Chapman, Steve

The Player

A left-arm orthodox spinner of great talent, Steve Chapman (also known in the cricketing world as simply “Diggla”) has had a patchwork career, marked by moments of greatness, but often failing to find favour with the selectors, despite being one of the few spinners in the Scarborough Club who can single-handedly win matches.

Diggla’s greatest gift is that of flight, bowling to perfection the classic slow left armer's delivery that curls into the batsman and dips. As he has matured he has become more accurate, and he varies his pace cleverly. His run up is long for a spinner, and idiosyncratic. Starting with the ball in his right hand, he throws himself a catch to his left hand in the first two paces, after which he makes the third stride a hop on his left foot before approaching the wicket conventionally.

At times Diggla resorts to containment by bowling wide of the leg stump from over the wicket, but he takes more wickets with a conventional approach. His other nickname "Splinta" refers to his propensity for chasing fat chicks whenever the opportunity arises, rather than any Ninja turtle tendencies he used to have. He has had a deserved reputation as an extremely weak fielder especially catcher, but over time has improved to the point where he can occasionally pull off quite startling stops. His batting is ineffective, showing a distinct dislike for any hostile bowling above medium pace, and he is normally placed eleven in the order which is still occasionally too high.

First picked for Scarborough in 1999-2000, Chapman made his mark in his second game by taking 0/65, but he has never established himself in the Scarborough side. Much-publicised domestic difficulties, resulting in a court appearance, did little to dispel rumours of a difficult temperament in his younger days in Dunedin N.Z. He was even known deliberately to bowl leg-side long-hops when not given the field setting he asked for.

On his day, Diggla blends aggression, patience and guile to take wickets, and even on a non-turning wicket can be relied upon to hold an end down for most of a session. On a "raging bunsen" he can be unplayable. He has matured with age, both on and off the field, and his omission from the First team this season, when he was clearly the best spinner in Scarborough , was a puzzle to many. The Scarborough selectors have continually overlooked him, although he did win the attention of international selectors to be chosen for The World All Stars XI which played a WA Wankers XI in a one-day match earlier this year. In something of a microcosm of his career, he managed to put down both Garry Powell and Shane Excell off his own bowling before getting them both out.

Diggla continued to enhance his reputation as the best spinner in the compettion, and in the 2000/2001 season he went past the 10 wicket mark as he took exactly 5 at more than 268.68 each. At the end of the season, he was still 23 runs short of reaching 100 runs, despite going out to bat on 334 occasions!

Diggla was never going to get a recall to the Scarborough First team to fill an all-rounder's role, but his bowling was such that he forced his way back into the Thirds team to face Green Range at City Beach Oval at the end of last season. On a flat pitch and against an outstanding batting line-up, his figures disappointed his army of fans; he took one wicket for 174 in his 39 overs. To be fair he bowled better than those figures would indicate, but it was not enough to gain him selection in the First team this season

Name: Steve Chapman

Height: 4' 3"                                                                   

Debut: 1999 / 2000

Nickname: Splinta. Diggla, Dirk

Status: I've always got a couple of girls on the tow

Previous Clubs: Somewhere in NZ

Favourite Saying: "She was tidy"

Favourite Drink: Kahula and milk with protein powder

Favourite Food: Lamb chops with mint sauce

Favourite Movie: Boogie Nights, Orgazmo

Favourite Past-time: Ringing "Intro Line"

Favourite Book: Penthouse, Muscle & Fitness

Favourite Hobby: Carrying invisible rolls of carpet under my arms

Favourite Chat Up Line: I've been working out, I'm fucking huge!!

Favourite Nite Spot: The Bog, Northbridge

Greatest Sporting Moment: Dropping a catch to lose a game last season

What would you be if you weren't a star cricketer: A porn star

What's the best advice your mother gave you? "It's not the quality, it's the quantity" and "the bigger the better son"

Worst moment in life: When my brother Terry Diggla returned to Victoria earlier this year