Lives in Cricket No 48 - Maurice Leyland

soon established himself as a regular in Sheffield Shield cricket. The Brown family, who are linked to Britain through Scottish ancestry, worked on the land in Toowoomba but, in 1915, they moved to Sydney and it was there that Bill, and his brother Bob, developed their sporting abilities. While Bob was a fine sprinter Bill skippered the Petersham High School rugby league side and began to make a name for himself on the cricket field, both at school and at the Marrickville Cricket Club where he first encountered the legendary Bradman. “I first played against Don for Marrickville against his St George club, I think he only got a hundred that day,” he said, in a way that acknowledged the prolific achievements of his future Test colleague in grade cricket. We also teamed up later, when I was just 18, when I was asked to play for the West Zone, captained by Don, in an all-Sydney competition. I think it was organised to act like a series of trial games for the state side. This was in 1930 and Don was already being looked on as a world champion player after his tour to England. It was another two years before Bill finally followed Bradman into the New South Wales side but he progressed well. Before long Fingleton, Brown and Bradman became acknowledged as one of the most formidable one-two-threes in Shield cricket and, having first appeared in that order for Australia against England in the 1936-37 series, it eventually became the first choice formation for the 1938 tour to England. Off the field Bill, like manyAustralian men from all walks of life during the Great Depression of the 1930s, had difficulty making a living but, after being out of work, one of his Marrickville team- mates offered him a job in his factory and he jumped at it. Cricket offered a great opportunity to forget about financial worries for a while and, at international level, Bill believes the exploits of Don Bradman ‘lifted the spirits of the country’. While he was doing well, all was well with Australia. He did not put food on family’s tables but he did provide an all-important distraction to a nation in hardship. Later work in sports retailing helped Bill to Ashes to Ashes 98