Jack Fingleton
Encyclopedia
John "Jack" Henry Webb Fingleton OBE (28 April 1908 in Sydney
– 22 November 1981 in Sydney
) was an Australian cricket
er who was trained as a journalist and became a political and cricket commentator after the end of his playing career. A stubborn opening batsman known for his dour defensive approach, he scored five Test
centuries
, representing Australia in 18 Tests between 1932 and 1938. He was also known for his involvement in several cricket diplomacy incidents in his career, accused of leaking the infamous verbal exchange between Australian captain Bill Woodfull
and English manager Plum Warner
during the acrimonious Bodyline
series, and later of causing sectarian tension within the team by leading a group of players of Irish
Catholic
descent in undermining the leadership of the Protestant Don Bradman. In retirement, Fingleton became a prominent political commentator in Canberra
, with links to Australian prime ministers. The author of many cricket books, he is regarded as one of Australia's finest cricket writers, with a perceptive and occasionally sardonic style, marked by persistent criticisms of Bradman.
Fingleton had a difficult childhood, forced to leave formal education at the age of 12 to support his family after the death of his father
. He worked in a series of odd jobs before joining the media at the age of 15. He gradually progressed in his newspaper and cricket career. After making his first-grade debut in Sydney district cricket
at the age of 16, he made his first-class debut
for New South Wales
at the age of 20 in 1928–29. However, Fingleton struggled to establish himself at interstate level, and was unable to maintain a regular position in the team, playing in only seven matches in his first three seasons.
In 1931–32, Fingleton capitalised on illnesses to teammates to gain a regular position for New South Wales and then make his debut for Australia. He secured a position in the state team after Archie Jackson
developed terminal tuberculosis
and made 93 and 117 in his first two innings for the season, his highest scores to that point. He was then called into the Test squad and made his debut in the Fifth and final Test of the season against South Africa after Bill Ponsford
fell ill. On a pitch rendered hostile by rain
, Fingleton made 40 in an innings victory, surpassing the entire aggregate scored by the South Africans in their first innings. The following season, Fingleton enhanced his reputation for defiance in difficult conditions by scoring an unbeaten century against the Bodyline attack in a tour match despite suffering multiple bruises, and compiling 83 in the low-scoring Second Test, Australian's only Test win of the series. However, he made a pair in the next Test and the controversy over England's bowling peaked with the leaking of Woodfull's admonishment of Warner over England's tactics. At the time, Fingleton was widely believed to be responsible for the leak, although he always denied it and blamed Bradman. Over time, Fingleton's view has become more widely accepted.
Fingleton was dropped after this Test, and was controversially overlooked for the 1934 tour of England
despite strong performances for New South Wales. His omission was thought to be influenced by the belief that he was responsible for leaking Woodfull's comments as well as Bradman's criticism of his performance. Other factors speculated to have contributed to his omission included a dispute that Fingleton had with Woodfull during a Sheffield Shield match, and interstate rivalries between New South Wales and Victorian Bushrangers
causing Fingleton's omission at the expense of an additional Victorian.
After the 1934 tour, Woodfull and Ponsford—Australia's first-choice opening pair—retired, leaving vacancies in the Test team. Fingleton scored four centuries and was the leading run-scorer during the 1934–35 domestic season to earn a recall to the Australian team for the 1935–36 tour of South Africa
. From that point onwards until the outbreak of World War II, he opened the batting with his New South Wales partner Bill Brown
. With Bradman absent due to illness, it was the happiest time of Fingleton's career, and he scored centuries in three consecutive innings as Australia won each of the last three Tests by an innings. In the Fourth Test, he and Brown put on the first double century opening partnership for Australia in a Test.
In 1936–37, with Bradman back in the team as captain, Fingleton made a century in the First Test to become the first player to score consecutive centuries in four Test innings. He then made 136 in the Third Test, featuring in a partnership of 346 with Bradman after Australia had lost the first two Tests; their stand set up victory and Australia came back to win the series 3–2. Fingleton made his only tour of England in 1938, and he was not successful, averaging only 20.50 in the Tests. Upon returning to Australia he played sporadically for his state before retiring in 1939–40.
Fingleton enlisted in the military during World War II and was eventually sent to work on media matters for Prime Minister John Curtin
and one of his predecessors, Billy Hughes
. After the war, Fingleton worked as a political correspondent in Canberra
and commentated on cricket during the summer months in Australia and England. He was a prolific author, regarded as one of the finest and most stylish cricket writers of his time, producing many books. Fingleton was known for his forthright opinions and willingness to criticise, and his cricket reports were published by newspapers in several countries. He was known for his ongoing feud with Bradman—the pair repeatedly spoke out against one another's judgement and play on the field long after they retired.
. Fingleton was often described as "courageous", in particular for his defiant batting against Bodyline. Fingleton often made self-deprecating comments about his batting, telling English cricket writer Alan Gibson
that he "missed nothing" by not seeing him bat. He was also an athletic and gifted fieldsman, who built his reputation in the covers. Later he became noted along with Vic Richardson
and Bill Brown
in South Africa in 1935–36 as part of Bill O'Reilly
's leg-trap. Neville Cardus
, once described the Fingleton-Brown combination as "crouching low and acquisitively, each with as many arms as an Indian God".
His partnership with Brown was regarded as one of the great opening pairings in the history of Australian Test cricket. In ten Tests together as an opening partnership, the pair averaged 63.75 for the first wicket, higher than any other Australian pair with more than 1,000 runs.
Born at Waverley in the inner eastern suburbs of Sydney, Fingleton was the third of six children. His parents were James
, a tram driver and union organiser who became a member of the New South Wales Parliament, and Belinda May Webb. The family was Irish Catholic—Fingleton's paternal grandfather had immigrated to Australia in the 1870s.
In 1913, at the age of five, Fingleton's father was elected into state parliament as a representative of the centre left, labour-union oriented Australian Labor Party
, and the family moved into a larger house. It was here that Fingleton learned to play street cricket. Fingleton was educated at the Roman Catholic St Francis's School, in the inner city suburb of Paddington
before moving to Waverley College
. There he began a lifelong association with prose.
In 1917, the family fell upon hard times when the elder Fingleton lost his seat and resumed his job as a tram driver, but in 1918 contracted tuberculosis
. The father succumbed in 1920 when Jack was twelve, and the funeral director was Australian Test wicket-keeper
Sammy Carter
.
Without their breadwinner, the Fingleton family were in further trouble and Belinda opened a seafood shop and withdrew her eldest son Les to support her. However, the business failed and the family home was at risk, so Jack was forced to quit school at the age of 12. He did a variety of jobs such as selling food at cinemas, washing bottles and sweeping floors.
At the age of fifteen, Fingleton took the first steps in his journalism career, when his cousin helped him to become a copy boy
with the now defunct Sydney Daily Guardian. Encouraged by his former headmaster, who had prompted his interest in writing, Fingleton quickly eased into his new career. Fingleton started as a sports reporter, and had a narrow escape when he was sacked by Robert Clyde Packer
for breaking a pot, but then reinstated. Fingleton then risked being fired by removing cricket articles written by the famed Neville Cardus
from the newspaper's archive against policy for his personal use.
Fingleton was unable to distinguish himself on the field while at school, but after joining Waverley, he made quick progress. Fingleton trained early in the morning, before heading to the office and working in the afternoon so that the articles would be printed in the evening. He was unable to afford the club membership so a patron sponsored him. At the age of 16, he broke into the First XI of a grade team
which included Test players Alan Kippax
, Hanson Carter
and Arthur Mailey
. Australian Test captain Herbie Collins
missed a match due to his work as a bookmaker
, and Fingleton stood in at late notice. Under the leadership of Carter, Fingleton batted last and made 11 not out
. Forced to follow on, he made 52 not out and cemented his position for the remainder of the season. Within a year, Fingleton's grade performances were being reported in Sydney newspapers. Playing on a Waverley pitch notorious for uneven bounce, Fingleton developed a style of playe centred around solid defence.Growden, p. 35.
In the same year, his journalistic mentor Pedlar Palmer moved to The Sydney Morning Herald
and Fingleton became disenchanted. He was coaxed by cricketer-journalist to move his publication, the Telegraph Pictorial where he worked for several years before the outbreak of the Second World War. However, Fingleton's initiation into his new workplace was difficult as the Telegraph Pictorial had just merged with the Daily Telegraph and around half the workforce were to be made redundant. Fingleton was demoted from the main staff to a freelance correspondent covering events in the inner-city suburbs of Redfern
and Newtown
. In such crime-ridden and turbulent working-class area, Fingleton was productive in break stories and was soon restored to the regular staff.Growden, pp. 32–33.
Having scored a century for Waverley against Petersham the week before,Growden, p. 36. Fingleton made his first-class debut in 1928–29, playing in two matches and having two innings. On debut against Victoria
, Fingleton was allowed to bat no higher than No. 8 by captain Tommy Andrews, despite being a specialist batsman. More than 600 runs had been scored by the time the sixth wicket had fallen, bringing him to the wicket to join Don Bradman, who had already brought up his double century. The pair put on an unbroken stand of 111 before Andrews declared at 7/613, of which Fingleton made 25 not out
. During the partnership, Bradman farmed most of the strike, much to Fingleton's chagrin.Growden, pp. 36–37. The pair's first meeting had been prickly and Bradman glared angrily at Fingleton after a mix-up almost ended in a run out
.Growden, p. 37. The match was drawn, and Fingleton then made a duck against Tasmania
in an innings victory. The following summer, with no Test matches, New South Wales' international representatives were available for the entire season, and Fingleton missed selection for every match.
In 1930–31, aged 22, Fingleton regained his position at the start of the Sheffield Shield season for New South Wales
, and first came to prominence when he withstood a ferocious opening spell against the express pace of Eddie Gilbert
in Brisbane
against Queensland
. On one occasion, a particularly fast Gilbert delivery supposedly evaded both the batsman and wicket-keeper, travelled more than 60 metres and crashed through a fence before hitting and killing a dog on the other side. Fingleton scored 56 as a full strength team with Test players fell for 143. The visitors were set 392 for victory and played for a draw, with Fingleton adding 71 to prevent a collapse as the match was saved. He failed to pass single figures in his next four innings, and was dropped twice, before adding 32 not out and 26 as New South Wales lost to the touring West Indies. Fingleton did not play a full season and ended with 210 runs at 35.00 in five matches, including the two half-centuries.
's hand, before removing him for a duck. Gilbert cut down the New South Wales top order with a spell of 3/12 and forced Alan Kippax
to retire hurt after hitting him in the upper body. Fingleton was going to be twelfth man before Archie Jackson
—who was to die of tuberculosis
just over a year later—collapsed just before the start of the match.Growden, p. 39. Undeterred, Stan McCabe
came in and counterattacked; Fingleton assisted him with a stubborn 93 and featured in a 195-run fourth wicket partnership. New South Wales reached 432 and won by an innings.
Fingleton then scored his maiden first-class century of 117 in less than four hours in the following match, against the touring South Africa
, helping his team to 3/430 in their runchase. The hosts were 18 runs short of victory when time ran out. Although Fingleton made only five in New South Wales' second match against the South Africans, Fingleton was selected for the Test series against the same team. This came after only ten matches for his state.Growden, p. 44. Starting with the Second Test, he was twelfth man for three consecutive Tests, and as a result, did not play any cricket for six weeks before he added a pair of 40s in a win over arch-rivals Victoria.
Fingleton made his debut in the Fifth and final Test in similar circumstances to his break at the start of the season; Bill Ponsford
fell ill and Bradman twisted an ankle. As Bradman later took a hard-running catch as a substitute fielder on the same day, some suspected that he had feigned injury to avoid playing on a rain-affected wicket
hostile to batting—he had appeared uncomfortable against aggressive bowling in the previous Test. In a low-scoring match, Fingleton's first action on the field was to let a ball go between his legs as South Africa batted first.Growden, p. 47. Opening with captain Bill Woodfull
in the absence of Ponsford, Fingleton saw his skipper removed from the first ball of the innings. He was allowed to ease into his first innings when the first ball he faced, from Neville Quinn
, was a deliberate full toss
to give him an opportunity to score his initial runs easily. The pair became friends from this point onwards. Fingleton was second top-scorer with 40 as Australia made 153 recorded an innings victory. The match lasted less than one day's playing time as the hosts fell for only 36 and 45.Piesse, p. 125. The cricketer-journalist Richard Whitington
later wrote that "for courage and skill...[Fingleton's 51] was worth quadruple that number". The Sydney Mail
predicted that Fingleton's display on the rain-affected wicket, the likes of which were common, proved that he would "someday be a great success" there. Fingleton ended the season with 386 runs at 42.88 with one century and a fifty in six matches.
series, when England toured under Douglas Jardine
and targeted the upper bodies of the Australian batsmen with short-pitched bowling, using a close leg side cordon to catch balls fended away from the body. In one of the tour matches before the Tests, Fingleton scored a defiant 119*, carrying his bat for New South Wales against the bumper barrage of Harold Larwood
and Gubby Allen
, ensuring his selection for the First Test. Despite his unbending resistance, his state fell to an innings defeat. In a warm-up for the Tests, he scored 29 and 53 not out for an Australian XI against the tourists, while most of his teammates struggled. His earlier experience held him in good stead as he scored 26 and 40 as Australia were crushed by ten wickets in the First Test in Sydney
. Fingleton stood his ground and was hit several times. He then made a defiant four hour innings to top-score with 83 in the first innings of Australia's only win of the series in the Second Test in Melbourne, although he did run out his batting partner Leo O'Brien
in the process. This helped the Australians to reach 228 and they took a 59-run first innings lead before winning the match despite Fingleton making only one in the second innings. He appeared as well equipped as any Australian to combat England's strategy.
was disastrous for Fingleton, who scored a pair as Australia were hammered by 338 runs. He was blamed for leaking the details of the dressing room exchange between captain Bill Woodfull
and English manager Plum Warner
, which almost caused the abandonment of the Test series. Warner had visited Woodfull to express sympathies after the Australian captain was struck in the heart by Larwood's short pitched bowling, to which Woodfull retorted "I do not want to see you Mr. Warner. There are two sides out there. One is playing cricket and the other is not." The leak caused a sensastion, as Woodfull had publicly remained composed in the face of the body barrage, neither complaining nor retaliating. Fingleton was dropped for the remaining two Tests of the series. New South Wales played England after the Third Test and Fingleton had a chance to show his credentials against Bodyline but made only 19 and 7 in a four-wicket defeat, and was unable to force his way back into the Test team. Fingleton always denied responsibility for the leak, blaming Bradman. This incident was the first in a string of open disagreements between Fingleton and Bradman.
The Bodyline season also marked the beginning of Fingleton's opening combination with Bill Brown
, who made his New South Wales debut in the same season. Fingleton scored four half-centuries for the remainder of the first-class season and ended with 648 runs at 38.11 as New South Wales won the Sheffield Shield.
Fingleton had a prolific 1933–34 Australian season in which he scored 655 runs at 59.54 with two centuries and four fifties. He scored 105 in the Test trial for Richardson's XI
and then struck 145 against arch-rivals Victoria in the last match of the season; New South Wales were unable to force a victory and thus ceded the Sheffield Shield to their southern neighbours. He had scored 76 in the return match earlier in the season and added 33 and 78 against the Rest of Australia.
Despite this, Fingleton was an overlooked for the Australian side selected to tour England in 1934. With captain Woodfull and Bill Ponsford
the established openers, there was only one place for a spare opener, and Brown won the position over his partner, who had performed to a similar standard during the season. The selectors asked Don Bradman, Australia's leading batsman and state team-mate to Brown and Fingleton, for advice. Bradman nominated Brown, believing that his style was better suited to English pitches. On the day that the team was selected, Bradman wrote in his newspaper column, criticising Fingleton's running between the wickets.Growden, p. 84. When the pair next met, Fingleton's only words were to blame Bradman for his omission; Bradman claimed that as a result of the selection controversy, Fingleton relentless pursued a vendetta against him from there on. Fingleton also suspected that Woodfull wanted him out of the team because he held the journalist responsible for the leaked exchange with Warner.Growden, p. 85.
Some incidents in Fingleton's century in the last match of the season were also believed to have reflected badly at the selection table. Having retired hurt on 78, he returned the next day and was then dropped on 86 in the slips. Fingleton had moved out of his crease to pat out the pitch before the ball had gone dead
and Victorian wicket-keeper Ben Barnett
broke the stumps. A displeased Fingleton was given out by umpire George Borwick and walked off the ground, only to be called back by captain Woodfull. Fingleton refused Woodfull's offer and did not return until Woodfull successfully asked Borwick to reverse his decision. The media reported that Fingleton had quarrelled with Woodfull and several teammates told him that his apparent rebuff of the national captain would prejudice his chances of selection, and the NSWCA made an inquiry into the matter; Fingleton failed to respond. During the same innings, Bradman also wrote in his newspaper report that Fingleton had been responsible for the run out of teammate Ray Rowe
, which angered Fingleton for an extended period.Growden, p. 87.
A disappointed Fingleton wrote to Woodfull, saying "You have chosen chaps who do not like fast bowling". He also questioned what he perceived to be Woodfull's coldness towards him since the Bodyline series and decried unnamed "fellow pressmen, naturally jealous".Growden, pp. 88–89. Wisden speculated that Fingleton's omission may have been due to cricket diplomacy reasons following the incident in Adelaide, while others thought that regionalism was to blame; this view posited that Ernest Bromley
was selected so that seven Victorians and New South Welshmen would be on the tour. Bromley scored only 312 runs in 20 innings in England.Growden, p. 92.
Fingleton was selected for a second string Australian team to tour New Zealand
for two months at the end of the season while the Test team departred for England. However, captain Victor Richardson and his deputy Keith Rigg
withdrew, dissatisfied with the pay, leaving Fingleton as the most senior member of the team. The tour was then cancelled by New Zealand, who feared that the large number of absentees would result in a large financial loss.
With retirements of both Woodfull and Ponsford following the 1934 tour to England, positions at the top of the Australia's batting order became available. Fingleton also found state cricket more attractive now that Bradman had decided to move to South Australia
to take up stockbroking. Fingleton responded to his omission from the Ashes tour by leading the run-scoring aggregates in the 1934–35 season. He scored 880 runs at 58.66 with four centuries and four fifties, almost 200 runs more than the second most prolific batsman, Brown. After Fingleton started the summer with a fifty in Woodfull's testimonial match, the pair started the Shield campaign with a 249-run stand in New South Wales' first match of the season against South Australia, both scoring centuries in an innings victory. Fingleton made 134 in just over three hours.Growden, p. 93. Fingleton reached 49 at least once in the remaining five matches, including a 108 against Queensland. Despite the form of the openers, New South Wales failed to win the Sheffield Shield after losing both of their matches against Victoria. Fingleton ended the season with consecutive centuries, 124 and 100, against Western Australia
, and took the first of two first-class wickets in his career in the first of the two matches.
As a result of his performances, Fingleton was recalled to the Test team for the tour of South Africa in 1935–36, where he partnered Brown at the top of the innings. Under normal circumstances, the Australians would have been captained by Fingleton's rival Bradman, who had been vice-captain to Woodfull. However, Bradman was unable to tour for medical reasons and Vic Richardson
led the team instead. With Bradman out of the way, the tour was to be the most prolific and peaceful phase of Fingleton's international career and included several large opening stands with Brown. During the tour, Fingleton played with an attacking flair that contrasted with his established reputation for doggedness.Growden, p. 99. Fof Fingleton, it was the happiest tour he had been on, in large part due to Bradman's absence.
Fingleton nearly failed to make the trip. His newspaper editor Eric Baume ordered to write a column attacking the Australian Board of Control for vetoing players from going on a private tour of India, threatening to sack him if he refused—criticism of the board typically resulted in exclusion from selection. Fingleton was reluctant to comply, and was reprieved when the editor-in-chief overruled Baume.
Fingleton scored 66 for the Australians in an innings victory over Western Australia before sailing for South Africa. It was to be the start of a very productive campaign. In the three matches leading up to the Tests, against Natal, Western Province
and Transvaal
respectively, Fingleton scored 121, 53, 99 and seven not out. Australia won the latter match by ten wickets and the others by an innings. In the match by Natal, Fingleton and Brown both made centuries and combined in a double century stand.
After almost three years in the wilderness, Fingleton returned to the Test arena in the First Test at Durban
. After making two in the first innings, he was unbeaten on 36 when Australia reached their second innings target with nine wickets in hand. During the first innings, a 140 km/h gale hit the ground, uprooting trees and forcing balls that were heading into the wind to do U-turns. He followed this with 62—the innings top-scoreGrowden, p. 97.—and 40 in the Second Test at Johannesburg
. After taking a 93-run first innings lead, Australia needed a Test record of 399 in the second innings to win on a turning
wicket, and after the early demise of Brown, Fingleton joined McCabe in a 177-run partnership that pushed the score to 1/194. Such was the dominance of McCabe that he scored more than 80% of the runs during this partnership.Growden, p. 98. Australia needed only 125 with half the day remaining and eight wickets in hand when poor visibility ended play. McCabe had flayed the attack and reached 189 not out when the South Africans had the match called off, claiming that the fieldsmen were endangered by the batsman's vigorous hitting.
Fingleton finished the series with centuries in each of the last three Tests, all in consecutive innings; 112 at Cape Town
, 108 at Johannesburg
and 118 in Durban. In the Third Test, Fingleton and Brown set a new Australian Test record opening stand of 233, which laid the foundation for a total of 8/362 declared and an innings victory. It was Australia's first double-century opening stand in Test cricket, and remains a national record for the first wicket against South Africa. On a rain-affected wicket, Fingleton reached his maiden Test century in only 180 minutes before wickets began falling steadily.Growden, pp. 98–99.
Before the Fourth Test, Fingleton added 52 against Border
and 110 in an innings win over Transvaal. His 108 in the Fourth Test was more than South Africa's entire second innings of 98, and scored at almost a run a minute.Growden, p. 103. In the Fifth Test, the pair combined for another century stand. Each of the three matches resulted in an innings victory for Australia as the series was taken 4–0. Fingleton ended the Test series with 478 runs at 79.66. Against Natal at Durban
, he made his highest first class score of 167, his second century against the provincial side for the season. He ended the tour with a total of 1192 runs at 74.50, including six centuries. Despite his rapid scoring in South Africa, Fingleton's achievements went largely unheralded at home; at the time, England and Australia were by far the strongest Test teams and media coverage of the tour was scant. There was little detail in the reports apart from the scores and Fingleton was still described as a slow scorer, something that angered him.
's Englishmen toured Australia, and after failing to pass 10 in his first three innings for the season, Fingleton scored 39, 42 and 56 in matches for New South Wales and an Australian XI against the tourists.
Fingleton became the first player to score centuries in four consecutive Test innings when he scored 100 in the first innings of the First Test at Brisbane, reaching the mileston on December 7. He top-scored as Australia replied to England's 358 with 234. Fingleton's feats was later equalled by Alan Melville
, (whose four centuries were scored on either side of World War II
) and surpassed by the West Indian, Everton Weekes
in 1948–49. Fingleton's run ended in the second innings, falling for a golden duck
as Australia were skittled for 58 on a sticky wicket
and crushed by 322 runs.
After scoring 12 in a total of 80 as Australia were caught on a sticky wicket, Fingleton then made 73 in the second innings of the Second Test in Sydney, one of few Australians to resist as the home side fell to an innings defeat after being forced to follow on. Australia were facing a dilemma in the Third Test in Melbourne. The home team scored 200, Fingleton contributing 38, before rain caused a sticky wicket
and England declared at 9/76. However, Australia still had to bat on the treacherous surface, captain Bradman reshuffled the batting lineup, putting the bowlers in first and Fingleton and himself in at Nos. 6 and 7 to save them for more favourable batting conditions. The bowlers managed to survive to the end of the day's play and the wicket improved overnight. The pair came together with the score at 5/97 and made a Test record sixth-wicket partnership of 346, with Fingleton making 136. It turned the Test and saw Australia ended at 564. The hosts bowled England out for 323 to win the match by 365 runs and prevent England from taking an unassailable 3–0 lead. Fingleton did not pass 20 in his last three innings of the series, as Australia won the remaining two matches to win the series. Fingleton ended with 398 runs at 44.22 in the Tests, and 631 runs at 33.21 overall.
Fingleton followed up with 862 runs at 50.70 in the 1937–38 domestic season, with two centuries and six fifties. This effort placed him third in the run-scoring aggregates for the season. He saved his best for arch-rivals Victoria, scoring 59 and 160 to salvage a draw after New South Wales had conceded a first innings lead of 231. New south Wales went on to win the title. Fingleton finished his season with 66, 1, 47 and 109 in two warm-up matches for the Australian team against Western Australia before they headed to England for the 1938 Ashes series.
In 1938, Fingleton made what turned out to be his international farewell as Australia toured England, a series in which he found runs difficult to come by. He later attributed this to his inability to play the pull shot. However, Fingleton started the tour well. He passed 30 in each of his first seven innings on English soil, and converted three of these starts into centuries, scoring 124 against Oxford University
, 111 against Cambridge University
and 123 not out against Hampshire
in the first month of cricket. Fingleton's form tapered just at the wrong time, falling three times for single figures in the last two matches before the Tests. He carried this into the First Test at Trent Bridge
, where he made only 9 and 40 in a high-scoring draw in which every innings passed 400.
An infamous incident occurred in Australia's second innings. As Australia were 247 runs behind on the first innings and forced to follow on, they played for a draw and Brown and Fingleton batted slowly in the second innings. Sections of the crowd heckled his slow batting by using a slow hand clap. Bradman then sent Mervyn Waite
out to deliver orders to the openers that they should back away from their positions and hold up proceedings until the barracking stopped. Fingleton said that he was not perturbed by the crowd but obeyed; umpire Frank Chester
and England captain Wally Hammond
had no issues with this. At one point, Fingleton theatrically decided to take off his gloves, put down his bat and sit down on the pitch and refusing to resume before the gallery quietened, but this only caused a huge uproar. Wisden later criticised him, saying that he lost "all true sense of the situation...an extraordinary action on the part of a cricket in a Test match." They regarded the gesture as disrespectful as a majority of the spectators had not heckled him.
Fingleton rediscovered his form between the Tests, scoring 121 against the Gentlemen of England and 96 against Lancashire
. Again however, Fingleton was unable to maintain the momentum in the Tests, making 31 and 4 against England in the Second Test at Lord's, which ended in another draw.
Fingleton then aggregated only 36 in four innings in next three county fixtures, and after the Third Test at Old Trafford never started due to persistent rain, he was concussed in the match against Warwickshire at Edgbaston
. A long hop
from Waite was pulled into his head at point-blank range, and Fingleton managed to duck enough that it glanced his forehead and went into the air, to the cries of "catch it" from Bradman. The ball did not go to hand and Fingleton was hospitalised.
Fingleton made 30 and 9 in a low-scoring Fourth Test at Headingley
, which Australia won by five wickets to retain the Ashes. He remained unproductive in the lead-up to the final Test, scoring 51 in three first-class innings. His Test career ended disappointingly at The Oval
in "Hutton
's Match". In the course of England's marathon innings of 7/903 he sustained a leg injury, which prevented him from batting in either Australian innings. With Bradman also unable to bat, Australia collapsed to the heaviest defeat in Test history, by an innings and 579 runs. It capped off a tour that ended poorly after a promising start. Fingleton made 123 runs in six innings at an average of 20.50. With the outbreak of World War II, Australia was not to play another Test until the 1945–46 season, ending Fingleton's international career.
Fingleton returned to Australia and played in only three matches in the 1938–39 domestic season, scoring 81 runs at 16.20, before being sidelined at the end of December. His top-score for the season was 45 as New South Wales lost by four wickets to Victoria. In 1939–40, Fingleton had another quiet season with only 39 runs at 6.50 in three matches. He passed single figures only once in six innings and ended with a duck and three as New South Wales lost to arch-rivals Victoria by 82 runs. Fingleton retired at the end of the season.
After the start of World War II
, he enlisted in the Second Australian Imperial Force
in November 1941 in the artillery. He was sent to Warwick Farm
, then on the western outskirts of Sydney, for training. A non-conformist known for being forthright, Fingleton did not enjoy military discipline. In May 1942, he went AWOL from his post at Double Bay
on the shores of Sydney Harbour to visit his wife. As a result, he was missing when a Japanese midget submarine launched an attack in the harbour. Soon after, he was deployed to Townsville in northern Queensland
in anticipation of a Japanese land invasion, which never materialised. He was then transferred to the Press Relations unit. There he did work in intelligence analysis and censorship.
The military then made him the press secretary for former Prime Minister of Australia
Billy Hughes
. From his appointment onwards, he lived and worked in Canberra
. Hughes had changed political parties several times and was infamous for his erratic style and the government wanted Fingleton to moderate him. The leader of the United Australia Party
, Hughes had particularly worried Prime Minister John Curtin
by frequently and publicly excoriating US General Douglas Macarthur
, who was commanding the Allied forces in the Pacific. Curtin needed someone to quieten Hughes, as Macarthur had threatened to leave if the denouncements continued.Growden, p. 161. Fingleton spent three months working for the temperamental Hughes and was not successful in curbing his aggressive oratory. He then worked in censorship, deciding which portions of Curtin's press briefings were reportable; Fingleton tried to take a liberal line on press freedom. Fingleton also worked for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation
's Radio Australia
while serving in the censorship department.Growden, p. 165.
, Australia's longest serving Prime Minister, provided him with a laudatory foreword in his book, Masters of Cricket. Fingleton's Test coverage resulted in a number of books that placed him at the forefront of Australian cricket writers. The books included Cricket Crisis (mainly an account of the 1932–33 Bodyline
series
), Brightly Fades the Don (the 1948 Invincibles tour), Brown & Company: The Tour in Australia (the English tour of Australia in 1950–51
), The Ashes Crown the Year (the Australian tour of England in 1953
), Masters of Cricket, Four Chukkas to Australia (the English tour of Australia in 1958–59
), The Greatest Test of All (the Tied Test of 1960
), Fingleton on Cricket and The Immortal Victor Trumper
. His final book, the autobiographical Batting From Memory, was to have its Australian launch during the week in which he died of a heart attack. His cricket writing, regarded as one of the most stylish by and Australian often left a sour taste with observers because of the persistent anti-Bradman jibes.
During his war years, Fingleton decided to take up book writing, in addition to newspaper journalism, and began compiling a book about the Bodyline series during his spare time in the army, a topic that was still deep in the Australian consciousness, using his inside knowledge as a participant in that Ashes campaign. As Fingleton had worked for the government's censors, he was one of only a few who knew of the effect of the Bodyline controversy in politics, as he had been aware of the cables that had been sent by government officials.Growden, p. 158. Fingleton received advice and encouragement from the eminent British cricket writer Neville Cardus
,Growden, p. 156. and suffered a setback when, after finishing half the book, he sent his manuscript to a be reviewed. It was lost in the post, and he had forgotten to make a copy. Fingleton finished his book Cricket Crisis in 1946 but it was rejected by the publishers Collins, who had already published a book by Ray Robinson
named Between Wickets on the same topic. They were also concerned about the marketability of a book that criticised Bradman—still the dominant player of the time and an idolised figure—strongly. Fingleton then published with Cassell, and the book was widely acclaimed and is still regarded as the best first-hand account of the Bodyline controversy and of the classic cricket books at large. It was well-known for its stylish writing and analytical value. Fingleton expressed his views forthrightly and interspersed the account with analyses and profiles of those involved in the Bodyline series, including Bradman, Jardine, Larwood, Warner and McCabe. He criticised Bradman's unorthodox approach in backing away from the bowling and questioned his aloof attitude towards his teammates. This angered Bradman, who wrote in his 1949 book Farewell to Cricket in reply to Fingleton, claiming that as Fingleton was an inferior batsman, his record gave him "scarcely...any authority to criticise my methods."Growden, p. 173. The debate continued on, with replies in subsequent publications citing statistics.Growden, pp. 173–174.
As parliament is usually in recess during the summer months, Fingleton's political journalism did not often interfere with his cricket radio commentary for the ABC or his cricket writing, except during tours of England in the Australian winter.Growden, p. 174. Fingleton mainly freelanced for overseas newspapers as he regarded Australian editors as being difficult to work with, and because the pay was lower.Growden, pp. 174–175. In 1946–47, England toured Australia for the first full Test series since the war. Fingleton criticised Bradman for not walking after hitting a disputed catch to Jack Ikin
. Fingleton and most in the press box thought that the catch was clean but the umpire ruled in favour of Bradman. At the time Bradman had been making a comeback from ill health and had been struggling, and it was thought that he would retire if he could not discover his old form. After the dispute catch however, Bradman began timing the ball and went on to score 187. Fingleton openly criticised the decision to give Bradman not out in his writing. Later in the series, he decried Bradman's tactics of having his pacemen bowl frequent bouncers at the English batsmen, pointing out that it was hypocritical for the Australian captain to vociferously condemn Jardine's tactics years earlier. As Fingleton was one of the few who were forthright enough to question the actions of national hero Bradman, many sources within the Australian cricket community chose to confide in him, most notably all rounder Keith Miller
, whose cavalier attitude brought him into conflict with Bradman's ruthless approach to victory.Growden, pp. 177, 179. The following season, during the Indian team's tour of Australia, Fingleton began his association with The Hindu
.
After his death, a disused historic scoreboard from the MCG, dated to 1901, was taken out of storage and transported to Canberra, where it was installed on the top of hill at Manuka Oval
, and renamed the Jack Fingleton Scoreboard. At the dedication ceremony, Governor-General of Australia
Sir Ninian Stephen
said that Fingleton not merely a Test cricketer who became a parliamentary journalist in the national capital, but "an institution" in Canberra.Growden, p. 299.
In addition to his writing, Fingleton was a witty, perceptive and occasionally sardonic commentator for the BBC
and at various times a contributor to The Times, The Sunday Times, The Observer, and various newspapers in Australia, South Africa and elsewhere. In 1976, he was awarded an OBE for services "to journalism and to cricket". He was the subject of three appearances in 1979 and 1980 on Parkinson
's TV interview show. Fingleton's judgements were characterised by careful first-hand evidence and was known for sensing the emergence of a possible story. E W Swanton stated that "Fingleton remains surely, as cricket writer and broadcaster, the best his country has".
. Her father later became the Chief Justice of New South Wales, while her mother was a prominent left-wing women's rights activist and the Streets were a wealthy family of the Protestant establishment.Growden, pp. 136–139. Jessie had taken her daughter with her to a meeting of the League of Nations
and then for a long tour of Europe.Growden, p. 136. At the time, Philippa was only 18, and Fingleton 30, and Jessie was concerned when the pair fell in love, anticipating that problems would arise over religion. She hoped that the young couple would drift apart, but Fingleton gave the family tickets to the Fifth Test in London, only to injure himself during the match and not be able to bat. Upon returning to Australia, the couple wanted to marry, but the Streets forbade their daughter from marrying until 21. Fingleton wanted Philippa to adopt Catholicism, something that concerned her mother, as she had clashed with Catholic leaders in her advocacy of birth control
. The wedding went ahead in January 1942 after Philippa agreed to convert and Fingleton fitted in easily with his in-laws' left-wing orientation.
Throughout his career as player and journalist, Fingleton persistently came into personal conflict with Don Bradman, one of the captains under whom Fingleton played, damaging the reputations of both. Bradman characteristically held his silence during Fingleton's lifetime. Bradman was known for his reserved personality, did not drink and often eschewed social activities with teammates, preferring to privately listen to music or read. Combined with his success, he gained a reputation for cockiness. In the 1930s, Australia had been divided along sectarian lines, with those of Irish
descent such as Fingleton being Catholic and Anglo-Australians such as Bradman being predominantly Protestant, leading to speculation that the tension was fuelled by religion. During the 1936–37 Ashes series in Australia, four Catholics, leading bowler Bill O'Reilly
, leading batsman and vice-captain Stan McCabe
along with Leo O'Brien
and Chuck Fleetwood-Smith
were summoned by the Board of Control to respond to allegations that they were undermining Bradman. Fingleton was not invited, speculated to be due to his journalistic background, but Bradman later alleged that he was the ringleader. After that, Bradman's relationship with O'Reilly and Fingleton never recovered. When Bradman was dismissed in his final Test innings in 1948 for a duck, Fingleton and O'Reilly were reported to be laughing hysterically in the pressbox. E W Swanton said that "I thought they were going to have stroke". Bradman later wrote after both had died: "With these fellows out of the way, the loyalty of my 1948 side was a big joy and made a big contribution to the outstanding success of that tour".
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
– 22 November 1981 in Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
) was an Australian cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
er who was trained as a journalist and became a political and cricket commentator after the end of his playing career. A stubborn opening batsman known for his dour defensive approach, he scored five Test
Test cricket
Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...
centuries
Century (cricket)
In the sport of cricket, a batsman reaches his century when he scores 100 or more runs in a single innings. The term is also included in "century partnership" which occurs when two batsmen add 100 runs to the team total when they are batting together. A century is regarded as a landmark score for...
, representing Australia in 18 Tests between 1932 and 1938. He was also known for his involvement in several cricket diplomacy incidents in his career, accused of leaking the infamous verbal exchange between Australian captain Bill Woodfull
Bill Woodfull
William Maldon "Bill" Woodfull OBE was an Australian cricketer of the 1920s and 1930s. He captained both Victoria and Australia, and was best known for his dignified and moral conduct during the tumultuous bodyline series in 1932–33 that almost saw the end of Anglo-Australian cricketing ties...
and English manager Plum Warner
Plum Warner
Sir Pelham Francis Warner MBE , affectionately and better known as Plum Warner, or even "the Grand Old Man" of English cricket was a Test cricketer....
during the acrimonious Bodyline
Bodyline
Bodyline, also known as fast leg theory bowling, was a cricketing tactic devised by the English cricket team for their 1932–33 Ashes tour of Australia, specifically to combat the extraordinary batting skill of Australia's Don Bradman...
series, and later of causing sectarian tension within the team by leading a group of players of Irish
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
descent in undermining the leadership of the Protestant Don Bradman. In retirement, Fingleton became a prominent political commentator in Canberra
Canberra
Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...
, with links to Australian prime ministers. The author of many cricket books, he is regarded as one of Australia's finest cricket writers, with a perceptive and occasionally sardonic style, marked by persistent criticisms of Bradman.
Fingleton had a difficult childhood, forced to leave formal education at the age of 12 to support his family after the death of his father
James Fingleton
James Fingleton Jnr was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly and the father of Australian Test cricketer Jack Fingleton....
. He worked in a series of odd jobs before joining the media at the age of 15. He gradually progressed in his newspaper and cricket career. After making his first-grade debut in Sydney district cricket
Sydney Grade Cricket
Sydney Grade Cricket is a cricket competition played in Sydney, Australia. The competition began in 1893 when a number of clubs, which had been playing for many years on an ad hoc basis, voted to create a formal competition structure....
at the age of 16, he made his first-class debut
First-class cricket
First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...
for New South Wales
New South Wales Blues
The New South Wales cricket team are an Australian first class cricket team based in Sydney, New South Wales...
at the age of 20 in 1928–29. However, Fingleton struggled to establish himself at interstate level, and was unable to maintain a regular position in the team, playing in only seven matches in his first three seasons.
In 1931–32, Fingleton capitalised on illnesses to teammates to gain a regular position for New South Wales and then make his debut for Australia. He secured a position in the state team after Archie Jackson
Archie Jackson
Archibald "Archie" Jackson , occasionally known as Archibald Alexander Jackson, was an Australian cricketer who played eight Test matches as a specialist batsman between 1929 and 1931. A teenage prodigy, he played first grade cricket at only 15 years of age and was selected for New South Wales at 17...
developed terminal tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
and made 93 and 117 in his first two innings for the season, his highest scores to that point. He was then called into the Test squad and made his debut in the Fifth and final Test of the season against South Africa after Bill Ponsford
Bill Ponsford
William Harold "Bill" Ponsford MBE was an Australian cricketer. Usually playing as an opening batsman, he formed a successful and long-lived partnership opening the batting for Victoria and Australia with Bill Woodfull, his friend and state and national captain...
fell ill. On a pitch rendered hostile by rain
Sticky wicket
Sticky wicket is a metaphor used to describe a difficult circumstance; it originates from difficult circumstances in the sport of cricket.-Origins:...
, Fingleton made 40 in an innings victory, surpassing the entire aggregate scored by the South Africans in their first innings. The following season, Fingleton enhanced his reputation for defiance in difficult conditions by scoring an unbeaten century against the Bodyline attack in a tour match despite suffering multiple bruises, and compiling 83 in the low-scoring Second Test, Australian's only Test win of the series. However, he made a pair in the next Test and the controversy over England's bowling peaked with the leaking of Woodfull's admonishment of Warner over England's tactics. At the time, Fingleton was widely believed to be responsible for the leak, although he always denied it and blamed Bradman. Over time, Fingleton's view has become more widely accepted.
Fingleton was dropped after this Test, and was controversially overlooked for the 1934 tour of England
Australian cricket team in England in 1934
Australia won the 1934 Ashes series against England, winning two of the matches and losing one, with the other two tests drawn. The Australian tourists were captained by Bill Woodfull, while the home side were led by Bob Wyatt, with Cyril Walters deputising for Wyatt in the first Test.In the second...
despite strong performances for New South Wales. His omission was thought to be influenced by the belief that he was responsible for leaking Woodfull's comments as well as Bradman's criticism of his performance. Other factors speculated to have contributed to his omission included a dispute that Fingleton had with Woodfull during a Sheffield Shield match, and interstate rivalries between New South Wales and Victorian Bushrangers
Victorian Bushrangers
The Victorian cricket team, nicknamed the Bushrangers, is an Australian cricket team based in Melbourne, that represents the state of Victoria. It is administered by Cricket Victoria and draws its players from Melbourne's Premier Cricket competition...
causing Fingleton's omission at the expense of an additional Victorian.
After the 1934 tour, Woodfull and Ponsford—Australia's first-choice opening pair—retired, leaving vacancies in the Test team. Fingleton scored four centuries and was the leading run-scorer during the 1934–35 domestic season to earn a recall to the Australian team for the 1935–36 tour of South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
. From that point onwards until the outbreak of World War II, he opened the batting with his New South Wales partner Bill Brown
Bill Brown (cricketer)
William Alfred "Bill" Brown, OAM was an Australian cricketer who played 22 Tests between 1934 and 1948, captaining his country in one Test. A right-handed opening batsman, his partnership with Jack Fingleton in the 1930s is regarded as one of the finest in Australian Test history...
. With Bradman absent due to illness, it was the happiest time of Fingleton's career, and he scored centuries in three consecutive innings as Australia won each of the last three Tests by an innings. In the Fourth Test, he and Brown put on the first double century opening partnership for Australia in a Test.
In 1936–37, with Bradman back in the team as captain, Fingleton made a century in the First Test to become the first player to score consecutive centuries in four Test innings. He then made 136 in the Third Test, featuring in a partnership of 346 with Bradman after Australia had lost the first two Tests; their stand set up victory and Australia came back to win the series 3–2. Fingleton made his only tour of England in 1938, and he was not successful, averaging only 20.50 in the Tests. Upon returning to Australia he played sporadically for his state before retiring in 1939–40.
Fingleton enlisted in the military during World War II and was eventually sent to work on media matters for Prime Minister John Curtin
John Curtin
John Joseph Curtin , Australian politician, served as the 14th Prime Minister of Australia. Labor under Curtin formed a minority government in 1941 after the crossbench consisting of two independent MPs crossed the floor in the House of Representatives, bringing down the Coalition minority...
and one of his predecessors, Billy Hughes
Billy Hughes
William Morris "Billy" Hughes, CH, KC, MHR , Australian politician, was the seventh Prime Minister of Australia from 1915 to 1923....
. After the war, Fingleton worked as a political correspondent in Canberra
Canberra
Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...
and commentated on cricket during the summer months in Australia and England. He was a prolific author, regarded as one of the finest and most stylish cricket writers of his time, producing many books. Fingleton was known for his forthright opinions and willingness to criticise, and his cricket reports were published by newspapers in several countries. He was known for his ongoing feud with Bradman—the pair repeatedly spoke out against one another's judgement and play on the field long after they retired.
Style
A right-hand opening batsman, Fingleton was noted primarily for his obdurate defense rather than for his strokeplay. Like most successful opening batsmen, he had a small back-lift and was rarely surprised by the quicker half-volley or yorkerYorker
Yorker is a term used in cricket that describes a ball bowled which hits the cricket pitch around the batsman's feet. When a batsman assumes a normal stance this generally means that the cricket ball bounces on the cricket pitch on or near the batsman's popping crease...
. Fingleton was often described as "courageous", in particular for his defiant batting against Bodyline. Fingleton often made self-deprecating comments about his batting, telling English cricket writer Alan Gibson
Alan Gibson
Norman Alan Stanley Gibson was an English journalist, writer and radio broadcaster, best known for his work in connection with cricket, though he also sometimes covered football and rugby union...
that he "missed nothing" by not seeing him bat. He was also an athletic and gifted fieldsman, who built his reputation in the covers. Later he became noted along with Vic Richardson
Vic Richardson
Victor York Richardson OBE was a leading Australian sportsman of the 1920s and 1930s, captaining the Australian cricket team and the South Australian Australian rules football team, representing Australia in baseball and South Australia in golf, winning the South Australian state tennis title and...
and Bill Brown
Bill Brown (cricketer)
William Alfred "Bill" Brown, OAM was an Australian cricketer who played 22 Tests between 1934 and 1948, captaining his country in one Test. A right-handed opening batsman, his partnership with Jack Fingleton in the 1930s is regarded as one of the finest in Australian Test history...
in South Africa in 1935–36 as part of Bill O'Reilly
Bill O'Reilly (cricketer)
William Joseph "Bill" O'Reilly , often known as Tiger O'Reilly, was an Australian cricketer, rated as one of the greatest bowlers in the history of the game. Following his retirement from playing, he became a well-respected cricket writer and broadcaster.O'Reilly was one of the best spin bowlers to...
's leg-trap. Neville Cardus
Neville Cardus
Sir John Frederick Neville Cardus CBE was an English writer and critic, best known for his writing on music and cricket. For many years, he wrote for The Manchester Guardian. He was untrained in music, and his style of criticism was subjective, romantic and personal, in contrast with his critical...
, once described the Fingleton-Brown combination as "crouching low and acquisitively, each with as many arms as an Indian God".
His partnership with Brown was regarded as one of the great opening pairings in the history of Australian Test cricket. In ten Tests together as an opening partnership, the pair averaged 63.75 for the first wicket, higher than any other Australian pair with more than 1,000 runs.
Early years
James Fingleton
James Fingleton Jnr was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly and the father of Australian Test cricketer Jack Fingleton....
, a tram driver and union organiser who became a member of the New South Wales Parliament, and Belinda May Webb. The family was Irish Catholic—Fingleton's paternal grandfather had immigrated to Australia in the 1870s.
In 1913, at the age of five, Fingleton's father was elected into state parliament as a representative of the centre left, labour-union oriented Australian Labor Party
Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...
, and the family moved into a larger house. It was here that Fingleton learned to play street cricket. Fingleton was educated at the Roman Catholic St Francis's School, in the inner city suburb of Paddington
Paddington, New South Wales
Paddington is an inner-city, eastern suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Paddington is located 3 kilometres east of the Sydney central business district and lies across the local government areas of the City of Sydney and the Municipality of Woollahra...
before moving to Waverley College
Waverley College
Waverley College is a Roman Catholic, secondary, day school for boys, located at Waverley, in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia....
. There he began a lifelong association with prose.
In 1917, the family fell upon hard times when the elder Fingleton lost his seat and resumed his job as a tram driver, but in 1918 contracted tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
. The father succumbed in 1920 when Jack was twelve, and the funeral director was Australian Test wicket-keeper
Wicket-keeper
The wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being guarded by the batsman currently on strike...
Sammy Carter
Sammy Carter
Hanson Carter was a cricketer who played for Australia and New South Wales.-Career:...
.
Without their breadwinner, the Fingleton family were in further trouble and Belinda opened a seafood shop and withdrew her eldest son Les to support her. However, the business failed and the family home was at risk, so Jack was forced to quit school at the age of 12. He did a variety of jobs such as selling food at cinemas, washing bottles and sweeping floors.
At the age of fifteen, Fingleton took the first steps in his journalism career, when his cousin helped him to become a copy boy
Copy boy
A copy boy is a typically young and junior worker on a newspaper.The job involves taking typed stories from one section of a newspaper to another....
with the now defunct Sydney Daily Guardian. Encouraged by his former headmaster, who had prompted his interest in writing, Fingleton quickly eased into his new career. Fingleton started as a sports reporter, and had a narrow escape when he was sacked by Robert Clyde Packer
Robert Clyde Packer
Robert Clyde Packer was the founder of Australia's Packer media dynasty, which used to own Publishing and Broadcasting Limited now owns Consolidated Press Holdings and Crown Limited....
for breaking a pot, but then reinstated. Fingleton then risked being fired by removing cricket articles written by the famed Neville Cardus
Neville Cardus
Sir John Frederick Neville Cardus CBE was an English writer and critic, best known for his writing on music and cricket. For many years, he wrote for The Manchester Guardian. He was untrained in music, and his style of criticism was subjective, romantic and personal, in contrast with his critical...
from the newspaper's archive against policy for his personal use.
Fingleton was unable to distinguish himself on the field while at school, but after joining Waverley, he made quick progress. Fingleton trained early in the morning, before heading to the office and working in the afternoon so that the articles would be printed in the evening. He was unable to afford the club membership so a patron sponsored him. At the age of 16, he broke into the First XI of a grade team
Sydney Grade Cricket
Sydney Grade Cricket is a cricket competition played in Sydney, Australia. The competition began in 1893 when a number of clubs, which had been playing for many years on an ad hoc basis, voted to create a formal competition structure....
which included Test players Alan Kippax
Alan Kippax
Alan Falconer Kippax was a cricketer for New South Wales and Australia. Regarded as one of the great stylists of Australian cricket during the era between the two World Wars, Kippax overcame a late start to Test cricket to become a regular in the Australian team between the 1928–29 and...
, Hanson Carter
Sammy Carter
Hanson Carter was a cricketer who played for Australia and New South Wales.-Career:...
and Arthur Mailey
Arthur Mailey
Arthur Alfred Mailey was an Australian cricketer who played in 21 Test matches between 1920 and 1926....
. Australian Test captain Herbie Collins
Herbie Collins
Herbert Leslie Collins was an Australian cricketer who played 19 Tests between 1921 and 1926. An all-rounder, he captained the Australian team in eleven Tests, winning five, losing two with another four finishing in draws...
missed a match due to his work as a bookmaker
Bookmaker
A bookmaker, or bookie, is an organization or a person that takes bets on sporting and other events at agreed upon odds.- Range of events :...
, and Fingleton stood in at late notice. Under the leadership of Carter, Fingleton batted last and made 11 not out
Not out
In cricket, a batsman will be not out if he comes out to bat in an innings and has not been dismissed by the end of the innings. One may similarly describe a batsman as not out while the innings is still in progress...
. Forced to follow on, he made 52 not out and cemented his position for the remainder of the season. Within a year, Fingleton's grade performances were being reported in Sydney newspapers. Playing on a Waverley pitch notorious for uneven bounce, Fingleton developed a style of playe centred around solid defence.Growden, p. 35.
In the same year, his journalistic mentor Pedlar Palmer moved to The Sydney Morning Herald
The Sydney Morning Herald
The Sydney Morning Herald is a daily broadsheet newspaper published by Fairfax Media in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1831 as the Sydney Herald, the SMH is the oldest continuously published newspaper in Australia. The newspaper is published six days a week. The newspaper's Sunday counterpart, The...
and Fingleton became disenchanted. He was coaxed by cricketer-journalist to move his publication, the Telegraph Pictorial where he worked for several years before the outbreak of the Second World War. However, Fingleton's initiation into his new workplace was difficult as the Telegraph Pictorial had just merged with the Daily Telegraph and around half the workforce were to be made redundant. Fingleton was demoted from the main staff to a freelance correspondent covering events in the inner-city suburbs of Redfern
Redfern, New South Wales
Redfern is an inner-city suburb of Sydney. Redfern is 3 kilometres south of the Sydney central business district and is part of the local government area of the City of Sydney...
and Newtown
Newtown, New South Wales
Newtown, a suburb of Sydney's inner west is located approximately four kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district, straddling the local government areas of the City of Sydney and Marrickville Council in the state of New South Wales, Australia....
. In such crime-ridden and turbulent working-class area, Fingleton was productive in break stories and was soon restored to the regular staff.Growden, pp. 32–33.
First-class debut
Victorian Bushrangers
The Victorian cricket team, nicknamed the Bushrangers, is an Australian cricket team based in Melbourne, that represents the state of Victoria. It is administered by Cricket Victoria and draws its players from Melbourne's Premier Cricket competition...
, Fingleton was allowed to bat no higher than No. 8 by captain Tommy Andrews, despite being a specialist batsman. More than 600 runs had been scored by the time the sixth wicket had fallen, bringing him to the wicket to join Don Bradman, who had already brought up his double century. The pair put on an unbroken stand of 111 before Andrews declared at 7/613, of which Fingleton made 25 not out
Not out
In cricket, a batsman will be not out if he comes out to bat in an innings and has not been dismissed by the end of the innings. One may similarly describe a batsman as not out while the innings is still in progress...
. During the partnership, Bradman farmed most of the strike, much to Fingleton's chagrin.Growden, pp. 36–37. The pair's first meeting had been prickly and Bradman glared angrily at Fingleton after a mix-up almost ended in a run out
Run out
Run out is a method of dismissal in the sport of cricket. It is governed by Law 38 of the Laws of cricket.-The rules:A batsman is out Run out if at any time while the ball is in play no part of his bat or person is grounded behind the popping crease and his wicket is fairly put down by the opposing...
.Growden, p. 37. The match was drawn, and Fingleton then made a duck against Tasmania
Tasmanian Tigers
The Tasmanian cricket team, nicknamed the Tigers, represents the Australian state of Tasmania in cricket tournaments. They compete annually in the Australian domestic senior men's cricket season, which currently consists of the first-class Sheffield Shield, the limited overs Ford Ranger Cup, and...
in an innings victory. The following summer, with no Test matches, New South Wales' international representatives were available for the entire season, and Fingleton missed selection for every match.
In 1930–31, aged 22, Fingleton regained his position at the start of the Sheffield Shield season for New South Wales
New South Wales Blues
The New South Wales cricket team are an Australian first class cricket team based in Sydney, New South Wales...
, and first came to prominence when he withstood a ferocious opening spell against the express pace of Eddie Gilbert
Eddie Gilbert (cricketer)
Eddie Gilbert was a Queensland Aboriginal cricketer. He was an exceptionally fast bowler.-Early years:...
in Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
against Queensland
Queensland Bulls
The Queensland cricket team, nicknamed the Bulls, are the Brisbane-based Queensland representative cricket team in Australia's domestic cricket tournaments:*Sheffield Shield, 4-day matches with first-class status, since the 1926/27 season...
. On one occasion, a particularly fast Gilbert delivery supposedly evaded both the batsman and wicket-keeper, travelled more than 60 metres and crashed through a fence before hitting and killing a dog on the other side. Fingleton scored 56 as a full strength team with Test players fell for 143. The visitors were set 392 for victory and played for a draw, with Fingleton adding 71 to prevent a collapse as the match was saved. He failed to pass single figures in his next four innings, and was dropped twice, before adding 32 not out and 26 as New South Wales lost to the touring West Indies. Fingleton did not play a full season and ended with 210 runs at 35.00 in five matches, including the two half-centuries.
Test debut
In the opening match of the 1931–32 season, which was against Queensland, New South Wales were in trouble. Gilbert famously knocked the bat out of Donald BradmanDonald Bradman
Sir Donald George Bradman, AC , often referred to as "The Don", was an Australian cricketer, widely acknowledged as the greatest batsman of all time...
's hand, before removing him for a duck. Gilbert cut down the New South Wales top order with a spell of 3/12 and forced Alan Kippax
Alan Kippax
Alan Falconer Kippax was a cricketer for New South Wales and Australia. Regarded as one of the great stylists of Australian cricket during the era between the two World Wars, Kippax overcame a late start to Test cricket to become a regular in the Australian team between the 1928–29 and...
to retire hurt after hitting him in the upper body. Fingleton was going to be twelfth man before Archie Jackson
Archie Jackson
Archibald "Archie" Jackson , occasionally known as Archibald Alexander Jackson, was an Australian cricketer who played eight Test matches as a specialist batsman between 1929 and 1931. A teenage prodigy, he played first grade cricket at only 15 years of age and was selected for New South Wales at 17...
—who was to die of tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
just over a year later—collapsed just before the start of the match.Growden, p. 39. Undeterred, Stan McCabe
Stan McCabe
Stanley Joseph McCabe was an Australian cricketer who played 39 Test matches for Australia from 1930 to 1938. A short, stocky right-hander,...
came in and counterattacked; Fingleton assisted him with a stubborn 93 and featured in a 195-run fourth wicket partnership. New South Wales reached 432 and won by an innings.
Fingleton then scored his maiden first-class century of 117 in less than four hours in the following match, against the touring South Africa
South African cricket team
The South African national cricket team represent South Africa in international cricket. They are administrated by Cricket South Africa.South Africa is a full member of the International Cricket Council, also known as ICC, with Test and One Day International, or ODI, status...
, helping his team to 3/430 in their runchase. The hosts were 18 runs short of victory when time ran out. Although Fingleton made only five in New South Wales' second match against the South Africans, Fingleton was selected for the Test series against the same team. This came after only ten matches for his state.Growden, p. 44. Starting with the Second Test, he was twelfth man for three consecutive Tests, and as a result, did not play any cricket for six weeks before he added a pair of 40s in a win over arch-rivals Victoria.
Fingleton made his debut in the Fifth and final Test in similar circumstances to his break at the start of the season; Bill Ponsford
Bill Ponsford
William Harold "Bill" Ponsford MBE was an Australian cricketer. Usually playing as an opening batsman, he formed a successful and long-lived partnership opening the batting for Victoria and Australia with Bill Woodfull, his friend and state and national captain...
fell ill and Bradman twisted an ankle. As Bradman later took a hard-running catch as a substitute fielder on the same day, some suspected that he had feigned injury to avoid playing on a rain-affected wicket
Sticky wicket
Sticky wicket is a metaphor used to describe a difficult circumstance; it originates from difficult circumstances in the sport of cricket.-Origins:...
hostile to batting—he had appeared uncomfortable against aggressive bowling in the previous Test. In a low-scoring match, Fingleton's first action on the field was to let a ball go between his legs as South Africa batted first.Growden, p. 47. Opening with captain Bill Woodfull
Bill Woodfull
William Maldon "Bill" Woodfull OBE was an Australian cricketer of the 1920s and 1930s. He captained both Victoria and Australia, and was best known for his dignified and moral conduct during the tumultuous bodyline series in 1932–33 that almost saw the end of Anglo-Australian cricketing ties...
in the absence of Ponsford, Fingleton saw his skipper removed from the first ball of the innings. He was allowed to ease into his first innings when the first ball he faced, from Neville Quinn
Neville Quinn
Neville Anthony Quinn was a cricketer, and brother of Michael, who played first-class cricket for Rhodesia....
, was a deliberate full toss
Full toss
A full toss is a type of delivery in the sport of cricket. It describes any delivery that reaches the batsman without bouncing on the pitch first....
to give him an opportunity to score his initial runs easily. The pair became friends from this point onwards. Fingleton was second top-scorer with 40 as Australia made 153 recorded an innings victory. The match lasted less than one day's playing time as the hosts fell for only 36 and 45.Piesse, p. 125. The cricketer-journalist Richard Whitington
Richard Whitington
Richard Smallpeice Whitington was an Australian first-class cricketer who played for South Australia and after serving in World War II, represented the Australian Services cricket team, which played in the Victory Tests....
later wrote that "for courage and skill...[Fingleton's 51] was worth quadruple that number". The Sydney Mail
The Sydney Mail
The Sydney Mail was an Australian magazine published weekly in Sydney. The weekly edition of The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper, it ran from 1860 to 1938....
predicted that Fingleton's display on the rain-affected wicket, the likes of which were common, proved that he would "someday be a great success" there. Fingleton ended the season with 386 runs at 42.88 with one century and a fifty in six matches.
Bodyline turmoil
In the following summer came the BodylineBodyline
Bodyline, also known as fast leg theory bowling, was a cricketing tactic devised by the English cricket team for their 1932–33 Ashes tour of Australia, specifically to combat the extraordinary batting skill of Australia's Don Bradman...
series, when England toured under Douglas Jardine
Douglas Jardine
Douglas Robert Jardine was an English cricketer and captain of the England cricket team from 1931 to 1933–34.When describing cricket seasons, the convention used is that a single year represents an English cricket season, while two years represent a southern hemisphere cricket season because it...
and targeted the upper bodies of the Australian batsmen with short-pitched bowling, using a close leg side cordon to catch balls fended away from the body. In one of the tour matches before the Tests, Fingleton scored a defiant 119*, carrying his bat for New South Wales against the bumper barrage of Harold Larwood
Harold Larwood
Harold Larwood was an English cricket player, an extremely accurate fast bowler best known for his key role as the implementer of fast leg theory in the infamous "bodyline" Ashes Test series of 1932–33....
and Gubby Allen
Gubby Allen
Sir George Oswald Browning "Gubby" Allen, CBE was a cricketer who played for Middlesex, Cambridge University, MCC and England. Australian-born, Allen was a fast bowler and hard-hitting lower-order batsman, who captained England in eleven Test matches...
, ensuring his selection for the First Test. Despite his unbending resistance, his state fell to an innings defeat. In a warm-up for the Tests, he scored 29 and 53 not out for an Australian XI against the tourists, while most of his teammates struggled. His earlier experience held him in good stead as he scored 26 and 40 as Australia were crushed by ten wickets in the First Test in Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
. Fingleton stood his ground and was hit several times. He then made a defiant four hour innings to top-score with 83 in the first innings of Australia's only win of the series in the Second Test in Melbourne, although he did run out his batting partner Leo O'Brien
Leo O'Brien
For the former US congressman from New York, see Leo W. O'BrienFor the former Wisconsin politician, see Leo P. O'BrienLeo Patrick Joseph O'Brien was an Australian cricketer who played in 5 Tests from 1932 to 1936.He attended both Xavier College and St Patrick's College, Ballarat....
in the process. This helped the Australians to reach 228 and they took a 59-run first innings lead before winning the match despite Fingleton making only one in the second innings. He appeared as well equipped as any Australian to combat England's strategy.
Adelaide leak
However, the Third Test at the Adelaide OvalAdelaide Oval
The Adelaide Oval is a sports ground in Adelaide, South Australia, located in the parklands between the Central Business District and North Adelaide...
was disastrous for Fingleton, who scored a pair as Australia were hammered by 338 runs. He was blamed for leaking the details of the dressing room exchange between captain Bill Woodfull
Bill Woodfull
William Maldon "Bill" Woodfull OBE was an Australian cricketer of the 1920s and 1930s. He captained both Victoria and Australia, and was best known for his dignified and moral conduct during the tumultuous bodyline series in 1932–33 that almost saw the end of Anglo-Australian cricketing ties...
and English manager Plum Warner
Plum Warner
Sir Pelham Francis Warner MBE , affectionately and better known as Plum Warner, or even "the Grand Old Man" of English cricket was a Test cricketer....
, which almost caused the abandonment of the Test series. Warner had visited Woodfull to express sympathies after the Australian captain was struck in the heart by Larwood's short pitched bowling, to which Woodfull retorted "I do not want to see you Mr. Warner. There are two sides out there. One is playing cricket and the other is not." The leak caused a sensastion, as Woodfull had publicly remained composed in the face of the body barrage, neither complaining nor retaliating. Fingleton was dropped for the remaining two Tests of the series. New South Wales played England after the Third Test and Fingleton had a chance to show his credentials against Bodyline but made only 19 and 7 in a four-wicket defeat, and was unable to force his way back into the Test team. Fingleton always denied responsibility for the leak, blaming Bradman. This incident was the first in a string of open disagreements between Fingleton and Bradman.
The Bodyline season also marked the beginning of Fingleton's opening combination with Bill Brown
Bill Brown (cricketer)
William Alfred "Bill" Brown, OAM was an Australian cricketer who played 22 Tests between 1934 and 1948, captaining his country in one Test. A right-handed opening batsman, his partnership with Jack Fingleton in the 1930s is regarded as one of the finest in Australian Test history...
, who made his New South Wales debut in the same season. Fingleton scored four half-centuries for the remainder of the first-class season and ended with 648 runs at 38.11 as New South Wales won the Sheffield Shield.
Fingleton had a prolific 1933–34 Australian season in which he scored 655 runs at 59.54 with two centuries and four fifties. He scored 105 in the Test trial for Richardson's XI
Vic Richardson
Victor York Richardson OBE was a leading Australian sportsman of the 1920s and 1930s, captaining the Australian cricket team and the South Australian Australian rules football team, representing Australia in baseball and South Australia in golf, winning the South Australian state tennis title and...
and then struck 145 against arch-rivals Victoria in the last match of the season; New South Wales were unable to force a victory and thus ceded the Sheffield Shield to their southern neighbours. He had scored 76 in the return match earlier in the season and added 33 and 78 against the Rest of Australia.
Despite this, Fingleton was an overlooked for the Australian side selected to tour England in 1934. With captain Woodfull and Bill Ponsford
Bill Ponsford
William Harold "Bill" Ponsford MBE was an Australian cricketer. Usually playing as an opening batsman, he formed a successful and long-lived partnership opening the batting for Victoria and Australia with Bill Woodfull, his friend and state and national captain...
the established openers, there was only one place for a spare opener, and Brown won the position over his partner, who had performed to a similar standard during the season. The selectors asked Don Bradman, Australia's leading batsman and state team-mate to Brown and Fingleton, for advice. Bradman nominated Brown, believing that his style was better suited to English pitches. On the day that the team was selected, Bradman wrote in his newspaper column, criticising Fingleton's running between the wickets.Growden, p. 84. When the pair next met, Fingleton's only words were to blame Bradman for his omission; Bradman claimed that as a result of the selection controversy, Fingleton relentless pursued a vendetta against him from there on. Fingleton also suspected that Woodfull wanted him out of the team because he held the journalist responsible for the leaked exchange with Warner.Growden, p. 85.
Some incidents in Fingleton's century in the last match of the season were also believed to have reflected badly at the selection table. Having retired hurt on 78, he returned the next day and was then dropped on 86 in the slips. Fingleton had moved out of his crease to pat out the pitch before the ball had gone dead
Dead ball
Dead ball is a phenomenon in many sports in which the ball is deemed temporarily not playable, and no movement may be made with it or the players from their respective positions of significance...
and Victorian wicket-keeper Ben Barnett
Ben Barnett
Benjamin Arthur Barnett was an Australian cricketer who played in 4 Tests in 1938....
broke the stumps. A displeased Fingleton was given out by umpire George Borwick and walked off the ground, only to be called back by captain Woodfull. Fingleton refused Woodfull's offer and did not return until Woodfull successfully asked Borwick to reverse his decision. The media reported that Fingleton had quarrelled with Woodfull and several teammates told him that his apparent rebuff of the national captain would prejudice his chances of selection, and the NSWCA made an inquiry into the matter; Fingleton failed to respond. During the same innings, Bradman also wrote in his newspaper report that Fingleton had been responsible for the run out of teammate Ray Rowe
Ray Rowe
Raymond Henry Rowe is a former American football tight end in the National Football League for the Washington Redskins. He played college football at San Diego State University and was drafted in the sixth round of the 1992 NFL Draft.-References:...
, which angered Fingleton for an extended period.Growden, p. 87.
A disappointed Fingleton wrote to Woodfull, saying "You have chosen chaps who do not like fast bowling". He also questioned what he perceived to be Woodfull's coldness towards him since the Bodyline series and decried unnamed "fellow pressmen, naturally jealous".Growden, pp. 88–89. Wisden speculated that Fingleton's omission may have been due to cricket diplomacy reasons following the incident in Adelaide, while others thought that regionalism was to blame; this view posited that Ernest Bromley
Ernest Bromley
Ernest Bromley was an American minister and civil rights and peace activist. A founding member of the Freedom Riders, he played an active role in protests of racial segregation in the Southern United States...
was selected so that seven Victorians and New South Welshmen would be on the tour. Bromley scored only 312 runs in 20 innings in England.Growden, p. 92.
Fingleton was selected for a second string Australian team to tour New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
for two months at the end of the season while the Test team departred for England. However, captain Victor Richardson and his deputy Keith Rigg
Keith Rigg
Keith Edward Rigg was an Australian cricketer who played in 8 Tests from 1931 to 1937. His cousin, Colin McDonald, also played for Victoria and Australia. He was educated at Wesley College, Melbourne.-External links:...
withdrew, dissatisfied with the pay, leaving Fingleton as the most senior member of the team. The tour was then cancelled by New Zealand, who feared that the large number of absentees would result in a large financial loss.
Test recall
Southern Redbacks
The South Australia cricket team, nicknamed the Southern Redbacks and known as the West End Redbacks due to their sponsorship agreement with local brewers West End, are an Australian first class cricket team based in Adelaide, South Australia, and represent the state of South Australia...
to take up stockbroking. Fingleton responded to his omission from the Ashes tour by leading the run-scoring aggregates in the 1934–35 season. He scored 880 runs at 58.66 with four centuries and four fifties, almost 200 runs more than the second most prolific batsman, Brown. After Fingleton started the summer with a fifty in Woodfull's testimonial match, the pair started the Shield campaign with a 249-run stand in New South Wales' first match of the season against South Australia, both scoring centuries in an innings victory. Fingleton made 134 in just over three hours.Growden, p. 93. Fingleton reached 49 at least once in the remaining five matches, including a 108 against Queensland. Despite the form of the openers, New South Wales failed to win the Sheffield Shield after losing both of their matches against Victoria. Fingleton ended the season with consecutive centuries, 124 and 100, against Western Australia
Western Warriors
The Western Australia cricket team are an Australian first class cricket team representing the state of Western Australia...
, and took the first of two first-class wickets in his career in the first of the two matches.
As a result of his performances, Fingleton was recalled to the Test team for the tour of South Africa in 1935–36, where he partnered Brown at the top of the innings. Under normal circumstances, the Australians would have been captained by Fingleton's rival Bradman, who had been vice-captain to Woodfull. However, Bradman was unable to tour for medical reasons and Vic Richardson
Vic Richardson
Victor York Richardson OBE was a leading Australian sportsman of the 1920s and 1930s, captaining the Australian cricket team and the South Australian Australian rules football team, representing Australia in baseball and South Australia in golf, winning the South Australian state tennis title and...
led the team instead. With Bradman out of the way, the tour was to be the most prolific and peaceful phase of Fingleton's international career and included several large opening stands with Brown. During the tour, Fingleton played with an attacking flair that contrasted with his established reputation for doggedness.Growden, p. 99. Fof Fingleton, it was the happiest tour he had been on, in large part due to Bradman's absence.
Fingleton nearly failed to make the trip. His newspaper editor Eric Baume ordered to write a column attacking the Australian Board of Control for vetoing players from going on a private tour of India, threatening to sack him if he refused—criticism of the board typically resulted in exclusion from selection. Fingleton was reluctant to comply, and was reprieved when the editor-in-chief overruled Baume.
Fingleton scored 66 for the Australians in an innings victory over Western Australia before sailing for South Africa. It was to be the start of a very productive campaign. In the three matches leading up to the Tests, against Natal, Western Province
Western Province cricket team
Western Province cricket team is the team representing Western Cape province in domestic first-class cricket in South Africa. The team began playing in January 1890 and its main venue has always been Newlands in Cape Town.-Honours:...
and Transvaal
Transvaal cricket team
Gauteng cricket team is the first-class cricket team of the province of Gauteng in South Africa....
respectively, Fingleton scored 121, 53, 99 and seven not out. Australia won the latter match by ten wickets and the others by an innings. In the match by Natal, Fingleton and Brown both made centuries and combined in a double century stand.
After almost three years in the wilderness, Fingleton returned to the Test arena in the First Test at Durban
Durban
Durban is the largest city in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal and the third largest city in South Africa. It forms part of the eThekwini metropolitan municipality. Durban is famous for being the busiest port in South Africa. It is also seen as one of the major centres of tourism...
. After making two in the first innings, he was unbeaten on 36 when Australia reached their second innings target with nine wickets in hand. During the first innings, a 140 km/h gale hit the ground, uprooting trees and forcing balls that were heading into the wind to do U-turns. He followed this with 62—the innings top-scoreGrowden, p. 97.—and 40 in the Second Test at Johannesburg
Johannesburg
Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...
. After taking a 93-run first innings lead, Australia needed a Test record of 399 in the second innings to win on a turning
Spin bowling
Spin bowling is a technique used for bowling in the sport of cricket. Practitioners are known as spinners or spin bowlers.-Purpose:The main aim of spin bowling is to bowl the cricket ball with rapid rotation so that when it bounces on the pitch it will deviate, thus making it difficult for the...
wicket, and after the early demise of Brown, Fingleton joined McCabe in a 177-run partnership that pushed the score to 1/194. Such was the dominance of McCabe that he scored more than 80% of the runs during this partnership.Growden, p. 98. Australia needed only 125 with half the day remaining and eight wickets in hand when poor visibility ended play. McCabe had flayed the attack and reached 189 not out when the South Africans had the match called off, claiming that the fieldsmen were endangered by the batsman's vigorous hitting.
Fingleton finished the series with centuries in each of the last three Tests, all in consecutive innings; 112 at Cape Town
Cape Town
Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...
, 108 at Johannesburg
Johannesburg
Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...
and 118 in Durban. In the Third Test, Fingleton and Brown set a new Australian Test record opening stand of 233, which laid the foundation for a total of 8/362 declared and an innings victory. It was Australia's first double-century opening stand in Test cricket, and remains a national record for the first wicket against South Africa. On a rain-affected wicket, Fingleton reached his maiden Test century in only 180 minutes before wickets began falling steadily.Growden, pp. 98–99.
Before the Fourth Test, Fingleton added 52 against Border
Border cricket team
Border cricket team is the team representing the Border province in domestic first-class cricket in South Africa. The team began playing in March 1898....
and 110 in an innings win over Transvaal. His 108 in the Fourth Test was more than South Africa's entire second innings of 98, and scored at almost a run a minute.Growden, p. 103. In the Fifth Test, the pair combined for another century stand. Each of the three matches resulted in an innings victory for Australia as the series was taken 4–0. Fingleton ended the Test series with 478 runs at 79.66. Against Natal at Durban
Durban
Durban is the largest city in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal and the third largest city in South Africa. It forms part of the eThekwini metropolitan municipality. Durban is famous for being the busiest port in South Africa. It is also seen as one of the major centres of tourism...
, he made his highest first class score of 167, his second century against the provincial side for the season. He ended the tour with a total of 1192 runs at 74.50, including six centuries. Despite his rapid scoring in South Africa, Fingleton's achievements went largely unheralded at home; at the time, England and Australia were by far the strongest Test teams and media coverage of the tour was scant. There was little detail in the reports apart from the scores and Fingleton was still described as a slow scorer, something that angered him.
Under the captaincy of Bradman
The following 1936–37 season in Australia, saw more success for Fingleton, although with the return of Bradman as captain, team harmony became strained. Gubby AllenGubby Allen
Sir George Oswald Browning "Gubby" Allen, CBE was a cricketer who played for Middlesex, Cambridge University, MCC and England. Australian-born, Allen was a fast bowler and hard-hitting lower-order batsman, who captained England in eleven Test matches...
's Englishmen toured Australia, and after failing to pass 10 in his first three innings for the season, Fingleton scored 39, 42 and 56 in matches for New South Wales and an Australian XI against the tourists.
Fingleton became the first player to score centuries in four consecutive Test innings when he scored 100 in the first innings of the First Test at Brisbane, reaching the mileston on December 7. He top-scored as Australia replied to England's 358 with 234. Fingleton's feats was later equalled by Alan Melville
Alan Melville
Alan Melville was a South African cricketer who played in 11 Tests from 1938 to 1949. He was a Wisden Cricketer of the Year ....
, (whose four centuries were scored on either side of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
) and surpassed by the West Indian, Everton Weekes
Everton Weekes
Sir Everton DeCourcy Weekes, KCMG, GCM, OBE is a leading former West Indian cricketer. Along with Frank Worrell and Clyde Walcott, he formed what was known as "The Three Ws" of West Indian cricket.-Youth and early career:...
in 1948–49. Fingleton's run ended in the second innings, falling for a golden duck
Duck (cricket)
In the sport of cricket, a duck refers to a batsman's dismissal for a score of zero.-Origin of the term:The term is a shortening of the term "duck's egg", the latter being used long before Test cricket began...
as Australia were skittled for 58 on a sticky wicket
Sticky wicket
Sticky wicket is a metaphor used to describe a difficult circumstance; it originates from difficult circumstances in the sport of cricket.-Origins:...
and crushed by 322 runs.
After scoring 12 in a total of 80 as Australia were caught on a sticky wicket, Fingleton then made 73 in the second innings of the Second Test in Sydney, one of few Australians to resist as the home side fell to an innings defeat after being forced to follow on. Australia were facing a dilemma in the Third Test in Melbourne. The home team scored 200, Fingleton contributing 38, before rain caused a sticky wicket
Sticky wicket
Sticky wicket is a metaphor used to describe a difficult circumstance; it originates from difficult circumstances in the sport of cricket.-Origins:...
and England declared at 9/76. However, Australia still had to bat on the treacherous surface, captain Bradman reshuffled the batting lineup, putting the bowlers in first and Fingleton and himself in at Nos. 6 and 7 to save them for more favourable batting conditions. The bowlers managed to survive to the end of the day's play and the wicket improved overnight. The pair came together with the score at 5/97 and made a Test record sixth-wicket partnership of 346, with Fingleton making 136. It turned the Test and saw Australia ended at 564. The hosts bowled England out for 323 to win the match by 365 runs and prevent England from taking an unassailable 3–0 lead. Fingleton did not pass 20 in his last three innings of the series, as Australia won the remaining two matches to win the series. Fingleton ended with 398 runs at 44.22 in the Tests, and 631 runs at 33.21 overall.
Fingleton followed up with 862 runs at 50.70 in the 1937–38 domestic season, with two centuries and six fifties. This effort placed him third in the run-scoring aggregates for the season. He saved his best for arch-rivals Victoria, scoring 59 and 160 to salvage a draw after New South Wales had conceded a first innings lead of 231. New south Wales went on to win the title. Fingleton finished his season with 66, 1, 47 and 109 in two warm-up matches for the Australian team against Western Australia before they headed to England for the 1938 Ashes series.
In 1938, Fingleton made what turned out to be his international farewell as Australia toured England, a series in which he found runs difficult to come by. He later attributed this to his inability to play the pull shot. However, Fingleton started the tour well. He passed 30 in each of his first seven innings on English soil, and converted three of these starts into centuries, scoring 124 against Oxford University
Oxford University Cricket Club
Oxford University Cricket Club is a first-class cricket team, representing the University of Oxford. It plays its home games at the University Parks in Oxford, England...
, 111 against Cambridge University
Cambridge University Cricket Club
Cambridge University Cricket Club is a first-class cricket team. It now plays all but one of its first-class cricket matches as part of the Cambridge University Centre of Cricketing Excellence , which includes Anglia Ruskin University...
and 123 not out against Hampshire
Hampshire County Cricket Club
Hampshire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Hampshire in cricket's County Championship. The club was founded in 1863 as a successor to the Hampshire county cricket teams and has played at the Antelope Ground from then until 1885, before moving to the County Ground where it...
in the first month of cricket. Fingleton's form tapered just at the wrong time, falling three times for single figures in the last two matches before the Tests. He carried this into the First Test at Trent Bridge
Trent Bridge
Trent Bridge is a Test, One-day international and County cricket ground located in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England and is also the headquarters of Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club. As well as International cricket and Nottinghamshire's home games, the ground has hosted the Finals Day of...
, where he made only 9 and 40 in a high-scoring draw in which every innings passed 400.
An infamous incident occurred in Australia's second innings. As Australia were 247 runs behind on the first innings and forced to follow on, they played for a draw and Brown and Fingleton batted slowly in the second innings. Sections of the crowd heckled his slow batting by using a slow hand clap. Bradman then sent Mervyn Waite
Mervyn Waite
Mervyn George Waite was an Australian cricketer who played in 2 Tests in 1938....
out to deliver orders to the openers that they should back away from their positions and hold up proceedings until the barracking stopped. Fingleton said that he was not perturbed by the crowd but obeyed; umpire Frank Chester
Frank Chester
Frank Leslie Chester was a politician in Manitoba, Canada. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba as a Liberal-Progressive from 1949 to 1953....
and England captain 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...
had no issues with this. At one point, Fingleton theatrically decided to take off his gloves, put down his bat and sit down on the pitch and refusing to resume before the gallery quietened, but this only caused a huge uproar. Wisden later criticised him, saying that he lost "all true sense of the situation...an extraordinary action on the part of a cricket in a Test match." They regarded the gesture as disrespectful as a majority of the spectators had not heckled him.
Fingleton rediscovered his form between the Tests, scoring 121 against the Gentlemen of England and 96 against 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...
. Again however, Fingleton was unable to maintain the momentum in the Tests, making 31 and 4 against England in the Second Test at Lord's, which ended in another draw.
Fingleton then aggregated only 36 in four innings in next three county fixtures, and after the Third Test at Old Trafford never started due to persistent rain, he was concussed in the match against Warwickshire at Edgbaston
Edgbaston Cricket Ground
Edgbaston Cricket Ground, also known as the County Ground or Edgbaston Stadium, is a cricket ground in the Edgbaston area of Birmingham, England...
. A long hop
Long hop
A long hop is a type of inadvertent delivery in the sport of cricket. It describes a short delivery which is not especially fast, which is thus easy for the batsman to hit because he has plenty of time to observe the speed and direction of the ball after the bounce and choose his shot accordingly...
from Waite was pulled into his head at point-blank range, and Fingleton managed to duck enough that it glanced his forehead and went into the air, to the cries of "catch it" from Bradman. The ball did not go to hand and Fingleton was hospitalised.
Fingleton made 30 and 9 in a low-scoring Fourth Test at Headingley
Headingley Stadium
Headingley Stadium is a sporting complex in the Leeds suburb of Headingley in West Yorkshire, England. It is the home of Yorkshire County Cricket Club, rugby league team Leeds Rhinos and rugby union team Leeds Carnegie ....
, which Australia won by five wickets to retain the Ashes. He remained unproductive in the lead-up to the final Test, scoring 51 in three first-class innings. His Test career ended disappointingly at The Oval
The Oval
The Kia Oval, still commonly referred to by its original name of The Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, in the London Borough of Lambeth. In the past it was also sometimes called the Kennington Oval...
in "Hutton
Len 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...
's Match". In the course of England's marathon innings of 7/903 he sustained a leg injury, which prevented him from batting in either Australian innings. With Bradman also unable to bat, Australia collapsed to the heaviest defeat in Test history, by an innings and 579 runs. It capped off a tour that ended poorly after a promising start. Fingleton made 123 runs in six innings at an average of 20.50. With the outbreak of World War II, Australia was not to play another Test until the 1945–46 season, ending Fingleton's international career.
Fingleton returned to Australia and played in only three matches in the 1938–39 domestic season, scoring 81 runs at 16.20, before being sidelined at the end of December. His top-score for the season was 45 as New South Wales lost by four wickets to Victoria. In 1939–40, Fingleton had another quiet season with only 39 runs at 6.50 in three matches. He passed single figures only once in six innings and ended with a duck and three as New South Wales lost to arch-rivals Victoria by 82 runs. Fingleton retired at the end of the season.
World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, he enlisted in the Second Australian Imperial Force
Second Australian Imperial Force
The Second Australian Imperial Force was the name given to the volunteer personnel of the Australian Army in World War II. Under the Defence Act , neither the part-time Militia nor the full-time Permanent Military Force could serve outside Australia or its territories unless they volunteered to...
in November 1941 in the artillery. He was sent to Warwick Farm
Warwick Farm, New South Wales
Warwick Farm is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia.Warwick Farm is located 30 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Liverpool and is part of the South-western Sydney region.-History:This area was occupied by...
, then on the western outskirts of Sydney, for training. A non-conformist known for being forthright, Fingleton did not enjoy military discipline. In May 1942, he went AWOL from his post at Double Bay
Double Bay, New South Wales
Double Bay is a harbourside eastern suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Double Bay is located 4 kilometres east of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre of the local government area of the Municipality of Woollahra.Double Bay takes its name...
on the shores of Sydney Harbour to visit his wife. As a result, he was missing when a Japanese midget submarine launched an attack in the harbour. Soon after, he was deployed to Townsville in northern Queensland
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
in anticipation of a Japanese land invasion, which never materialised. He was then transferred to the Press Relations unit. There he did work in intelligence analysis and censorship.
The military then made him the press secretary for former Prime Minister of Australia
Prime Minister of Australia
The Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia is the highest minister of the Crown, leader of the Cabinet and Head of Her Majesty's Australian Government, holding office on commission from the Governor-General of Australia. The office of Prime Minister is, in practice, the most powerful...
Billy Hughes
Billy Hughes
William Morris "Billy" Hughes, CH, KC, MHR , Australian politician, was the seventh Prime Minister of Australia from 1915 to 1923....
. From his appointment onwards, he lived and worked in Canberra
Canberra
Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...
. Hughes had changed political parties several times and was infamous for his erratic style and the government wanted Fingleton to moderate him. The leader of the United Australia Party
United Australia Party
The United Australia Party was an Australian political party that was founded in 1931 and dissolved in 1945. It was the political successor to the Nationalist Party of Australia and predecessor to the Liberal Party of Australia...
, Hughes had particularly worried Prime Minister John Curtin
John Curtin
John Joseph Curtin , Australian politician, served as the 14th Prime Minister of Australia. Labor under Curtin formed a minority government in 1941 after the crossbench consisting of two independent MPs crossed the floor in the House of Representatives, bringing down the Coalition minority...
by frequently and publicly excoriating US General Douglas Macarthur
Douglas MacArthur
General of the Army Douglas MacArthur was an American general and field marshal of the Philippine Army. He was a Chief of Staff of the United States Army during the 1930s and played a prominent role in the Pacific theater during World War II. He received the Medal of Honor for his service in the...
, who was commanding the Allied forces in the Pacific. Curtin needed someone to quieten Hughes, as Macarthur had threatened to leave if the denouncements continued.Growden, p. 161. Fingleton spent three months working for the temperamental Hughes and was not successful in curbing his aggressive oratory. He then worked in censorship, deciding which portions of Curtin's press briefings were reportable; Fingleton tried to take a liberal line on press freedom. Fingleton also worked for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...
's Radio Australia
Radio Australia
Radio Australia is the international broadcasting and online service operated by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation , Australia's public broadcaster.- History :...
while serving in the censorship department.Growden, p. 165.
Post-war writing and journalism career
After the end of the war, Fingleton divided his time between Canberra, where until his retirement in 1978 he was political correspondent for Radio Australia, and cricket journalism. He forged close relationships with several Prime Ministers. In particular, Sir Robert MenziesRobert Menzies
Sir Robert Gordon Menzies, , Australian politician, was the 12th and longest-serving Prime Minister of Australia....
, Australia's longest serving Prime Minister, provided him with a laudatory foreword in his book, Masters of Cricket. Fingleton's Test coverage resulted in a number of books that placed him at the forefront of Australian cricket writers. The books included Cricket Crisis (mainly an account of the 1932–33 Bodyline
Bodyline
Bodyline, also known as fast leg theory bowling, was a cricketing tactic devised by the English cricket team for their 1932–33 Ashes tour of Australia, specifically to combat the extraordinary batting skill of Australia's Don Bradman...
series
English cricket team in Australia in 1932-33
A cricket team representing England toured Australia in the 1932-33 season. The tour was organised by the Marylebone Cricket Club and matches outside the Tests were played under the MCC name. The tour included five Test matches in Australia, and England won The Ashes by four games to one...
), Brightly Fades the Don (the 1948 Invincibles tour), Brown & Company: The Tour in Australia (the English tour of Australia in 1950–51
English cricket team in Australia in 1950-51
Freddie Brown captained the English cricket team in Australia in 1950–51, playing as England in the 1950-51 Ashes series against the Australians and as the MCC in their other matches on the tour. They were regarded as a weak team - some critics wanted to cancel the tour - and failed to regain the...
), The Ashes Crown the Year (the Australian tour of England in 1953
Australian cricket team in England in 1953
The Australian cricket team toured England in the 1953 season to play a five-match Test series against England for The Ashes.England won the final Test to take the series 1-0 after the first four Tests were all drawn. England therefore recovered the Ashes for the first time since losing them in...
), Masters of Cricket, Four Chukkas to Australia (the English tour of Australia in 1958–59
English cricket team in Australia in 1958-59
Peter May captained the English cricket team in Australia in 1958–59, playing as England in the 1958-59 Ashes series against the Australians and as the MCC in their other matches on the tour. It was widely regarded as one of the strongest teams to depart English shores, comparable with the great...
), The Greatest Test of All (the Tied Test of 1960
West Indian cricket team in Australia in 1960-61
The West Indies cricket team toured Australia in the 1960-61 season under the captaincy of Frank Worrell. Both Worrell and his opposing captain, Richie Benaud, encouraged their teams to play attacking cricket. The first Test of the five match series ended in a dramatic tie, the first of only two...
), Fingleton on Cricket and The Immortal Victor Trumper
Victor Trumper
Victor Thomas Trumper was an Australian cricketer known as the most stylish and versatile batsman of the Golden Age of cricket, capable of playing match-winning innings on wet wickets his contemporaries found unplayable. Archie MacLaren said of him, "Compared to Victor I was a cab-horse to a Derby...
. His final book, the autobiographical Batting From Memory, was to have its Australian launch during the week in which he died of a heart attack. His cricket writing, regarded as one of the most stylish by and Australian often left a sour taste with observers because of the persistent anti-Bradman jibes.
During his war years, Fingleton decided to take up book writing, in addition to newspaper journalism, and began compiling a book about the Bodyline series during his spare time in the army, a topic that was still deep in the Australian consciousness, using his inside knowledge as a participant in that Ashes campaign. As Fingleton had worked for the government's censors, he was one of only a few who knew of the effect of the Bodyline controversy in politics, as he had been aware of the cables that had been sent by government officials.Growden, p. 158. Fingleton received advice and encouragement from the eminent British cricket writer Neville Cardus
Neville Cardus
Sir John Frederick Neville Cardus CBE was an English writer and critic, best known for his writing on music and cricket. For many years, he wrote for The Manchester Guardian. He was untrained in music, and his style of criticism was subjective, romantic and personal, in contrast with his critical...
,Growden, p. 156. and suffered a setback when, after finishing half the book, he sent his manuscript to a be reviewed. It was lost in the post, and he had forgotten to make a copy. Fingleton finished his book Cricket Crisis in 1946 but it was rejected by the publishers Collins, who had already published a book by Ray Robinson
Ray Robinson (cricket writer)
Raymond John Robinson was an Australian journalist and author, best known for his writings on the sport of cricket. Born in Melbourne, Robinson attended Brighton State school and joined the Melbourne's The Herald as a copyboy. Given a cadetship with the paper, he reported on Australian football...
named Between Wickets on the same topic. They were also concerned about the marketability of a book that criticised Bradman—still the dominant player of the time and an idolised figure—strongly. Fingleton then published with Cassell, and the book was widely acclaimed and is still regarded as the best first-hand account of the Bodyline controversy and of the classic cricket books at large. It was well-known for its stylish writing and analytical value. Fingleton expressed his views forthrightly and interspersed the account with analyses and profiles of those involved in the Bodyline series, including Bradman, Jardine, Larwood, Warner and McCabe. He criticised Bradman's unorthodox approach in backing away from the bowling and questioned his aloof attitude towards his teammates. This angered Bradman, who wrote in his 1949 book Farewell to Cricket in reply to Fingleton, claiming that as Fingleton was an inferior batsman, his record gave him "scarcely...any authority to criticise my methods."Growden, p. 173. The debate continued on, with replies in subsequent publications citing statistics.Growden, pp. 173–174.
As parliament is usually in recess during the summer months, Fingleton's political journalism did not often interfere with his cricket radio commentary for the ABC or his cricket writing, except during tours of England in the Australian winter.Growden, p. 174. Fingleton mainly freelanced for overseas newspapers as he regarded Australian editors as being difficult to work with, and because the pay was lower.Growden, pp. 174–175. In 1946–47, England toured Australia for the first full Test series since the war. Fingleton criticised Bradman for not walking after hitting a disputed catch to Jack Ikin
Jack Ikin
John Thomas Ikin, known as Jack Ikin was an English cricketer, who played in eighteen Tests from 1946 to 1955...
. Fingleton and most in the press box thought that the catch was clean but the umpire ruled in favour of Bradman. At the time Bradman had been making a comeback from ill health and had been struggling, and it was thought that he would retire if he could not discover his old form. After the dispute catch however, Bradman began timing the ball and went on to score 187. Fingleton openly criticised the decision to give Bradman not out in his writing. Later in the series, he decried Bradman's tactics of having his pacemen bowl frequent bouncers at the English batsmen, pointing out that it was hypocritical for the Australian captain to vociferously condemn Jardine's tactics years earlier. As Fingleton was one of the few who were forthright enough to question the actions of national hero Bradman, many sources within the Australian cricket community chose to confide in him, most notably all rounder 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...
, whose cavalier attitude brought him into conflict with Bradman's ruthless approach to victory.Growden, pp. 177, 179. The following season, during the Indian team's tour of Australia, Fingleton began his association with The Hindu
The Hindu
The Hindu is an Indian English-language daily newspaper founded and continuously published in Chennai since 1878. According to the Audit Bureau of Circulations, it has a circulation of 1.46 million copies as of December 2009. The enterprise employed over 1,600 workers and gross income reached $40...
.
After his death, a disused historic scoreboard from the MCG, dated to 1901, was taken out of storage and transported to Canberra, where it was installed on the top of hill at Manuka Oval
Manuka Oval
Manuka Oval is a 13,550 capacity ground located in the suburb of Griffith, adjacent to Manuka, a business district of Canberra, Australia's capital....
, and renamed the Jack Fingleton Scoreboard. At the dedication ceremony, Governor-General of Australia
Governor-General of Australia
The Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia is the representative in Australia at federal/national level of the Australian monarch . He or she exercises the supreme executive power of the Commonwealth...
Sir Ninian Stephen
Ninian Stephen
Sir Ninian Martin Stephen, is a retired politician and judge, who served as the 20th Governor-General of Australia and as a Justice in the High Court of Australia.-Early life:...
said that Fingleton not merely a Test cricketer who became a parliamentary journalist in the national capital, but "an institution" in Canberra.Growden, p. 299.
In addition to his writing, Fingleton was a witty, perceptive and occasionally sardonic commentator for the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
and at various times a contributor to The Times, The Sunday Times, The Observer, and various newspapers in Australia, South Africa and elsewhere. In 1976, he was awarded an OBE for services "to journalism and to cricket". He was the subject of three appearances in 1979 and 1980 on Parkinson
Michael Parkinson
Sir Michael Parkinson, CBE is an English broadcaster, journalist and author. He presented his interview programme, Parkinson, from 1971 to 1982 and from 1998 to 2007.- Early life :...
's TV interview show. Fingleton's judgements were characterised by careful first-hand evidence and was known for sensing the emergence of a possible story. E W Swanton stated that "Fingleton remains surely, as cricket writer and broadcaster, the best his country has".
Family
Fingleton met his wife Philippa "Pip" Street in 1938 during the sea voyage from Australia to England for the Test series. Philippa was the daughter of Kenneth and Jessie StreetJessie Street
Jessie Mary Grey Street was an Australian suffragette, feminist and human rights campaigner....
. Her father later became the Chief Justice of New South Wales, while her mother was a prominent left-wing women's rights activist and the Streets were a wealthy family of the Protestant establishment.Growden, pp. 136–139. Jessie had taken her daughter with her to a meeting of the League of Nations
League of Nations
The League of Nations was an intergovernmental organization founded as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. It was the first permanent international organization whose principal mission was to maintain world peace...
and then for a long tour of Europe.Growden, p. 136. At the time, Philippa was only 18, and Fingleton 30, and Jessie was concerned when the pair fell in love, anticipating that problems would arise over religion. She hoped that the young couple would drift apart, but Fingleton gave the family tickets to the Fifth Test in London, only to injure himself during the match and not be able to bat. Upon returning to Australia, the couple wanted to marry, but the Streets forbade their daughter from marrying until 21. Fingleton wanted Philippa to adopt Catholicism, something that concerned her mother, as she had clashed with Catholic leaders in her advocacy of birth control
Birth control
Birth control is an umbrella term for several techniques and methods used to prevent fertilization or to interrupt pregnancy at various stages. Birth control techniques and methods include contraception , contragestion and abortion...
. The wedding went ahead in January 1942 after Philippa agreed to convert and Fingleton fitted in easily with his in-laws' left-wing orientation.
Conflict with Bradman
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
descent such as Fingleton being Catholic and Anglo-Australians such as Bradman being predominantly Protestant, leading to speculation that the tension was fuelled by religion. During the 1936–37 Ashes series in Australia, four Catholics, leading bowler Bill O'Reilly
Bill O'Reilly (cricketer)
William Joseph "Bill" O'Reilly , often known as Tiger O'Reilly, was an Australian cricketer, rated as one of the greatest bowlers in the history of the game. Following his retirement from playing, he became a well-respected cricket writer and broadcaster.O'Reilly was one of the best spin bowlers to...
, leading batsman and vice-captain Stan McCabe
Stan McCabe
Stanley Joseph McCabe was an Australian cricketer who played 39 Test matches for Australia from 1930 to 1938. A short, stocky right-hander,...
along with Leo O'Brien
Leo O'Brien
For the former US congressman from New York, see Leo W. O'BrienFor the former Wisconsin politician, see Leo P. O'BrienLeo Patrick Joseph O'Brien was an Australian cricketer who played in 5 Tests from 1932 to 1936.He attended both Xavier College and St Patrick's College, Ballarat....
and Chuck Fleetwood-Smith
Chuck Fleetwood-Smith
Leslie O'Brien "Chuck" Fleetwood-Smith was a cricketer who played for Victoria and Australia. Known universally as "Chuck", he was the "wayward genius" of Australian cricket during the 1930s...
were summoned by the Board of Control to respond to allegations that they were undermining Bradman. Fingleton was not invited, speculated to be due to his journalistic background, but Bradman later alleged that he was the ringleader. After that, Bradman's relationship with O'Reilly and Fingleton never recovered. When Bradman was dismissed in his final Test innings in 1948 for a duck, Fingleton and O'Reilly were reported to be laughing hysterically in the pressbox. E W Swanton said that "I thought they were going to have stroke". Bradman later wrote after both had died: "With these fellows out of the way, the loyalty of my 1948 side was a big joy and made a big contribution to the outstanding success of that tour".
Test statistics
| Batting | Bowling | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opposition | Matches | Runs | Average | High Score | 100 / 50 | Runs | Wickets | Average | Best (Inns) |
| England | 12 | 671 | 31.95 | 136 | 2/2 | – | – | – | – |
| South Africa | 6 | 518 | 74.00 | 118 | 3/1 | – | – | – | – |
| Overall | 18 | 1189 | 42.46 | 136 | 5/3 | – | – | – | – |