THE links between this Oval Ashes Test and one its most celebrated predecessors, some 67 years ago, took another, sombre twist with the passing of Arthur Morris, who, at 93, was Australia’s oldest living cricketer.
When Michael Clarke walked out to bat on Thursday to be greeted by a guard of honour from the England team, the scene brought to mind Don Bradman’s final Test here in 1948. The Don had walked out to the bat for the last time to sustained applause from the crowd and three cheers from England captain Norman Yardley and his players before, famously, being bowled by an Eric Hollies googly for a duck, having needed only four runs to finish with a Test average of exactly 100.
At the other end, that August evening, nonchalantly leaning on his bat, was Morris, a stylish left-handed opener who outscored Bradman with 696 runs in that legendary series, won 4-0 by Australia’s all-conquering Invincibles.
Only the batsman Neil Harvey remains from that team now and wicketkeeper Len Maddocks, 89, is now Australia’s oldest living Test cricketer. “A better bloke you couldn’t find,” Harvey said of Morris.
Morris made 196 in Australia’s only innings at The Oval in 1948 before running himself out trying to take a sharp single to England’s 12th man Reg Simpson. “His strokes past cover-point were typical of the highest class left-handed batsman,” wrote Hubert Preston in Wisden. The next top score in the match was 64, by England opener Len Hutton, and Australia won by an innings and 49 runs.
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In the previous Test at Headingley Morris made 182 and put on 301 with Bradman for the second wicket as Australia made a world-record chase of 404. It remained the highest successful chase in Tests for 28 years and is still the highest in England. He was named one of Wisden’s five cricketers of the year in 1949 on the back of his performances on that tour.
Morris’s special place in Ashes history was marked yesterday by players from both teams wearing black armbands at The Oval.
“We have sadly lost a cherished link with our past,” Cricket Australia chairman Wally Edwards said. “Arthur Morris was a great man and one of the true greats of Australian cricket who until now had been a treasured connection to an extraordinary era of the game. When Australia’s best openers are discussed his name will always be one of the first mentioned.”
Only last week, the Sydney Cricket Ground unveiled the new Arthur Morris Gates and although the man himself was too ill to attend, he was represented by his wife Judith.
Born in Bondi in 1922, Morris played for St George in Sydney, the club of Bradman, Bill ‘Tiger’ O’Reilly and Ray Lindwall. He appeared destined for greatness, making a century in each innings of his New South Wales debut against Queensland just after Christmas 1940, a fortnight before his 19th birthday.
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But he played little cricket during the war years, instead being stationed in New Guinea with the Australian Army Movement Control.It was not until the war was over that he could resume serious cricket. He made his Test debut at Brisbane against England in December 1946 and scored three successive centuries in the second half of that series. The unforgettable and unbeaten tour of 1948 yielded 1,922 first-class runs for Morris at 71 and that astonishing Test tally of 696, 188 more than Bradman.
Such was Bradman’s fame and such was the vastness of the shadow he cast over Australian cricket that Morris’s contribution in the Don’s final Test was often overlooked. “I was on a business trip once,” Morris said. “I was having a conversation with a bloke who didn’t know anything about cricket and the topic came to Don’s duck. He asked me if I was aware of it and I said I was there. So he asked if I was there because I was in England on business. I told him I was [batting] at the other end. It never worried me. I was never in the show-pony class. There was so much modesty in the game then, the cricket culture was completely different.”
Bradman wrote of Morris’s innings in that Test: “He showed that day every quality demanded of the real champion. A rock-like defence, powerful but studied aggression and a perfect temperament. Considering the situation and the state of the wicket, I doubt if a more valuable innings was ever played.”
In all, Morris played 46 Tests, scoring 3,533 runs at an average of 46.48, including 12 centuries. He captained Australia twice, was awarded the MBE for services to cricket and inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 1992. In 2000 he was named in Australia’s Team of the Century, selected to open the batting alongside Bill Ponsford.
“I learnt a lot off Arthur over the years,” said his fellow Invincible, Harvey. “You wouldn’t find a nicer bloke in the world: a great sense of humour, a great team man. Just one of those great fellas that you can spend a lot of time with and enjoy his company. A better bloke you couldn’t find. He’s been one of the best players this country has produced.”