Famous Cricketers No 54 - Stan McCabe

1928/29 At the age of 18 years and 169 days McCabe was given his first-class debut against Queensland, batting at number six he played solidly for 60 in 107 minutes with 5 fours, sharing in a fifth wicket partnership of 103 with Punch. In the second innings he was promoted to number five when he scored 34. McCabe was omitted from the next game with South Australia, as Bradman, Kippax and Oldfield returned from Test duty. He did not have to wait long as New South Wales’s next match was against Victoria, where he was chosen as the replacement to Kippax who was injured, again scoring a breezy 60 in 73 minutes with 9 fours. Sharing in the first of his 15 hundred-partnerships with Bradman, this time 118 for the fourth wicket, Bradman stole the show by scoring 340 not out. Own Team O M R W Opp Ct Total Total 1. New South Wales v Queensland, Sydney, December 31, January 1, 2, 3, 4 (Match drawn) c O.E.Nothling b F.C.Thompson 60 457 - - - - 435 1 b F.C.Thompson 34 304-7 17 2 52 0 364 1 2. New South Wales v Victoria, Sydney, January 24, 25, 26, 28, 29 (Match drawn) b H.S.Gamble 60 713-6d 5 3 10 0 265 16 2 44 1 W.W.Reddrop b 510-7 1 3. New South Wales v M.C.C., Sydney, February (15), 16, 18, (19) (Match drawn) b A.P.Freeman 11 128 3 0 5 0 144-4 4. New South Wales v South Australia, Sydney, March 1, 2, 4, 5, 6 (New South Wales won by 60 runs) c C.V.Grimmett b T.W.Wall 5 326 280 c J.D.Scott b W.C.Alexander27 399-9d 385 SEASON’S AVERAGES Batting and Fielding M I NO Runs HS Ave 100 50 Ct Shield matches 3 5 0 186 60 37.20 - 2 3 Other matches 1 1 0 11 11 11.00 - - - Season 4 6 0 197 60 32.83 - 2 3 Bowling O M R W BB Ave 5wi 10wm Shield matches 38 7 106 1 1-44 106.00 - - Other matches 3 0 5 0 - - - - Season (8-ball) 41 7 111 1 1-44 111.00 - - 1929/30 This was McCabe’s first full season; he scored runs in virtually every game . His aggregate was 844, which was second only to Bradman’s total of 1586. The highlight was his first century, for an Australian XI against Tasmania, which only took 95 minutes and included 15 fours. But there were another seven scores of over fifty in ten Sheffield Shield innings, mostly in even time, including a creditable 90 in 114 minutes against M.C.C. with 7 fours. In the trial match for the 1930 tour he got 35 and 46 but had done enough in earlier matches to impress the selectors to include him for the forthcoming tour of England, even though at the time he had yet to score a first-class hundred. McCabe made four successive fifties in the South Australia and Victoria games, becoming the fourth Australian to do this, behind Hill, Collins and J.M.Gregory. In the return match with Queensland McCabe produced the best bowling figures of his career of 5-36, this was the only time he achieved five wickets in an innings. This match is best remembered for Bradman’s record score of 452 not out in the second innings, but it also produced the largest runs-margin victory of 685 runs. Own Team O M R W Opp Ct Total Total 5. New South Wales v Queensland, Exhibition Ground, Brisbane, November 8, 9, 11, 12 (New South Wales won by 23 runs) c F.M.Brew b R.K.Oxenham77 373 - - - - 273 7