Famous Cricketers No 40 - Neil Harvey

in 295 minutes, adding 253 with J.W.Burke (113) in 280 minutes. With I.D.Craig unavailable for the game R.Benaud was made captain of the state side. Craig came back for the next state game in Sydney against Western Australia but was dismissed for a duck second ball. Against M.C.C. in Sydney he suffered the same fate, while Harvey and Burke shared another big stand, this time one of 246. Harvey made his 149 with fifteen fours in 340 minutes while by contrast Burke (104) batted for 414 minutes with five fours. On the Saturday of that game Craig was appointed captain of the Australian XI to play the M.C.C. in the next game but still suffering from his liver illness he decided to rest from cricket for the rest of the season. Harvey was named captain in his place and with the First Test only a fortnight away his ambition of captaining Australia seemed about to be realised. The game proved a disaster as the Australian XI were beaten by 345 runs although the result was no reflection on his captaincy. When the team for the Test was announced Harvey had been passed over again and Benaud had been named as captain with Harvey as his lieutenant. In the Second Test he played probably his best innings against England in Australia. After England had been dismissed on the second day for 259 Australia went in at ten minutes past three and soon lost J.W.Burke with the score on eleven. C.C.McDonald (47) and Harvey batted for the rest of the day to take the score to 96; Harvey ran into his best form and reached 60* with ten fours at the close. The next day he did not quite reach the same form and was forced to struggle for his century, making twenty singles and only two more fours. After passing his hundred he drove and cut more freely and batted altogether for 370 minutes for his 167 with sixteen fours; he shared in partnerships of 126 with McDonald and 118 with N.C.O’Neill (37), his innings representing 54.22% of the Australian total. It broke a spell of ten consecutive Australian Tests against England without a single century, the previous one being Harvey’s 162 at Brisbane in 1954/55. In the return match for New South Wales against the tourists he made a splendid 92, his eleventh score in the nineties, adding 115 for the third wicket with youngster N.G.Marks (46) after beginning the partnership with N.C.O’Neill who retired injured when 22 had been scored for the partnership. The Test series was a triumph for Australia as they beat England by four games to nil; Benaud proved to be an inspirational leader both in the field and with the ball, 31 wickets in the series. It was in this series that Harvey was moved into the slips where he took some brilliant catches; on the occasions that he and O’Neill were in the covers together however it was doubtful whether there has been better exhibitions of fielding, with the ball being returned to the top of the stumps as quickly as it left the bat. During his last innings of the season he became the fifth Australian to pass 17,000 first-class runs and joined a select group, D.G.Bradman, C.Hill, W.L.Murdoch and W.Bardsley. He retained his position as vice-captain for the following season’s visit to Pakistan and India. Own Team O M R W Opp Ct Total Total 225. New South Wales v Queensland, Brisbane, October 24, 25, 27, 28 (Match drawn) c A.T.W.Grout b R.R.Lindwall 160 500 233 1 243-7 1 226. New South Wales v Western Australia, Sydney, November 7, 8, 10, 11 (New South Wales won by ten wickets) b R.B.Strauss 17 451 306 3 did not bat - 47-0 191 1 227. New South Wales v M.C.C., Sydney, November 14, 15, 17, 18 (Match drawn) c C.A.Milton b F.S.Trueman 149 391-7d - - - - 177 1 6 1 19 0 356-6 228. Australian XI v M.C.C., Sydney, November 21, 22, 24, 25 (M.C.C. won by 345 runs) b P.J.Loader 0 128 319 b G.A.R.Lock 38 103 257-3d 229. AUSTRALIA v ENGLAND, Brisbane, December 5, 6, 8, 9, 10 (Australia won by eight wickets) lbw b P.J.Loader 14 186 134 c C.A.Milton b G.A.R.Lock 23 147-2 198 230. New South Wales v Victoria, Melbourne, December 24, 26, 27, 29 (New South Wales won by 162 runs) c L.V.Maddocks b J.N.Edwards 26 338 262 1 c and b I.W.Quick 16 225-6d 139 231. AUSTRALIA v ENGLAND, Melbourne, December 31, January 1, 2, 4, 5 (Australia won by eight wickets) b P.J.Loader 167 308 259 not out 7 42-2 87 2 32