How Loan Star Radford Finally Earned Lord's Trust
Sydney Morning Herald
Thursday November 7, 2002
Steve Waugh is one of many Australians who believe that the holders of the Ashes should have possession of the Ashes urn. But, if past experience is any guide, the chances of this happening lie somewhere between remote and zero.
Lord's did lend the urn to Australia in 1988 the first and only time it has parted with the trophy in 120 years but the story, previously untold, of how this happened offers little hope it will happen again. It is told by former NSW cricket boss Bob Radford, who, as organiser of Sydney's 1988 Bicentennial Test against England, had the job of persuading Lord's to send out the urn for the occasion.
Radford began by approaching a Lord's committeeman in person in London who clearly thought the idea preposterous. ``The answer is definitely no," he said.
Undeterred, Radford wrote to Lord's, which wrote back telling him that what he was seeking was out of the question. Radford persisted, and eventually Lord's agreed to lend the urn provided it was transported by private plane.
Radford approached businessman Ron Brierley, but the cricket devotee's jet did not have the flying range. Just as he was about to turn to jet owner Kerry Packer, Radford read that Prince Charles and Diana would be visiting Australia. He phoned the Australian High Commissioner in London, Doug McClelland, who called Buckingham Palace to confirm that the royal couple would be travelling on an RAF plane and secured the palace's agreement to ferry the urn out.
``They had tried to erect every obstacle," Radford recalls. ``So in triumph I wrote to Lord's and said: `How about this? I've got a non-commercial plane to bring the Ashes out.' Charles and Di's plane! They were stuffed. They had to agree."
An hour or so after Charles and Diana had disembarked, Radford travelled by police car to the Qantas air base, where VIPs arrive, and was handed the urn by an RAF officer. It was in a box secured by a padlock, and Radford was under strict instructions to keep it locked while he took it under police escort to the vault of the State Bank in Martin Place.
The urn was kept at the bank for the 10 days it was in Australia and, each day, watched by armed guards, it was brought out for display by officials wearing white gloves. Long queues of people inspected it, among them Don Bradman, who had reportedly never seen it.
Did Radford get to touch the sacred object? ``Yes I did. I shouldn't have, but nobody saw me.
``When I first took it to the bank one of the guards asked to see it. I replied I wasn't supposed to unlock the padlock, but by this time we were in the safe deposit area, all the doors were locked, so I said, `Bugger it', and opened the box, took it out and held it in my hand."
Last year, Steve Waugh said: ``It isn't really much of a prize if you can't touch it and can't have it."
Radford shares this view. ``This has always been the bugbear: we win the Ashes but we don't win the trophy .. even a little kid who wins a race at school gets to take the trophy home."
He doubts Lord's will let the urn go again. ``They were terrified of what might happen to it. The funny thing is it would probably be worth two and six at a garage sale. No, I don't think it will ever leave Lord's again under any circumstances. It doesn't matter who asks them or how important the occasion is. To them, it's the most precious thing in the world."
© 2002 Sydney Morning Herald
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