Famous Cricketers No 40 - Neil Harvey

1957/58 - Australians in South Africa Craig and Harvey had worked well together on the New Zealand tour and it was no surprise that they were chosen in the same capacities for the South African tour. After the New Zealand trip Craig had gone to England to further his pharmaceutical studies and would join the team from there. One of the original selections, R.G.Archer, was forced to withdraw due to injury and was replaced by the previously discarded K.D.Mackay. On the eve of the team’s departure the manager, Jack Jenke, was taken ill and the team set off without manager or captain; Jack Norton, the manager of the side in New Zealand, flew out later to manage the side. During the pre-season limbering up the team suffered two casualties; Harvey fractured the little finger of his left hand while fielding and C.C.McDonald had his jaw fractured by a schoolboy. Both were unable to play until the fourth first-class match of the tour, against a South African XI at Pretoria. Harvey struck form right away scoring 173 in five hours sharing a brilliant stand with I.D.Craig (88) of 195 in less than three hours followed by one of 102 with K.D.Mackay (65). Another sound innings of 78 out of a partnership of 125 with J.W.Burke (122) followed against Natal. Another century stand with Burke (72), this time one of 111, followed against Western Province and he seemed to be moving into peak form for the Test series. Misfortune struck again on the eve of the Test when against North-Eastern Transvaal he damaged the same finger while fielding from his own bowling five minutes before the close of the first day. This match was restricted to two days owing to unavoidable circumstances but was ruled first-class by the South African Board of Control who stated that the Nottinghamshire v Australians match in 1953 set a precedent. From the Headingley Test in 1948 he had appeared in forty-six consecutive Tests and was within sight of F.E.Woolley’s then record of fifty-two consecutive appearances but the broken finger ended the run. Back for the Second Test it took him some time to recover his form but against Natal he made a splendid 98 with fifteen fours, the ninth occasion he had been dismissed or remained not out in the nineties. In the Natal second innings he had his longest bowl so far, seventeen overs for sixty runs and the wicket of D.J.McGlew. His fiftieth Test was the Durban Test when South Africa went close to beating Australia in the Union for the first time. Australia started their second innings 221 behind with two sessions of the fourth day and the whole of the fifth day to play. After C.C.McDonald (33) and J.W.Burke (83) opened the innings by scoring 92 in 200 minutes, Harvey played another determined innings on a pitch which took spin making 68; Burke took 341 minutes for his 83 and rain and bad light ended the match forty-two minutes early. On the second day of the Orange Free State & Basutoland match he was heading for the fiftieth century of his career when rain stopped play again an hour before the close; his 82* contained one chance. The next morning the remaining runs took him only twelve minutes, his 113 scored in 134 minutes with fourteen fours. He became only the fourth Australian to reach fifty centuries after W.Bardsley, D.G.Bradman and A.L.Hassett. His final innings in South Africa was a delightful 60 in seventy-five minutes. The team had a highly successful trip, winning eleven of their matches and drawing the other nine. The outstanding player in the party was R.Benaud who in addition to taking the most wickets ever in a South African season (106 at 19.39 to beat the previous best S.F.Barnes’s 104 at 10.74 in 1913/14) scored 817 runs (51.06) with four centuries. A.K.Davidson took 72 wickets (15.13) and scored 813 runs (54.20), also with four centuries. Own Team O M R W Opp Ct Total Total 211. Australians v South African XI, Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria, November 15, 16, 18, 19 (Australians won by an innings and 30 runs) lbw b G.F.Dakin 173 519-8d 335 154 1 212. Australians v Natal, Durban, November 22, 23, 25, 26 (Match drawn) c J.C.Watkins b V.I.Smith 78 369-6d 147 1 238-8 213. Australians v Border, East London, November 29, 30, December 2 (Australians won by an innings and six runs) c M.Griffith b S.Knott 10 279 142 131 214. Australians v Western Province, Cape Town, December 12, 13, 14, 17 (Australians won by ten wickets) c E.R.H.Fuller b H.D.Bromfield 63 421 - - - - 244 30