In this week’s episode we talk to Tony Dell, veteran of the Vietnam War, Australian Test cricketer and one time resident of Cardiff and pupil at the Hawardian School for Boys.
Tony was born in Hampshire but moved to Wales in 1956 when his father was seconded to the Hoover Company based in Cardiff. He attended the Hawardian school where he had his first sporting experiences.
The Hoover Company again called on the Dell family to move to Australia. On arrival here, Tony’s sporting career really took off with him playing rugby and cricket. In the early 1960s he played club cricket and then Sheffield Shield. He remembers vividly being given bowling advice in these early years by Alan Davidson.
Just as his cricket career was beginning to take off the Australian government called on Tony to join up and go to Vietnam. He was called up via a lottery system, trained and then sent to Vietnam.
Tony talks about his return from Vietnam, his successes on the cricket field and his eventual call up for Australia against England in the Ashes Series of 1971. He remembers some of the players he played with and against including Alan Knott, Basil D’Olivera, Ian and Greg Chappel, Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thompson. Tony gives us his view of both these fantastic fast bowlers.
We talk about the decline that took place in Tony’s life and his discovery of the fact that he had been suffering from undiagnosed Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder for many years. He lost his house, business and ended up living in his mother’s garage. Even in the darkest of times he found that cricket helped him get through as he coached his son. He talks about meeting other veterans who helped him to get back on his feet and his decision to launch charity dedicated to spreading awareness of Post Traumatic Stress in the armed forces and first responders.
The charity he formed is called Stand Tall for PTS and can be found here:
The song that is played at the end of the episode was written by Tony and the video accompanying it can be seen on YouTube here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xah52LzLMDg
For anyone interested in learning more about Post Traumatic Stress and those who campaign around the issue in the UK you could try checking out Combat Stress here:
https://combatstress.org.uk/
The Once Upon a Time in the Ashes Podcast is a marvellous celebration of Test cricket and its episodes can be found here:
https://onceuponatimeintheashes.com/
Many thanks to those at the Roath Local History Group who published the article about Tony that drew our attention to his story. You can read the article here:
https://roathlocalhistorysociety.org/2022/01/16/tony-dell-howardian-pupil-who-played-in-the-ashes-for-australia/