with Australia’s game-changing bowling tactics for their 34-year drought-breaking win in India nearly didn’t make it.
Michael Kasprowicz, who starred on the 2004 tour and played all four Tests, has revealed that he was approached to make a sensational code switch to rugby union.
A former Australian Schoolboy, Kasprowicz was sounded out whether he wanted to make a switch to the 15-man game in 2001 by the Australian Rugby Union, after he was dropped for the Ashes series and didn’t secure a Cricket Australia contract.
“I was approached by the ARU to see if I was interested,” Kasprowicz told foxsports.com.au, as part of a wider retrospective look back back on the epic 2001 tour of India 20 years on.
“I played schoolboys rugby as well. Well this was the whole thing, because I had been dropped, I was off contract and going back to Shield cricket, there was an inquiry whether I would like to go and play club rugby by the ARU because at the time they were looking at bringing some other footballers over.”
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At the same time, the ARU and then-Wallabies coach Eddie Jones were in the process of luring Wendell Sailor and Mat Rogers over from the NRL.
Lote Tuqiri, who scored in the Wallabies’ famous extra time Rugby World Cup Final loss to England at the Olympic Stadium in 2003, became the third headline name to switch codes a year later.
Extraordinarily, Kasprowicz, the 1.94m quick, was being looked at to join a potential new franchise like Melbourne, which eventually came into existence in 2011 – five years after the Western Force became the fourth Australian Super Rugby side.
20 YEARS ON — READ OUR THREE-PART FEATURE SERIES ON AUSTRALIA IN INDIA, 2001
PART ONE: ‘Thieves in the night’ – Inside Australia’s 16th straight Test win
PART TWO: The gruelling 10-hour torture that brought Australia to its knees and ‘changed cricket’ forever
PART THREE: ‘You screwed our series’ – Waugh’s gift to India’s hero after shattering ‘final frontier’ dream
There was a precedent of rugby players playing rugby too, with Jeff Wilson playing cricket for New Zealand before going on to play 60 matches for the All Blacks.
“Lote Tuqiri, Mat Rogers, Wendell, were joining, and they were looking at others with high profile,” Kasprowicz said.
“They were looking at a Melbourne team and how to add some profile, and they said they could put some size on me, and having represented Australia at schoolboys, it was one of those appealing things.”
At the time, Kasprowicz weighed up the decision because he had missed out on a Cricket Australia contract, but also because of his treatment following the extraordinary Indian tour in 2001.
Having played a part in the three-match Test series, Kasprowicz was a last-minute call-up for the one-dayers following an injury to Jason Gillespie.
But with Kasprowicz already on the bus and ready to bid the rest of the Test team who weren’t taking part in the ODI’s farewell, the quick was told he wasn’t required only to find out that he didn’t have plane ticket home either.
“I was told at the time, all the Test players were going home with physio Errol Alcott, but the players in the one day team were getting on the bus and saying bye to the others and I was told that I was staying on because of Dizzy’s [Gillespie] injury,” Kasprowicz recalls.
“I’m staying and I thought, ‘beauty, awesome’, [manager] Steve Bernard gave me an envelope with some rupees for the next week. I’m sitting on the bus, saying goodbye to JL [Justin Langer], Funky [Colin Miller], ‘see ya boys,’ only for Steve Bernard to walk up the isle of the bus and say, ‘I’ve got some bad news, they’ve chosen Shane Lee to come over for the one dayers’.
“So I said, ‘OK, what does that mean?’ He said, ‘unfortunately, you can’t stay, you’ve got to go with others.’
“I’ve stood up and said, ‘Right, awesome boys, I’ll see you later, have fun.’
“As I go, Steve Bernard says, ‘I need those per diems back.’
“I said, ‘thanks boys, good luck.’
“Of which, Steve Waugh says, ‘Are you joking? Unbelievable.’
“It even got worse. I go to the airport that evening with the others. Everyone else has gone through. I was with Errol Alcott, we were the last, and all of sudden there was no booking. So I’m left standing at the airport with all my bags. They had forgotten to book me on the flight.”
Fortunately for Kasprowicz, after some shrewd dealing from Alcott the big Aussie quick managed to get on the flight as another poor soul was bumped.
The disappointed continued, with Kasprowicz missing out on the successful Ashes tour later that year and a national contract too.
Ultimately, however, after speaking with his brother, Simon, who played for the Waratahs, and others, Kasprowicz opted to stay in cricket. It was a decision he was glad he came too.
“I was flattered and said, ‘Thanks but no thanks’,” the right-arm quick, who took 113 wickets in 38 Tests said.
“That was the most extraordinary thing that there was an inquiry. One door shuts, but here’s an opportunity to live a lifelong dream of playing for the Wallabies.”
“My brother played schoolboys, captain of 21s, a far better player than me and I had a good chat to him. He was absolute gun and even he couldn’t crack the Wallabies, he played Super Rugby for NSW.
“I played second-row. The evolution, I wouldn’t be tall enough now. That’s where they said, if we can get some size on you [you’d be a chance]. That’s why we would want to see you play club rugby. But with insurance, you couldn’t just do that.”
Kasprowicz went on to play starring roles in the winning campaigns of Sri Lanka and India as he became a mainstay in the Australian team during 2004.
It was also his tactics that Australia opted ahead of the 2004 Indian tour that proved decisive to their overall success, as Adam Gilchrist and Ricky Ponting oversaw their first series triumph in India in 34 years.
“Rather than breaking any records [of drinking on planes], I remember speaking catching up with Dizzy and said, ‘What do you think about this?’” Kasprowicz tells foxsports.com.au.
“Dizzy and I then went and spoke to Buck [Australian coach John Buchanan] and Pigeon [Glenn McGrath] and that’s where I like to think the idea and the concept was born — and I had something to do with the idea.”
You can read part four in foxsports.com.au’s retrospective’s feature series on Australia in India on Thursday.