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Neil Hawke
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Neil Hawke
Neil James Napier Hawke (27 June 1939 – 25 December 2000) was an Australian Test cricketer and leading Australian rules footballer.
Born in Cheltenham, South Australia, Hawke quickly developed as a natural all-round sportsman who excelled in cricket, football and golf.
Hawke made an impact on the cricket field as a medium-fast swing bowler with an unusual "crab-like" action, a capable lower-order batsman and a sound fieldsman. He made his first-class cricket debut for Western Australia in November 1959, scoring 89 and returning the figures of 0/49. However, Hawke failed to capitalize on this initial success and returned to South Australia at the end of the 1959/60 cricket season.
His cricket also developed enough for him to make his Test debut on 15 February 1963 in the drawn Fifth Ashes Test against England at the Sydney Cricket Ground, scoring 14 in the only innings he got to bat in and recording match figures of 2/89.
Hawke was a member of the 1963/64 Sheffield Shield winning South Australian team, and toured England (where he qualified for the British amateur golf championship and became Fred Trueman's 300th Test victim), India and Pakistan in 1964 and the West Indies in 1965. The West Indies tour found Hawke in top form as he took 24 wickets at 21.83 in the Test series, including match figures of 10–115 in the third Test at Bourda Cricket Ground, Georgetown, Guyana, as well as making his highest score, an unbeaten 45 at Sabina Park, Jamaica.
Back in Australia Hawke was the top wicket taker in the 1965–66 Ashes series, taking 16 wickets (26.18) with Garth McKenzie also taking 16, but at the higher average of 29.18. In the Third Test at Sydney England reached 308/2 before Hawke had Colin Cowdrey, M.J.K. Smith, Dave Brown and Jim Parks all caught behind by Wally Grout in succession, and his 7/105 was his best bowling in Tests, but Australia still lost by an innings. In the second innings of the Fourth Test at Adelaide Hawke took 5/54, reducing England to 32/3 and 266 all out as Australia won by an innings to draw the series.
Hawke's football career ended in 1966 when he dislocated his right shoulder. A screw was inserted in the point of the shoulder, which not only forced him to retire from football but also greatly affected his bowling. Nonetheless, he played home series against South Africa, Pakistan and India and toured South Africa in 1966–67 and England in 1968, where he played his final Test at Lord's. He finished his career after 27 Tests, 365 runs at 16.59, 91 wickets at 29.41 and a statement by his former Test captain, Richie Benaud, declaring Hawke as one of the finest medium-pace bowlers he had seen.
Hawke began playing in the Lancashire League, first for Nelson and then East Lancashire and moved to Launceston, Tasmania to become coach of the Northern Tasmanian Cricket Association. He continued to play in the Lancashire Leagues until 1974 before returning to Adelaide where he worked as a sports journalist and cricket commentator.
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Neil Hawke
Neil James Napier Hawke (27 June 1939 – 25 December 2000) was an Australian Test cricketer and leading Australian rules footballer.
Born in Cheltenham, South Australia, Hawke quickly developed as a natural all-round sportsman who excelled in cricket, football and golf.
Hawke made an impact on the cricket field as a medium-fast swing bowler with an unusual "crab-like" action, a capable lower-order batsman and a sound fieldsman. He made his first-class cricket debut for Western Australia in November 1959, scoring 89 and returning the figures of 0/49. However, Hawke failed to capitalize on this initial success and returned to South Australia at the end of the 1959/60 cricket season.
His cricket also developed enough for him to make his Test debut on 15 February 1963 in the drawn Fifth Ashes Test against England at the Sydney Cricket Ground, scoring 14 in the only innings he got to bat in and recording match figures of 2/89.
Hawke was a member of the 1963/64 Sheffield Shield winning South Australian team, and toured England (where he qualified for the British amateur golf championship and became Fred Trueman's 300th Test victim), India and Pakistan in 1964 and the West Indies in 1965. The West Indies tour found Hawke in top form as he took 24 wickets at 21.83 in the Test series, including match figures of 10–115 in the third Test at Bourda Cricket Ground, Georgetown, Guyana, as well as making his highest score, an unbeaten 45 at Sabina Park, Jamaica.
Back in Australia Hawke was the top wicket taker in the 1965–66 Ashes series, taking 16 wickets (26.18) with Garth McKenzie also taking 16, but at the higher average of 29.18. In the Third Test at Sydney England reached 308/2 before Hawke had Colin Cowdrey, M.J.K. Smith, Dave Brown and Jim Parks all caught behind by Wally Grout in succession, and his 7/105 was his best bowling in Tests, but Australia still lost by an innings. In the second innings of the Fourth Test at Adelaide Hawke took 5/54, reducing England to 32/3 and 266 all out as Australia won by an innings to draw the series.
Hawke's football career ended in 1966 when he dislocated his right shoulder. A screw was inserted in the point of the shoulder, which not only forced him to retire from football but also greatly affected his bowling. Nonetheless, he played home series against South Africa, Pakistan and India and toured South Africa in 1966–67 and England in 1968, where he played his final Test at Lord's. He finished his career after 27 Tests, 365 runs at 16.59, 91 wickets at 29.41 and a statement by his former Test captain, Richie Benaud, declaring Hawke as one of the finest medium-pace bowlers he had seen.
Hawke began playing in the Lancashire League, first for Nelson and then East Lancashire and moved to Launceston, Tasmania to become coach of the Northern Tasmanian Cricket Association. He continued to play in the Lancashire Leagues until 1974 before returning to Adelaide where he worked as a sports journalist and cricket commentator.