1945 English cricket season
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With Germany defeated and the war in Europe over, it was possible to arrange eleven first-class matches though none of them were part of any official competition.An Australian Services XI
Australian Services cricket team
The Australian Services XI was a cricket team comprising solely military service personnel during World War II. They became active in May 1945 after the defeat of Nazi Germany. The team played matches against English cricket sides of both military and civilian origins to celebrate the end of the war...
, which included Keith Miller
Keith Miller
Keith Ross Miller MBE was an Australian Test cricketer and a Royal Australian Air Force pilot during World War II. Miller is widely regarded as Australia's greatest ever all-rounder. Because of his ability, irreverent manner and good looks he was a crowd favourite...
, Lindsay Hassett
Lindsay Hassett
Arthur Lindsay Hassett MBE was a cricketer who played for Victoria and Australia. The diminutive Hassett was an elegant middle-order batsman, described by Wisden as, "... a master of nearly every stroke ... his superb timing, nimble footwork and strong wrists enabled him to make batting look a...
and Cec Pepper
Cec Pepper
Cecil George Pepper was an Australian first-class cricketer. An allrounder, he was the first to complete the double twice in the Central Lancashire League. With the bat he once hit 38 runs off an eight ball over....
, played five "Victory Tests
Victory Tests
The Victory Tests were a series of cricket matches played in England from 19 May to 22 August 1945, between a combined Australian Services XI and an English national side...
" against England, plus a further game against Leveson-Gower's XI. England also played a Dominions team at Lord's
Lord's Cricket Ground
Lord's Cricket Ground is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and Wales Cricket Board , the European Cricket Council and, until August 2005, the...
. A New Zealand Services XI
New Zealand Services cricket team in England in 1945
A New Zealand Services cricket team played several matches in England in the 1945 season. Only one match, against H.D.G. Leveson-Gower's XI at Scarborough, was counted as first-class, but several of the one- and two-day matches were written up in Wisden Cricketers' Almanack for 1946, and the team...
, including Martin Donnelly
Martin Donnelly (cricketer)
Martin Paterson Donnelly was a New Zealand Test cricketer and England Rugby Union player.Born in Ngaruawahia, New Zealand, Donnelly's twin brother Maurice died in the Spanish flu epidemic in 1918. His sporting talent emerged quickly and Donnelly became known for his batting and fielding skills, as...
, played against Leveson-Gower's XI.
The other three matches were Yorkshire
Yorkshire County Cricket Club
Yorkshire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Yorkshire as one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure....
versus Lancashire
Lancashire County Cricket Club
Lancashire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Lancashire in cricket's County Championship. The club was founded in 1864 as a successor to Manchester Cricket Club and has played at Old Trafford since then...
at Park Avenue
Park Avenue (stadium)
Park Avenue is a sports ground on Horton Park Avenue in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. It was used for both cricket and football. It held 306 first class and 48 list A cricket matches between 1881 and 1996, and was home to former Football League club Bradford Park Avenue, to which it lent its...
in Bradford
Bradford
Bradford lies at the heart of the City of Bradford, a metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, in Northern England. It is situated in the foothills of the Pennines, west of Leeds, and northwest of Wakefield. Bradford became a municipal borough in 1847, and received its charter as a city in 1897...
; Yorkshire versus a very useful Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
XI at North Marine Road
North Marine Road
North Marine Road Ground, formerly known as Queen's, is a cricket ground in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, England. It is the home of Scarborough Cricket Club which hosts the Scarborough Cricket Festival and the Yorkshire County Cricket Club plays a series of fixtures in the second half of the...
in Scarborough; and a game between the over-33s and the under-33s at Lord's.
See also: Australian Services cricket team in England in 1945
Australian Services cricket team in England in 1945
The Australian Services cricket team in England in 1945 played six first-class matches, winning three and losing two with one match drawn.-External sources:* -Further reading:* Bill Frindall, The Wisden Book of Test Cricket 1877-1978, Wisden, 1979...
and New Zealand Services cricket team in England in 1945
New Zealand Services cricket team in England in 1945
A New Zealand Services cricket team played several matches in England in the 1945 season. Only one match, against H.D.G. Leveson-Gower's XI at Scarborough, was counted as first-class, but several of the one- and two-day matches were written up in Wisden Cricketers' Almanack for 1946, and the team...
.
Leading players
Leading batsmen in the 1945 season were Len HuttonLen Hutton
Sir Leonard "Len" Hutton was an English Test cricketer, who played for Yorkshire County Cricket Club and England in the years around the Second World War as an opening batsman. He was described by Wisden Cricketer's Almanack as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket...
, who made 782 runs at 48.87 with a highest score (HS) of 188; Keith Miller
Keith Miller
Keith Ross Miller MBE was an Australian Test cricketer and a Royal Australian Air Force pilot during World War II. Miller is widely regarded as Australia's greatest ever all-rounder. Because of his ability, irreverent manner and good looks he was a crowd favourite...
, 725 @ 72.50 (HS 185); Cyril Washbrook
Cyril Washbrook
Cyril Washbrook was an English cricketer, who played for Lancashire and England. He had a long career, split by World War II, and ending when he was aged 44. Washbrook, who is most famous for opening the batting for England with Len Hutton, which he did fifty one times, played a total of 592...
, Bill Edrich
Bill Edrich
William John "Bill" Edrich DFC was a distinguished cricketer who played for Middlesex, MCC, Norfolk and England.Edrich's three brothers, Brian, Eric and Geoff, and also his cousin, John, all played first-class cricket...
, Wally Hammond
Wally Hammond
Walter Reginald "Wally" Hammond was an English Test cricketer who played for Gloucestershire in a career that lasted from 1920 to 1951. Beginning his career as a professional, he later became an amateur and was appointed captain of England...
, Cec Pepper
Cec Pepper
Cecil George Pepper was an Australian first-class cricketer. An allrounder, he was the first to complete the double twice in the Central Lancashire League. With the bat he once hit 38 runs off an eight ball over....
, Martin Donnelly
Martin Donnelly (cricketer)
Martin Paterson Donnelly was a New Zealand Test cricketer and England Rugby Union player.Born in Ngaruawahia, New Zealand, Donnelly's twin brother Maurice died in the Spanish flu epidemic in 1918. His sporting talent emerged quickly and Donnelly became known for his batting and fielding skills, as...
and Lindsay Hassett
Lindsay Hassett
Arthur Lindsay Hassett MBE was a cricketer who played for Victoria and Australia. The diminutive Hassett was an elegant middle-order batsman, described by Wisden as, "... a master of nearly every stroke ... his superb timing, nimble footwork and strong wrists enabled him to make batting look a...
.
The most successful bowler was Dick Pollard
Dick Pollard
Richard "Dick" Pollard was an English cricketer born in Westhoughton, Lancashire, who played in four Tests between 1946 and 1948...
who took 28 wickets at 24.25 with a best bowling analysis (BB) of 6–75. Other leading bowlers were Pepper, who took 27 @ 27.29 (BB 4–57); Reg Ellis, Doug Wright
Doug Wright (cricketer)
Douglas Vivian Parson Wright, better known as Doug Wright was an English cricketer. A leg-spinner for Kent and England from 1932 to 1957 he took a record seven hat-tricks in first class cricket. He played for Kent for 25 years and was their first professional captain from late 1953 to 1956...
, Bob Cristofani
Bob Cristofani
Desmond Robert Cristofani, known as Bob Cristofani , was an Australian cricketer who played 18 first-class matches in the 1940s. 14 of those games were for the Australian Services, three for New South Wales and one for the Dominions.His best performances were both for the Australian Services side...
and George Pope.
Debutants
First-class debutants in 1945 included Trevor BaileyTrevor Bailey
Trevor Edward Bailey CBE was an England Test cricketer, cricket writer and broadcaster.An all-rounder, Bailey was known for his skilful but unspectacular batting...
and three other future England Test players Donald Carr
Donald Carr
Donald Bryce Carr is a former English cricketer who played for Derbyshire from 1946 to 1967, for Oxford University from 1948 to 1951, and twice for England in 1951/52. He captained Derbyshire between 1955 and 1962, and scored over 10,000 runs for the county...
, Alec Coxon
Alec Coxon
Alexander "Alec" Coxon is a former English cricketer who played for Yorkshire. He also played one Test match for England in 1948. Cricket writer, Colin Bateman stated, "Coxon's Test career was abrupt - much like the man himself...
and John Dewes
John Dewes
John Dewes is a former English cricketer, who played for Cambridge University and Middlesex, and was chosen for five Tests between 1948 and 1950.-Life and career:...
.
Players who made their final first-class appearances during the season included Herbert Sutcliffe
Herbert Sutcliffe
Herbert Sutcliffe was an English professional cricketer who represented Yorkshire and England as an opening batsman. Apart from one match in 1945, his first-class career spanned the period between the two World Wars...
, Learie Constantine
Learie Constantine
Learie Nicholas Constantine, Baron Constantine MBE was a West Indian cricketer who played 18 Test matches before the Second World War. He took West Indies' first wicket in Test cricket and was the team's leading all-rounder and opening bowler for the entirety of his career...
and Jack Iddon
Jack Iddon
John Iddon was an English cricketer who played in five Tests in 1935....
. Iddon was killed in a motor accident shortly before the beginning of the 1946 season.
External links
Further reading
- Derek BirleyDerek BirleySir Derek Birley was an English educator and writer who had a strong interest in sport, especially cricket.He was educated at grammar school in Hemsworth, West Yorkshire, and at Queens' College, Cambridge University....
, A Social History of English Cricket, Aurum, 1999