Lives in Cricket No 28 - Keith Carmody

102 breakfast, after lectures and in the evening until the light faded. Returning after a couple of weeks, the greeting ‘Not you again!’ was followed by a repeated instruction to return a year later. With a firm ‘No!’ the younger man demonstrated prowess on the suspended ball that Carmody couldn’t better. Conceding that ‘You’ve done in a few weeks’ time what normally takes a year,’ he finally accepted he’d acquired a pupil ready to be coached to elite levels, the beginning of a master/pupil relationship that continued for years. Rutherford first played for Western Australian Colts in October 1950 against the MCC touring team 44 and made his first- class debut against the touring South Africans two years later. Continuing to consult Carmody regularly, he felt bold enough to say, when finally selected for an Australian XI in 1956, that he’d disproved his mentor’s early scepticism. Keith told him to pull out a drawer of cards in a nearby cabinet: ‘Yours will be easy to find, it’s one of only about four with a yellow marker.’ Notes on the card read: ‘this fellow has an extraordinary will to succeed, will play for Australia one day’. He had a separate card on every boy: the yellow markers were for those he thought had the potential to play for Australia. Carmody, continued Rutherford, was ‘a terrific psychologist’. When first established in the West Australian side he confessed he was having trouble playing the on-drive. The coach’s response – to watch opening partner Ron Sarre, ‘who plays it better than you’ – goaded him into making necessary adjustments. As he continued to watch his protégé in first-class games Carmody had ‘terrific insights’. ‘Somebody has been throwing balls at you in the nets!’ he told Rutherford once when he was struggling for runs. ‘Tell him he’s standing too close to you, not giving you time to get 44 Rutherford’s nought and 11 were remarkable only for the fact he was twice dismissed by J.J.Warr, who went on to take one for 281 in two Tests in the ensuing series. Achievement and Rejection in Western Australia John Rutherford’s persistence brought him 67 first-class matches, including one at Test level.