Famous Cricketers No 40 - Neil Harvey

at the start of the second innings by I.Meckiff, joined A.E.Wyatt with twelve to win. Slowly they edged their way towards a win until with the scores level Meckiff found the edge of Burke’s bat and he was caught at slip. Against South Australia he made a brilliant 125 in 202 minutes with 12 fours. The Testimonial match at Sydney for the benefit of former players W.J.O’Reilly and S.J.McCabe was approved by the Australian Board of Control as an official trial for the tour in February-March to New Zealand and also for the tour the following season to South Africa. It was expected that with the retirement of I.W.Johnson Harvey would become captain of Australia. Mid-way through the England tour there were whispers that neither Harvey nor Benaud were fit to become captain and the likeliest contenders were I.D.Craig and R.G.Archer. Archer had returned with a back injury and was forced into temporary retirement but Craig on his return had been appointed captain of New South Wales in preference to Benaud who the previous season had stood in when K.R.Miller was unavailable. In the match itself Harvey and Benaud won the game with an unbroken stand of 90 in forty-five minutes. At Brisbane his 115 was made in 298 minutes with 10 fours adding 190 for the third wicket with J.H.Shaw (96). In the return game between Victoria and New South Wales Harvey opened the innings for the state because C.C.McDonald had broken his nose in the practice session before the game. He made his first double century for the state and his fifth altogether, batting for 308 minutes with twenty-one fours; with J.H.Shaw (66) he added 184 in 162 minutes for the second wicket and with I.R.Huntington (83) 107 for the third wicket before being the third man out at 360. New South Wales were bowled out for 149 and were 42-3 following on before S.J.Carroll (86 in six and a half hours) and I.D.Craig (97 in just over four hours) prevented Victoria from winning. New South Wales, by avoiding defeat, gained the one point they needed to win the Shield for the fourth consecutive year. The side for New Zealand was announced during the game and Craig was confirmed as captain and Harvey was appointed vice-captain. As things turned out the 209 was Harvey’s final innings for Victoria for whom he had scored 4914 runs at 50.14 with 12 centuries in 68 matches. Own Team O M R W Opp Ct Total Total 199. Victoria v Queensland, Junction Oval, Melbourne, December 8, 10, 11, 12 (Queensland won by an innings and 42 runs) c D.F.E.Bull b W.T.Walmsley 108 207 458 1 b K.D.Mackay 53 209 200. Victoria v New South Wales, Junction Oval, Melbourne, December 22, 24, 26, 27 (Match tied) c O.Lambert b J.C.Treanor 46 244 281 2 b J.W.Burke 22 197 160 201. Victoria v South Australia, Junction Oval, Melbourne, December 29, 31, January 1, 2 (Victoria won by 152 runs) c B.N.Jarman b J.Drennan 125 272 149 not out 66 276-4d 247 202. R.N.Harvey’s XI v R.R.Lindwall’s XI, Sydney, January 5, 6, 8, 9 (R.N.Harvey’s XI won by seven wickets) c R.B.Simpson b K.D.Mackay 31 419 428 not out 61 198-3 188 1 203. Victoria v Queensland, Brisbane, January 18, 19, 21, 22 (Match drawn) c P.J.P.Burge b R.R.Lindwall 115 366 1.6 1 10 1 P.J.P.Burge st L.V.Maddocks 411 2 204. Victoria v New South Wales, Sydney, January 26, 28, 29, 30 (Match drawn) b A.K.Davidson 209 441 - - - - 149 did not bat - 5-0 5 3 5 0 400 SEASON’S AVERAGES Batting and Fielding M I NO Runs HS Ave 100 50 Ct Sheffield Shield 5 8 1 744 209 106.28 4 2 6 Other match 1 2 1 92 61* 92.00 - 1 1 1956/57 6 10 2 836 209 104.50 4 3 7 Career 204 307 26 14860 225 52.88 47 66 119 28