Cricket in the 50s

[Music] Australia at the dawn of the 1950's was indeed a lucky country it was a self-sufficient country with negligible unemployment spiralling wool prices booming factory output and the universal dream of homeownership was fast becoming a reality as we came to terms with with greater and greater affluence there was an extraordinary range of sporting pursuits and pastimes in Australia 1950s and in a cricketing context the thing that defines the 1950s is the absence of bradman Brandner had gone and we knew there was going to be a downturn in crowds and with the Holden car arriving round about the same time people can be doing other things although the 1950s was an economic boom time for Australia this was not taste for cricketers it was a time when sports were considered to be a pastime rather than a profession yet Australia undertook an unprecedented eight overseas tours during the decade at a time when players also had to hold down a full-time job in order to support their family it was tough if you've got a family to remit money home which you have to decide whether you're into a remit at home so you could freeze you off and if you had any kids we could do that for the first time australia would play matches in every corner of the known cricket world new markets emerge Davidson Sobers and Truman would soon become household names as cricket strove to maintain his popularity as the king of summer games in Australia [Music] pulling into Durban ahead of time on a very dull wit morning the Nestor brings the Australian cricket team to South Africa central figure as he will be throughout the tour was their captain Lindsey hazard the first Australian captain post Bradman was Lindsay hazard who led Australia on a six-month tour of South Africa during the summer of 1949-50 although hazard had captained the Australian services team at the end of the war and had been a faithful deputy to Don Bradman his appointment was no certainty the things that were held against houses were the fact that he was an irreverent rather anti-establishment figure and he is that he was Catholic and Australia hadn't had a Catholic captain since Warwick Armstrong in 1921 and before that Percy MacDonald in the 1880s and there were still vestiges of the sectarian divide in Australian society pass it only secured the Australian captaincy by a margin of one vote over Arthur Morris have a very fond of Lindsey Harrison and I appreciated what he done for us trailing cricket is such a great cricketer I would never ever in fact I would never have gone to sell their free career if they don't turned out that I would have been Catelyn he has and fast Kevin bring both captain Dudley north spins the coin Lindsey has it called correctly Australia under hazards leadership went through this tour of South Africa undefeated however the third Test in Durban turned out to be the Great Escape we got caught on a sticky wicket now Durban climate is very much like the Brisbane climate you get those heavy thunderstorms and then the Sun comes out and banks the top of the wickets underneath there's mud and it makes betting a little bit difficult after South Africa had scored 311 Australia were routed for a paltry 75 runs South African off-spinner heute a field took seven wickets for 23 with more thunderstorms predicted for later in the match South African captain Dudley North decided not to enforce the follow-on Dudley North so it well I'm gonna bet again and catch these blokes on another sticky in a dire saves time but unfortunately for Lee the storm didn't come the only storm came from the Australian bowlers who dismissed South Africa in their second innings for only 99 leaving Australia to score 336 to win the match at one stage Australia was struggling at 3 4 59 this brought Neil Harvey to try and retrieve Australia's failing prospects havely supported by Sam Loxton 21 year old Neil Harvey played one of the finest innings that has ever been played by the term he reached his century certain defeat had been averted and Australia had a chance of winning in extra blade Australian knocked off the necessary runs to win by five wickets it was Neil Harvey who scored the winning run to give us Freddy of the rubber and even the umba fought for a souvenir of a great performance I think this was probably go down was probably the best things in my opinion anyway though ever played in Test cricket it took me about five and half hours to make hundred and fifty one not out but it was contrary to the way I normally played the game because I like to get on with it I used to play like to play a few shots and whatever but on this particular pitch you couldn't do it it was a matter of survival picking up the runs and when you could against two fine spin balls in the summer of 1950 51 England arrived in Australia for the first post Bradman ashes series well I thought we picked a bad side we left behind experienced batsmen and I think we made a big mistake then we took a lot of inexperienced young players even though Bradman was gone the crowds flocked to see stars like Keith Miller and Raylan doing battle with the old enemy australia won the series 4-1 however some of the matches were closed when England won the fifth Test in Melbourne it was there for tree over Australia since 1938 they were wonderful chess matches to watch and of course they were all untrammeled by the commercialism that we know today you could see who was playing bareheaded Neil Harvey bareheaded Keith Miller the dashing Keith Miller he was out there and be probably fair to say that most people who were interested in cricket at that stage and probably a few weren't that interested in cricket were all Miller fans so going to that later all dad sit down with dad and he just say to me you know look what Miller does you know what's what Miller's doing and just look what Miller did with the first three balls of a day's play during the fourth test in a before bed so again tune villainville attracts the next winners again [Applause] [Music] now a very deep fielder's had to slip down deep in cover as the moon [Music] [Applause] so remember me Neddy foot 3/4 left first first three poses that was a day I'll just probably bowled about 30 hours a day before even I was a bit stiff I suppose one thing that sticks in my mind 50:51 with Miller he what a great athlete he was because he was running and he slid his bat and the bat jammed into the to the turf and I mean he would have skewered himself except that he was such a great athlete he just hurdled over the bat the following year saw the Australian authorities take a significant step forward in terms of broadening its cricketing horizons the game was becoming a little more internationalized in that in 51 - John garaad's multiracial West Indies visited Australia and it was quite a series there were some thrilling finishes the West Indies side had stars like the spin twins Rama Dean and Valentine and the three WS Worrell weeks and Walcott when Warren Miller were the two boys who we were concerned about more than any other I think me and Graham pretty well my style of batting I found involved more difficult because of the wrong arm type of bowling when we did go to Australia in 51:52 it was on radio even though it was short wave and the crackly sounds coming into the middle of the night I think not added to the the whole mystique of it that West Indies in Australia people here wondered how we could actually play cricket in the middle of the night no wonder Miller and their more were that quick they couldn't see it we were not all that good as as a combination where individuals played well but as a team I think brilliant they were very good side but I don't think they knew had a win at that stage and in one test in Melbourne Bill Johnston and daggering got the runs - to win the game in the Melbourne Test match the West Indies were on the verge of an historic victory when Australia's last wicket pair ring and Johnston managed to score the required 38 runs in a heart-stopping finish the course dagon build wonderful sensitive here and they're laughing their default waiting the game for us [Music] the following summer 1952-53 against South Africa saw the emergence of a number of young players who would have a profound impact on Australian cricket over the next decade Colin MacDonald an opening bat from Victoria Alan Davidson a left-handed all-rounder from New South Wales and Richie Benaud a hard-hitting batsman and leg spin bowler so from New South Wales the three selectors were Bill Brown Jack Ryder and full writings it was captain of the South Australian side I can remember in the Australian living game against South Africa the scg I made some runs in the first innings and got some in the second and hold out or Percy Mansell right out on the boundary it was going for six and someone indeed on someone called a dressing room Phil said son don't do that because selectors like myself we've got to justify your being in the side and we'd much rather you make 50 than 39 and be caught on the boundary however the real sensation of the summer was 17 year old Ian Craig who starred for New South Wales in the match against South Africa as a hundred not out on the end of the first night and the following morning Sid Barnes he was batting with at the time as we walked out he said we'll look if you get a hundred you've got a hundred and that's nice but if you get two hundred for a member you and you will probably get a tour to England Craig scored 213 not out and became the youngest player to wear the baggy green cap when he was selected to play in the fifth Test in Melbourne he impressed with scores of 53 and 47 and secured his place on the England tour just walking out was yeah huge because I'd never played in front of a crowd it started off at probably 25 30 hours and and built at nearly 50 so that there was that excitement in the crowd of the the chatter and everything that was going on and you felt that when you're out there this was a time before traveling by air was commonplace so in 1953 the players enjoyed a leisurely four-week journey by ship to England the boy from Parramatta had never been on a ship in his life before it hadn't even been on a rowboat in the Parramatta River and then get on this big ship the Orca DS that was going to take us for four weeks doing black tie and second sitting captain's table everyday for all meals and just brilliant and never even thought that I might be doing that Neil Harvey and I roomed together on the boat and at four o'clock he woke me up and said come on we're gonna go and watch this boat dock were in two to Barry we were there rather than there Southampton we watched it come in it was the most impressive thing the opening match of the England tour was played at the picturesque ground at Worcester he a young lien Craig and Richie Benaud watched their first cricket match played under English conditions for the young guys over most of us were non-drinkers and which sort of do these bus trip game having finished one game at six o'clock in the afternoon have to go on to the next place to start the following morning the older guys had mostly been to the war I had that comradeship amongst them and they drank a fair bit these chaps who had been through a war period enjoyed the companionship that comes from that so environment we'd love to hop off in a pub and have a beer and talk to the locals wasn't much fun for us they left out in the bus contemplating when we're going to get the bid 1953 was also the coronation year of queen elizabeth ii here prinster robert menzies chess with Richie Benaud and Neil Harvey on the day of the coronation the Australian players were given the opportunity to view the procession from close range we felt it was a great honor to be invited to see a close range the coronation there was another factor their war was war hadn't been over very long Australia was very close to Great Britain economically politically [Applause] the test matches provided some nail-biting finishes at Lord's on the final day England's when Willie Watson and Trevor Bailey mounted a rearguard action blur kept up his most an attack but just as Watson withstood it at one end said it barely at the other Bailey went on stoutly to pass his 15 next Watson reached his century under the under the 9 he was out would England be able to keep it up till 6:30 what's in any way information he received and they they went the English spectators got more anxious than ever man well made Bailey Bailey she said to himself this can be done we can do this we can we can save this match of course Watson couldn't have done it without Bailey Bailey couldn't have done it without Willie at the other end but we were disappointed his crowd of needs four in total of 205 in Evelyn's 117 to win and 115 minutes in which to get the run passage and his men went for the runs at once it's made a quick 38 javed to was in fine form and there was plenty of fast work between the wickets we played by the clock 50% of us thought I said to Lin do you want to save this because I'll stop them and I bought leg theory which I bought before he started bowing around the wicket to me borrowing whiteout on the creases he possibly could and the ball was almost hitting the square leg umpire they're going diagonally across the pitch and I just couldn't reach him when the last ball was bowled Australia were 30 runs short of victory I mean in 32 win and if they'd the amount of hours to Bowl like they should have had as but today's rulings where they got the runs quite comfortably and we're do one less and where to go into into the Oval one up instead of being square after the first four tests at each ended in a draw the fate of the ashes came down to the last day of the last test at the oval the BBC cancelled all its scheduled programming to give extended coverage to the cricket and Paul runs needed now will this baccata bun stroke or for others to get [Applause] yes for the first time in 20 years England had regained the ashes the crowd just erupted and I mean almost three-quarters as the ground was covered in people because it happened that hadn't happened since 32 33 and it was a great step up and I think I think it gave England a terrific lift everyone in England had poor celebrated sick well everyone except one I came off the field we'd beat Australia and I had two telegrams wanted to say that my favorite girl had died the night before we won the ashes which of course I'd upset me I open the second message and that was some re FM's well I was suing the Royal airforce Nova yet and say congratulation everything I just said notice Test match finish expected back 23:59 hours when England toured australia in 1954 55 3 bowlers who had helped ball england to that historic 1953 ashes victory Jim Laker or and Truman were not selected I was shattered I was I couldn't believe the season I had I was the only fast ball inning with only wicked say here they took franchised I think he might have got 60 odd weeds although Frank was quick he's a quickly blood either saw Frank Tyson turned out to be the fastest bowler most of the Australian Basu the man they called typhoon Tyson ripped the heart out of the Australian batting lineup certainly the fastest I've ever seen in all the time I prepped by millimeter from Jeff Thompson about Tyson was the of artists and there are two dicey pictures in that series the first one was in Sydney where they won that was a green top where you couldn't distinguish the pitch from the rest of square it also did Jack around you gotta remember that battery was out helmets whatever that arm guys we better without anything except a pair of pads a box there maybe a thigh pad and that's all we had I bowled to Jimmy Burke you know night went down the wicket and I bowled him a bouncer and he he said to me if you ball another on stripped me and I'm with you over the head with this bat so I bought him guess what another bouncer was like the read quickly to make sure that just behind the ball or else it was all that I heard that I said the bat not but the Melbourne Test match is best remembered for what became he would pitch fiasco built off who was greater had been given the assistance of a curator from the Albert ground called Jack house and I'll through the tester of breaking up we played on the Saturday and by the end of the day there were cracks sort of half an inch wide in the middle of the pitch well hidden over the whole of the page there were pieces of turf on the widget that had cracks you could put your fingers down and the Sunday came there's no plan Sunday's in those days couldn't for in Melbourne on the Sunday we got active start play on Monday morning and any crack so the pitch had been watered now Jack being a district curator he who solved the problem very easily been the pitch have been having a bit of water bye-bye-bye slaking its thirst and then apparently and he did which of course he can't do in the middle of a test match well chooses the course against the rules so he watered the pitch I looked in England's favor which had been water flooding and inspect if its normal state then he batted on to perfect words and we bet it on to that had cracks a wide by the top at the pitch had gone again the cracks had appeared and and they're turning up of the edges and had became a nightmare to bet on Frank Tyson following these Thunderbolts some were going past he knows and some hating on the anger Australia was set 290 to win the Test match and was well placed at 2 475 at the end of the fourth day's play needing to score 165 runs on the final day australia lost its last 8 wickets for just 30 suns typhoon Tyson taking 7 wickets for 27 all you people who went down to Melbourne on that particular occasion expectancy and ease the Australian victory all went down with your sandwiches neatly cut and you thermoses and you went down and they you say to me you bastard Tyson you build them all out we had to eat our lunch in the spits Fitzroy Gardens and 60,000 meat pies went to waste England triumphed in the series 3-1 it was the first time in over 25 years that England had won consecutive Ashes series it was a disappointing result for new skipper Ian Johnson who had taken over the Australian captaincy following the retirement of Lindsay hasit Ian Johnson was the establishments choice from the start they probably always had her in mind as the next man when the vacancy occurred anything but Keith Miller seemed to be the feeling Miller was a Melbourne High boy Miller came from not so much the wrong side of the tracks but he didn't come from the right eyed he was a player who'd college boy very well-spoken captains in those days were chosen and I'd say primarily but certainly it was a big factor chosen on their ability to make after-dinner speeches Miller was a mentor to me and I just thought he was a terrific guy as well as wonderful cricketer but he wasn't a speechmaker there's no question about that whereas Johnno was John I was a speechmaker in 1955 Australia embarked on an historic tour of the West Indies this was the first official visit by an Australian side to the Caribbean the moves to undertake those two as to new frontiers it's really behind those in a lot of ways I think is Robert Menzies Menzies came away from the Commonwealth Heads of Government conference in in 1953 with a request from the Jamaican government to facilitate a tour because there their approaches to the Australian Board of Control had had had been accessible there are letters in the Menzies papers from Menzies to Bill James the secretary of the board saying I think this would be a very good idea hint hint and lo and behold within two years you do have an Australian tour to the West Indies we were regarded as as one of the finest ambassadorial sides ever to appear in the West Indies and it was a contrast we we started with from the time after the plane landed and jonno making a speech and Miller which was keying every I want to talk to Miller Miller Lyn wall Martha MacDonald Harvey all those names were well known before they came to the to the West Indies they played against the West Indies most of them in 51:52 mistime West Indians had got the opportunity to actually see Australians live I think they felt when the Australians came here that they would come here all of them seven or eight feet tall with about four or five hands and he could deliver a ball fast as as the other it was they had a mystique about them the Australians we arrived and there was all these placards at the airport and people having a go you know white Australia policy go home you know and all this sort of stuff and following what England had copped the year before we knew they were going to be pretty tough and I must say that what Ian Johnson and Miller did and what they achieved was an absolutely fantastic thing for Australia not just on the cricket scene there but but what it did for relationships between the two countries or the two areas straily ins are very easygoing and we got on very very well with the locals it's very important after the White Australia Policy in Australia being there and around the world as purely my predominant society it's a we went out of our way and we had a wonderful time and he ended a great job not only on the field but off the field [Music] visit the West Indies and in their first Test win by nine wickets the home team took the field first and was soon in trouble as Arthur Morris it about the Burley in the first innings he made 65 before falling to Valentine another first innings victim for Valentine MacDonald but not before he'd added 50 valuable runs to the Aussie score we once trained ill against never likes of weeks for an open Valentine pretty good players Claude walk-up night 800 runs and massagers and I think weeks and Worrell both got over 400 runs when the Australians came here in 55 they brought a refreshing side to professionalism and the team's riddle and it was a very exciting series Australia won it easily but yet there were some outstanding performances by the West Indies and a few new West Indian players came through with Gary Sobers especially I remember open Indians as Geoffrey Stormare had injured himself and I was a kind of a sacrifice and they sent me in to open the innings with JK hold I recall his you know fascinating innings of 43 in Barbados and he knew he was you know a superstar eruption heat in force and he absolutely drive Miller and Linville straight through the covers for for Z square captain for fours and and it was all over in half an hour I remember after I had taken about five four fours off Keith in the first so and the key Holt had played a midden at the other end and then Keith came on again I think I took another four fours off of him I went and got the box at a dressing room and wards the only time of rocks and field in a gully good I used to feel closer than normal the ball still kept on going at least I had something protected if I had to help my notice how to probably warn that as well rare care was standing at the non-striker's and he looked at me and he said to me he said Sonny you were doing very well but you stay at they said [Laughter] arriving at Tilbury of the Himalaya brought over the Australian Test cricketer 'he's 17 of the best and all in fighting form Keith Miller is vice captain the many of the newcomers Len Hutton reporting the test this year was there to meet skipper and Johnson and his men we're very confident side were a very happy side and I can assure you that you gave two seasoned jolly fine cricket promise I think there was still a feeling that perhaps Miller might have got the job in 1956 when he didn't they the same ol thing went on we went over there the captains of us captain didn't like each other but the rest of us had didn't affect the rest of us we got on with it England supporters were fairly optimistic on the fourth day it was Australia's premier mr. Menzies been on McCain I went I'd resumed the Aussie is second knock and few would have expected such a banner innings he went from the bowling and even hit Truman to six he's 97 from an entirely new complexion on the Nash [Applause] [Music] trohman got him eventually caught Heaven's on the last day England started with 8 wickets in hand and 300 to make the Keith Miller was again bowling real physics with rail in wool out injured Keith was to the occasion and took 10 wickets in the match Truman was clean bowled by Archer and it was one up in series to Australia without a doubt they deserved this victory and they had every reason to be jubilant and I can still see or hear feed them to me after the game finished after we beat them at Lord's he said nearly said that's the last we - can we get like that and boy was he right it was after that game that Frank Tyson was told he was he was out injured at the time but recovering well and bore the third Test at Headingley and he was sent a message don't bother getting yourself fit um he needed to the rest of the to the real damage was done by liquor at one end and the other half of the famous termination look at the other the leads pitch the big four spin he was out of character instead of instead of the normal leads pitch which was a darkish cry this one was a bright yellow which felt like ninepins here's one of them Maddox nicely taken by Truman off luck the last two wickets added nothing and followed on the question now was could Laker and Locke do it again we had wickets have adopted for Laker a look I have no hesitation saying that Harvey was the chief obstacle in this innings making a very fine 69 lekha however took 650 now being one of the killers locked to Archer and he's caught by wash Brooke they go to Makai and he bows if England wins by an innings and 42 what a time for Peter May and his team before drink the other leads we got up to Old Trafford and the grants were enough they prepared this Sam heap treated with a substance called mile and we looked at it and said cool this is a two and a half day week of this and as it turned out it was I had film of the boys actually sweeping the pitch and you could not see the people sweeping because of the dust they pitch in Manchester with like Bond I've named and we had to bet on it first ago is Colin MacDonald he's waiting and Emilie's Davis has given him out and he's been one famous ball valve supposedly the ball that worn ball getting with everybody still talks about it and I think you're betting for five years and after that and that I can bet for you that that I got one just as good in our only 56 from like a hobby is clean bowled by Laker and before that I said I've got the Laker Jim Laker was the greatest often I recognized the scene it was wonderful to have on your side we very difficult to better games he got the control he spun the ball he was an artist I think he was a complete Austrian I had the most beautiful action of a novena he bowled sidon he got even write an Army's delivery arm was very high and he came right over the top after taking nine wickets in Australia's first innings Laker went one better in the second innings taking all ten Jim Lakers match figures of nineteen wickets 490 remains the greatest single bowling performance in Test cricket and like it took 19 wickets the remarkable thing really have had that match was the clock and he got one wicket and yep lock both exactly the same stuff and the left-handed it's the intense rivalry which existed between Laker and lock and lock was getting crosser and crosser because he couldn't get a wicket and his reaction was to bowl quicker and quicker and quicker and we all knew that if he'd only slow down he had to get a wicked for the first time in 60 years Australia had lost three consecutive ashes campaigns well 56 was a horror year I really was from a bizarro year I'd like to forget the whole thing really then by for the opening night of the net vision service gentlemen and children 19:56 may have been a bad year for Australian cricket but it was also the year that television came to Australia and the Olympic Games came to Melbourne 1956 also turned out to be a year of transition for Australian cricket the retirement of senior players such as Lindsey hasit Martha Morris Bill Johnston Gil Langley Ian Johnson and Keith Miller opened the door for a new generation of young players and a need to select a new test captain you had probably two leading candidates - - captain Australia after the Johnson tour of 1950s been oh and you have Harvey unfortunately neither of them got on particularly well with either the captain or the manager of that - a bill darling I think you'd have to go back into the archive to see if Harvey and I got adverse report from the 1956 captain when the meeting was held with the board and I think you might find that had something to do with it in 1956 like all captain's do when they retire and return to Australia after kept them their country overseas they have to put in a report to the Cricket Board and I'm firmly convinced in that report that the end Johnson put into the cricket board he did not recommend either Richie Benaud or Neil Harvey as worthy people to captain Australia and he recommended amp is a man job ever captive except the moss man under 60 inside and was quite content to be trying to consolidate my place in the test team we all did our jobs on the field that you've got to do and I'm certainly off the field we bagged ourselves so wouldn't see any reason why we should be degraded in any way to the cricket board and I just cannot see why if the report was put in like that the obvious choice was between Neil Harvey and Richie Benaud probably on past profound experience probably we are expecting they'll have been our 40% chance he did not expect he and Craig to be captain well I don't think there was an action about New South Wales captaincy I think was assumed that Ritchie would would get it Neal would get the captaincy and Victoria and Ron are in Queensland and it would be between those three probably more between Ritchie and Neil so ever certainly Abner's select head of Ritchie in yourself Victoria at the Sydney Cricket Ground and the morning before the game started they kept him for news for New Zealand their name Craig was named and I was named vice-captain admittedly didn't go down all that well with me at the time but you've got to get on with life and you've got to make the best of what you have said I back then up till they all proceeded was one that okay I've been given a job to do and I've got to get on and do it and there's no point in sort of considering what had gone on a wired had gone on he and Craig was only 21 years old when he led his new look Australian side on a six-week tour of New Zealand in 1957 the average age of the side was 24 and for 8 of the 14 man squad it was their first tour the older players had played during the war had all retired so this was the opportunity to take a group of new young players and make ifs a client's the Germans giving them the opportunity and Neil and Ritchie gave me tremendous support there were the two of the major players had been in in England the previous year and probably had the most justification to say well this has been unfair but they were absolutely terrific and I could never thank them enough he was always an older person you know you can never imagine an en being 21 he never seemed to be 21 he handled things off the field brilliantly great speaker and you know he he played a major role in Australian Creek which I don't think has been appreciated as much as it should be Ian Craig was reappointed as captain of Australia for the full tour of South Africa during the summer of 1957 58 the young Australian side faced the hinge of maintaining Eden record in matches played in South Africa Australian cricket got a tremendous record for invincibility how do you fancy your chaps your team will be in keeping that tradition going well it's very hard work Charles that I'm quite confident we can do it they'd have some very great size pick Richardson side in 1935 and then she has a slice to her and possibly we never stood aside as those and I think these other things are probably improved a bit but we'll be trying that was Craig who really was the lead as a resurgence he was the one who kept them that great team we had there which we've developed in a great size and major role in that should be said though Richie and table and also de veau gave me enormous help the 1957-58 series in South Africa saw the rebirth of Australian cricket the side included four players who would kept in their country over the next five years Ian Prague Richie Benaud Neil Harvey and Bobby Simpson making his Test debut was wicked keep a wally grout who would go on to be recognized as one of Australia's finest ever glove man Ian McKee was the hero of Australia's attack another talent was a loose-limbed fast bowler from Victoria Ian make of Jackie Mowgli and I opened against maketh in that Johannesburg taste the first one I faced from him I knew there was something peculiar and in fact I think I said to Jackie you know I think he Lyndsey Klein also made his debut in the series and distinguished himself by taking a hat-trick in the second test in Cape Town when Lindsey boulders three faithful Bulls I was at the other never God carried his bat 456 yet the test had a high dramatic finish an hour of glory for Lindsey Klein who had a field LBW taking a wild swing pulling the ball before good Klein make it three in a row I thought oh I think he might play back and then Illinois up right so I changed my mind and I balled my ramen and I pitched I didn't hit the agent sim I took the great catch here it is flying to a club Simpson Texas with captain of juda lead Australian side pounces on Lindsey Cline who's Hetrick Clint's two victims in 141 run all right consider Bobbie Simpson the best lip catcher I've ever seen and there's been some great one since he gets more about because he cooked one third we give him the hat trick australia won the series concealer of greater significance for Australian cricket was the emergence of Richie Benaud and Alan Davidson who dominated the series with both bat and ball what you got to remember it was the first time bento and Davison were away from the umbrella of the Lin Bulls and the Millers and the senior players from the Brandon area and that's when really both of them became of age as really magnificent test creepers this was the first time Dave and I had ever been given any position sponsibility in the team and we'd played since 53 in the Australian side but this was the first time Dave I was the number one bowler at pace and the first time I was the number one spinner both better well we both field in wealth we both Bowl will I picked you got a hunt for them to something after night wicket I think I got 72 and we probably got two-thirds or more of the wickets that were taken mr. two of us and but the thing is we also scored 850 runs each on the tour Richie and Alan on that tour like having 13 men in the side there's our both batting extremely well and bowling magnificently Dave Oh was able to swing the ball at times I govern every and Richie was cabal all day with great accuracy one egret patted one then Oh scampered home and Australia yet to be beaten in South Africa eight months later England arrived summer of 1958 59 having beaten Australia in the three previous Ashes series captained by Peter May they boasted a formidable lineup Nets men like Cowdrey spinners Laker and block and fast bowlers Truman Statham and Tyson we sent the best side that England's ever sent overseas in 58 59 when the first newspaper stories arrived from Fleet Street Brian chap and it was a very good mates was the outstanding store they all took the same view why are we bothering to go to Australia why don't we play something like pick the best team in the world to play England and we'll still fresh them Ian grade caused the first sensor when he stood down as Australian captain because of ill health six weeks before the season started and went down with hepatitis and it wasn't a difficult decision though I guess my commitment then was to make sure Australia beat England those ashes and was an impediment standing in the way of people getting on and doing that it was better game so that's why I announced that I wouldn't play that season at all suddenly Craig down with hepatitis at the same time that Neil Harvey goes on television in Melbourne and in an interview says that he can't get a decent job and he might have to think about moving in a state well the father stayed in Victorian 50 Abbey maybe I'd have a better chance to me kept him it comes to New South Wales who already made me captain knowing that Craig nikka to normani so I suppose you can call it both from the one state and anyone's got a will together we had lunch together the day the announcement was made I rang him up and said the news has just come through have yeah I assume you've got it I said yes herb and I said let's go have lunch at the cricketers club which we did I probably the one the best fight captain has ever been observed so often I did for five years but I'll back everybody up hey you got your menu there's no scent of milk the coin spins in the air and Peter Maer calls he calls tails Richie Benaud leans down to pick up the coin and nose at the same time that he's lost the toss mayor decides to bet Richie Benaud his first series as Australian captain coincided with the Australian Broadcasting Commission's first full television coverage of a home test series unfortunately this first testing is remembered for some painfully slow cricket it was one of the worst Test matches I've ever played in and I think most scribes would have said the same thing it was one of the slowest days of all time they were six-day Test matches in those days which I'm like five hours a day but what the England in the second exam eight or something in what in a whole day's play the main culprit was Trevor Bailey who labored for seven and a half hours scoring just 68 runs panicle Bailey crap the boil as we used to call him - is going the boil there they're infectious - but but I can only say that the boil was he was one competitor he really was he'd gave him batted I certainly played my cricket seriously I didn't give anything away and that's how I expected out the people and certainly all the Australians I played against they played it hard a typical defensive stroke from Bailey the scoring rate it says now is to be almost imperceptible he provoked a crowd tremendously and I mean they used to hate him like with cries of Bailey I wish you were a statue and I was a pigeon and things like that you know australia won the first test in brisbane in spite of Trevor Bailey and after he and me through the England batting lineup to take six 438 to secure an Australian victory in the second Test in Melbourne doubts began to surface about the legality of his action when I took the six in the second innings that's when the the Johnny waddle piece came out in the paper the next day and that's when the whole thing really took off because all of a sudden all the English press : on the bandwagon as well god-fearin wanted to more walked around the ground and then to get different angles this fella make it bowling is he and they came back and a consensus of opinion was yes the action was very suspect losing the line are they of the arm and everything else and the ball going across mostly a crowd to know him very well I said Doug London will turn around and say well put your own house in order before we start talking about mine the snag was of course we got turning up and I mean he was throwing away I did feel that every side we faced rather the country apart from Queensland had someone with an action which wasn't in my opinion entirely legitimate England you know came out here with one of the best teams that they've ever fielded and we're very soundly beaten that the English press were looking for escape and I was one of them in addition to concerns over the action of Ian Mecca there was also spinners Keith Slater and Jimmy Burke and fast bowler Gordon Rock who in addition to his action had a pronounced drag and his deliveries that posed additional problems for the England batsmen it was the danger he had the longest drag I've ever seen in my life his front foot piece pitched about six feet beyond the pop increase he pulled himself up to his full height and throw it at you and Colin Cowie said don't play forward to he might tread on you the debate over the legality of bowling actions was a sore that will continue to fester well into the next decade in spite of the controversy australia won the series by an emphatic for nil margin and regained the ashes for the first time in six years the result was a triumph for Richie Benaud in his first series as Australian captain all the players in 58 9 under Richie Vento all played for the captain and this is why this team got developed into a pretty good because of team spirit that was by the captain into this time for the much travelled Australian team it's another departure this time to lands of strange customs where the cricketing habits are a mystery to many of the players in the summer of 1959 60 Australia embarked on the first full test tour of India and Pakistan an arduous three-month assignment that included three tests in Pakistan and India Australia had made a brief visit to the subcontinent on the way home from in 1956 and lost the Test match against Pakistan in Karachi that was played on a matting wicket we hadn't played on corium adding since we're at school and to be faced with this phenomena play a test match on a Korea met which we hadn't seen before was quite out of this world and then you confronted were well the best same bothers that Pakistan's ever produced like all Faysal Mahmud and on Korea met he was not prior to leaving for Pakistan in 1959 the Australians practing wickets in preparation for the tests in Karachi a match that was witnessed by u.s. President Dwight as we stem Loxton President Eisenhower too much I've kind of Sam to President Eisenhower of course he said we're playing on matting out there and that may not mean much to you mr. president but and it is an insult to the rest of the cricket community that a team is asked to come to Pakistan and bound the mat and he turned Eisenhower turn - I've can't said do they not play on on grass if it's in insult and I have can't said this will be I promise you the last match ever played on matting in Pakistan after winning the series in Pakistan to nil Australia journey to India in the sickest in Kanpur the Australians were confronted with a mystery spinner by the name of Josue Patel who ended up taking 14 wickets in that's the pitch didn't have a blade of grass on and they had a bloke called Patel used to ball these fast off spinners and they used to turn about 3 feet India's victory at Kanpur was its first Test win over Australia and there was much celebration and rejoicing among the locals a stray looped with the variable conditions to win the series however it was more the off field conditions and the bouts of serious illness suffered by many of the players that was cause for much concern Gordon Rock Lindsay Klein and Gavin Stephens over Titus and I think it's true to say that his wife didn't wreck off the airplane he had a variety of things like hepatitis very bad that of hepatitis colitis and three or four other things as well we had to fly him back early Gavin's sticker ident he played first-class cricket again Lindsay took about three or four months before he really recovered from it I had come home from India and Pakistan ill and I was I spent three three months away from work recovering from hepatitis by the end of the 1950's Australia had for the first time traveled to every corner of the cricketing world and played official matches against all countries the decade had also witnessed the transition from the end of the bred Munira to the beginning of the Beanery row we beat New Zealand then we went across with fresh South Africa then we come back and we beat England now we go to India and Pakistan we've beaten them that was quite an achievement but still looming around there and playing for the jothee of 30 at the moment I'm with the Australian cricket team in South Africa and they'd all like to send some Christmas messages home I'd also like a sender Merry Christmas to my mother and father and all members of my family I'd like to send my love to Stella and Stella look after I'd cemetery had a mother and father and sister and my fiancee I would like to send Christmas greetings to my wife and all my friends in Melbourne like to send Christmas greetings to my wife and two little boys and I'd like to us in my Christmas greetings best wishes to my fiance make my mother and father makes mother it's nothing unusual first a bit away for Christmas and you have whales members and Bobby as well also been away for quite some time hello as well

Channel: CorneredTiger1992

Views: 28,809

Rating: 4.7241378 out of 5

Keywords: Cricket, in, the, 50s

Id: pQKI5LIcE8s

Length: 54min 8sec (3248 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 01 2011