For England, the principal resistance came from veteran opening batsman John Edrich and David Steele, who received a maiden international cap after a decade of county cricket for Northants and whose silver-haired, bespectacled appearance led the press to dub him "the bank clerk who went to war". Steele went on to be named the BBC Sports Personality of the Year 1975, the first cricketer to win the accolade since Jim Laker in 1956. Nonetheless, in the absence of Geoffrey Boycott, the batting was again broadly unable to withstand the pace-bowling partnership of Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson, with swing bowler Max Walker providing admirable support; the trio shared 51 wickets in the four Tests. The tour was Ian Chappell's last as captain; he met with considerable success with the bat, compiling Australia's highest aggregate, but announced his retirement from the captaincy following the final Test.