Morris William Sievers 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 played in three Tests

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...

 in 1936–37.

First-class career

Sievers began his career in 1930 for the Colts, at 17 years of age. Sievers was a useful right-handed lower order batsman and a right-arm fast-medium bowler who played for Victoria

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...

 in the seasons leading up to the Second World War. He made a lot of useful 50s for the state team, but his bowling was inclined to be expensive.

Sievers toured South Africa in 1935–36 with the Australian cricket team

Australian cricket team

The Australian cricket team is the national cricket team of Australia. It is the joint oldest team in Test cricket, having played in the first Test match in 1877...

 under 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...

 but, with the Australian bowling dominated by the spin of Clarrie Grimmett

Clarrie Grimmett

Clarence Victor "Clarrie" Grimmett was a cricketer; although born in New Zealand, he played most of his cricket in Australia. He is thought by many to be one of the finest early spin bowlers, and usually credited as the developer of the flipper.Grimmett was born in Caversham a suburb of Dunedin,...

 and 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...

, he was not called on for any of the Tests and took only seven first-class wickets on the tour.

Test career

Sievers' Test match experience came in the first three matches of the MCC

Marylebone Cricket Club

Marylebone Cricket Club is a cricket club in London founded in 1787. Its influence and longevity now witness it as a private members' club dedicated to the development of cricket. It owns, and is based at, Lord's Cricket Ground in St John's Wood, London NW8. MCC was formerly the governing body of...

 tour under 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...

 in 1936–37. Curiously fragile batting by the Australians gave England

English cricket team

The England and Wales cricket team is a cricket team which represents England and Wales. Until 1992 it also represented Scotland. Since 1 January 1997 it has been governed by the England and Wales Cricket Board , having been previously governed by Marylebone Cricket Club from 1903 until the end...

 commanding victories in both the first two matches, at Brisbane and at Sydney, and Sievers distinguished himself with neither ball nor bat.

The third Test at Melbourne, however, saw a complete reversal of fortune, largely through the intervention of the weather. After Australia had struggled on the first day on a lifeless pitch, rain set in, so that when Donald Bradman

Donald 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...

 declared at 200 for nine wickets and sent England in to bat, the pitch was of uncertain bounce, if any, and Sievers profited. When England declared having made just 76 for nine wickets, Sievers had taken five for 21, the best figures of the innings. Bradman then juggled his batting order to send expendable tail-enders in first and hit 270 himself on a by-now benevolent pitch. Australia won the match by 365 runs and went on to win the other two matches of the series to retain The Ashes

The Ashes

The Ashes is a Test cricket series played between England and Australia. It is one of the most celebrated rivalries in international cricket and dates back to 1882. It is currently played biennially, alternately in the United Kingdom and Australia. Cricket being a summer sport, and the venues...

.

Sievers, though, was dropped from the English tour after his Melbourne effort and despite finishing at the top of the Australian bowling averages for the series, he never played Test cricket again.

Sievers played on the Victorian team for nearly another ten years, ending his career with an average just over 16 for his 270 First XI wickets.

At the age of 56, he died from a heart attack in a hospital in Melbourne.