Lindsay Hassett

The youngest of nine children (six boys and three girls), Hassett was born on 28 August 1913 in Newtown, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria's second-largest city. His father Edward was a real estate agent who served as the secretary of the Geelong Permanent Building Society and was a keen club cricketer. The Hassett boys played three-a-side cricket matches in the backyard where Lindsay imitated his idol, the Test batsman Bill Ponsford. Along with two of his brothers, Lindsay attended Geelong College and made the First XI at the age of 14. During his five years in the team, he amassed 2,335 runs and was captain for three years. This total included an innings of 245 against Scotch College. In addition, he led the school's football team for three seasons and won the Victorian Public Schools singles championship at tennis. In 1937–38, Hassett made 693 first-class runs including a century and five fifties at an average of 53.30, including another 90 against Queensland. ==Test debut==

at the SCG in the late 1930s|alt=Two men in cricket uniforms walk along a paved path, wearing white shirts, trousers and shoes. The man on the left has his sleeves rolled up, while his taller colleague is wearing a woolly sweater. Both have dark hair. Manicured grass is to their left and a pavilion is behind them. Hassett allayed doubt about his selection when he began the tour with innings of 43, 146, 148 and 220 not out, He maintained his county form between Tests, adding 118 against Lancashire before scoring his only half-century in the Tests, adding 56 and 42 at Lord's in the drawn Second Test. to guide the tourists to a five-wicket victory, After the match-winning innings, Hassett failed to pass 31 in his next six innings before Australia lost the Fifth Test by an innings and 579 runs, He made 42 and 10 in the record-breaking match, and added a pair of half-centuries against Sussex thereafter. As he finished third in the batting averages for the tour, with 1,589 runs at 52.97, and the dry summer resulted in pitches mostly favourable to batting, Wisden found his Test performances, in which he made 199 runs at 24.88, anomalous: ==Rivalry with O'Reilly==

Benefiting from his experience in England, Hassett scored five centuries in his nine matches for 1938–39 and finished second in the first-class aggregates for the season. This included a run of seven matches in the middle of the season in which he scored five centuries and four fifties and ended the season with 967 runs at 74.38. Hassett also scored centuries in both matches against Queensland and another against Western Australia. In the 1938–39 season, O’Reilly removed Hassett twice in three innings in matches between the two states. Hassett had scored five half-centuries in the five preceding matches of the season, including three in four innings against Grimmett's South Australia,--> ==War years and the Services team==

On 23 September 1940, Hassett enlisted in the Second Australian Imperial Force (AIF); despite his enlistment he remained active in cricket and played four first-class matches in the following 1940–41 season, scoring 384 runs at 54.86 including a century against South Australia, During his time in the army, Hassett became popular among his colleagues because of his "blithe spirit". The focal point of the campaign was a series of matches against England known as the "Victory Tests", which began in May. Australian cricket administrators would not accredit the three-day matches as official Test matches, arguing that there were not enough Test-level players among the servicemen; Hassett was the only player who had Test experience, and only nine others had played first-class cricket. As a result, Australia were not expected to be able to seriously challenge the hosts, who had many of their pre-war Test players. The Victory Tests were expected to usher in a new post-war era, which it hoped would be more aggressive and attractive. The last Anglo-Australian Test series before the war had featured a large number of draws due to defensive play. Australia unexpectedly drew the series 2–2, and Hassett wrote at the end of the series that "This is cricket as it should be ... These games have shown that international cricket can be played as between real friends—so let's have no more talk of "war" in cricket". The series was regarded as an outstanding success, with a total attendance of 367,000 watching the bright and attacking play. In the five Victory Tests, Hassett made 277 runs at 27.70, including two fifties. Hassett enjoyed greater success on the Services tour of India, although the Australians had little to celebrate as a team. It was a tougher proposition for Hassett's men, as all but one of the nine matches were against first-class opposition, and many of the players regarded the local umpires as being deliberately biased in favour of the home teams. After arriving in October, conflict hit the team after a series of ineffective displays. The team, mostly made up of RAAF personnel, had been ill with food poisoning and dysentery, and travelled across the Indian subcontinent via long and bumpy train journeys for the first month. The airmen wanted to travel by air, and tried to ask Hassett and manager Keith Johnson for air travel. Miller refused to plot against Hassett and the dispute ended when Sismey arranged for a RAAF plane already in India to transport the team; after a month in India, their first flight came in late November. In the opening match of the tour, a draw against North Zone, Hassett made 73. The team was scheduled to play East Zone in Calcutta, but the city was gripped in deadly riots as independence activists agitated against British rule. Australia batted first and made only 107, before East Zone replied with 131. Led by Hassett's 125, Australia posted 304 to leave the hosts a target of 281. On the final day, pro-independence rioters broke through the security presence and invaded the pitch for the second time during the match, while East Zone were batting. East Zone batsman Denis Compton told the rioters to talk to Hassett, saying that the Australian skipper controlled proceedings. Hassett smiled at the leader of the irate demonstrators and asked "You wouldn't happen to have a cigarette, would you, old boy?" Australia struggled in the three representative matches against India. Hassett made 53 in the first match in Mumbai, and although the Australians took a 192-run first innings lead, the hosts managed to hold on for a draw. ==Post-war career==

have a blue dot above the red column|alt=Hassett's career performance is relatively evenly spread, and the blue line is almost always hovering between 40 and 60 except for a period in 1948 when it increased to around 80. The high red spikes indicating high scores occur at spread out intervals. Johnson's team arrived in Australia late in 1945, but the armed services and Australian Board of Control ordered them to play another series against the various Australian states. As a result, Hassett could not appear for Victoria during the 1945–46 season. The Services performed poorly; after playing consecutive draws against Western Australia and South Australia, they were crushed by an innings by both Victoria and New South Wales, before drawing against Queensland and Tasmania, the smallest state. Hassett's team was saved by the clock against Queensland when the time ran out with the hosts four runs short of their target, but their fortunes were reversed in the final match when Tasmania hung on with only one wicket in hand to salvage a draw. Based on his form for the Services, and only Hassett and Miller were selected for the Australian tour of New Zealand. Despite speculation that he would lead the team, as Bradman had made himself unavailable due to concerns over fitness and his ability to play at his pre-war world-leading standards, the Australian Board of Control appointed Bill Brown as captain and O'Reilly as Brown's deputy. In the Board's ballot for the leadership positions, Hassett received only one of the 13 votes, One motive speculated for his being overlooked was that he had rested himself from the match against Victoria because he was tired of the long periods in the military away from his family and decided instead to spend the time in Melbourne with his wife and young daughter; this supposedly drew the ire of the Victorian Cricket Association. On the tour, Hassett made first-class centuries against Auckland (121) and Wellington (143) and scored 19 in the one-off match against New Zealand—retrospectively accredited as a Test—played at Basin Reserve in Wellington on a poor rain-affected pitch that saw the contest finished within two days. The match ended in an easy victory for Australia when New Zealand was bowled out for 42 and 54, but the tour attracted big crowds and made a record profit. As Brown was injured and O'Reilly had retired, Hassett was appointed vice-captain. The First Test at Brisbane revealed a more circumspect Hassett. He made 128 (from 395 balls in 392 minutes), his maiden Test century, and shared a 276-run partnership with Bradman, the cornerstone of Australia's match-winning score of 645. Although the crowd continually barracked Hassett for his slow scoring, Ray Robinson felt that he played a crucial "anchoring" role in support of Bradman, who initially struggled with his timing, controversially survived an appeal for a catch by Jack Ikin, then limped through the latter stages of his innings with a strained muscle. Hassett later joked that one of his brothers had his wedding on the day, and was waiting for the batting to finish before starting the ceremony, but could wait no more and proceeded, only to come back after the marriage had been completed to find that just one run had been scored in the intervening period and that his brother was still only on 97. Australia went on to start the post-war Ashes era with a crushing win by an innings and 332 runs. He finished the series with 332 runs at 47.43 and had difficulty against the leg spinner Doug Wright, who dismissed him five times in seven innings. Victoria won both their matches against arch-rivals NSW convincingly, by an innings and 288 runs respectively, and won the Sheffield Shield, having secured victory in each of the four matches that Hassett played in. After failing to pass 50 in the first two Tests, Hassett hit 80 in a rain-affected Third Test win, and then his highest Test score, 198 not out in an innings win in the Fourth Test in Adelaide, finishing the series with 332 runs at 110.67. Hassett was rested from the Fifth and final Test as Australia sought to try out new players such as Sam Loxton ahead of the tour of England. He remained in strong form for Victoria, scoring 118 and 204 against South Australia and Queensland respectively, Considered one of the strongest Australia teams to tour England, the team became known as The Invincibles because it went undefeated through 34 matches, an unprecedented feat. As matches often started the day after the previous fixture, Australia employed a rotation policy and Hassett led the tourists in nine of the 34 matches while Bradman was rested. Under Hassett's watch, Australia won seven matches, five of these by an innings, while both draws were rain-affected fixtures in which more than half the playing time was lost. Australia lost quick wickets and Hassett came in with the score at 2/5. After being involved in a run out, he fell to leave Australia at 5/20. Australia lost another wicket to be 6/31, effectively seven down with Sam Loxton incapacitated by injury, but scraped hom without further loss after both batsmen at the crease were dropped. On a drying pitch, Australia were dismissed for 117 in reply to the home side's 195. Hassett almost holed out early when he edged a ball just wide of the wicket-keeper. Hassett had a period of 20 minutes without scoring. The scoring was slow during this passage of play—Young delivered 11 consecutive maiden overs and his 26-over spell conceded only 14 runs. This ended an eighth-wicket partnership of 107 with Lindwall with the score at 8/473; Australia ended at 509 to take a 344-run first innings lead. The First Test set the tone for the series, and ahead of the next Test, Hassett top scored with 127 and took five catches in an innings win over Northamptonshire. Hassett dropped Len Hutton—who went on to score 81—on 25. Australia thus won the series convincingly 4–0 and Hassett finished the series with 310 runs at 44.29. In recognition of his performances in England, he was named one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1949. Wisden opined that "in addition to his playing ability Hassett's cheerfulness and leadership, which extended to off-the-field relaxation as well as in the more exacting part of the programme, combined to make him an ideal vice-captain able to lift a considerable load off Bradman's busy shoulders". his only rival for the position was NSW captain Arthur Morris, the third selector during the tour of England. The season, which was purely domestic with no touring Test team, Morris and Hassett were the first and third highest run-scorers for the 1948–49 season. Hassett ended the season with 855 runs at 61.07. an attitude that was common among the Anglo-Saxon Protestant ruling class of the time, and so narrowly became the first Catholic captain since Percy McDonnell in 1888. Matching Bradman's feat, Hassett led his team through South Africa undefeated and claimed the Test series 4–0, winning 14 out of 21 matches. Although he was hampered by recurrent problems with his tonsils, He scored 889 first-class runs at 68.38 on the tour, including four centuries. He compiled 112 (in 261 minutes) of the 198 runs added while he was at the crease; Australia amassed 413 then bowled South Africa out twice to win by an innings. Hassett's winning run looked at an end when Australia was exposed to a sticky wicket in the Third Test. The hosts had reached 2/240 at the end of the first day before rain hit and made the pitch extremely difficult for batting. The tourists made only 75, but then dismissed the hosts for 99, Hassett using defensive tactics to slow the scoring and keep South Africa batting as the pitch slowly improved. Australia chased down the target of 336 with five wickets in hand to secure a highly unlikely win. The local newspaper, The Natal Mercury said that "Renowned for their fighting qualities as a cricketers, the occasion brought the best out of the Australians ... That indomitable spirit to win through, no matter what the circumstances may be, was in most marked evidence." Of his on-field performances, the historian Chris Harte wrote that "Hassett’s captaincy impressed from the start. His warmth of personality and sense of fun contrasted with Bradman’s efficient but cold methods. It was a happy tour with the players remembering particularly the hospitality offered to them." However, rain intervened to negate England's advantage, and when the contest resumed two days later, England batted on a sticky wicket. The English captain Freddie Brown conceded a first-innings lead of 160 runs by declaring with his team's score on 7/68 to force Australia to bat in unfavourable conditions. The Australian batsmen fared worse in the difficult conditions and Hassett gambled by declaring at 7/32, setting England 193 to win. Hassett himself had only managed eight and three for the match. During the 70 minutes remaining before stumps, Australia took six English wickets (which meant that 20 wickets fell for 102 runs in the day's play), and went on to win the match by 70 runs the following day. Hassett returned to his normal form away from the sticky wicket, scoring 127 and 28 not out against Queensland between Tests. It was his third century in as many matches for Victoria. Hassett then stroked 70 in the Third Test, which Australia won by an innings to take an unassailable 3–0 series lead, before Australia won their fifth Test in a row in the next match in Adelaide. The tourists took a first innings lead and Hassett made 48 in Australia's second innings of 197. England made the 95 needed for victory, and the eight-wicket loss was Australia's first Test defeat since the resumption of international cricket after World War II, Hassett was the second-highest run-scorer of the series, hitting 366 runs at 40.67. Only England's Len Hutton (533 runs at 88.83) was better. Hassett ended the first-class season with 1,423 runs at 64.68, including four centuries and five fifties, He played in seven shield matches without defeat, winning five to help Victoria to another title. Hassett went into the First Test at Brisbane without playing a first-class match for the season due to the scheduling. Like many of the Australians, he struggled to pick the action of West Indian leg spinner Sonny Ramadhin. He was out for only six in the first innings, as Australia eked out a 10-run lead. He then managed 35 as Australia scraped home in the second innings by three wickets to 7/236. He had been dismissed by Ramadhin both times, bowled and lbw, unable to pick which way the ball was spinning. Between Tests, Hassett had an opportunity to rectify this problem when Victoria hosted the Caribbean tourists, but Ramadhin prevailed again, dismissing him for 12 in his only innings. Ramadhin ended with 1/196 and was demoralised. Between Tests, Hassett's Victorians faced New South Wales in consecutive matches. Hassett scored 92 in the first encounter, a high-scoring draw, and his team had the upper hand in the latter, forcing their opponents to hold on with only three wickets remaining. In Hassett's absence, Australia's thin batting line-up collapsed on a damp pitch hostile to batsmen and lost. Ahead of the final Test of the series, Hassett's Victorians suffered a four-wicket defeat in their second match of the season against the West Indies, Hassett scoring 56 and 43. The Australian Board of Control's concern that—after losing money on the previous season's tour by the West Indies—the series would be another financial disaster resulted in South Africa offering an indemnity of £10,000 against any losses. Hassett began the season with two consecutive Sheffield Shield losses before the Tests, although he did manage 91 against South Australia before facing South Africa. With Australia heading for a victory that would give them the series, Ray Lindwall and Miller suffered injuries and were unable to bowl in the second innings. This compelled Hassett to delay his second innings declaration: South Africa then forced a draw by batting out 73 (eight-ball) overs against the depleted bowling attack with four wickets in hand. Hassett ended the Tests with 309 runs at 38.63 and the entire season with 779 runs at 38.95, a substantially lower return compared to previous Australian summers. Hassett made it known that the tour of England in 1953 would be his farewell to the game. The selectors included only two specialist opening batsmen in the team, which caused problems when McDonald was injured and Morris struggled for form. This forced Hassett to play as an opener in the Tests; Hassett struggled in two warm-up matches against Tasmania before the Australians left for England, and despite winning both fixtures, it was not to be a happy tour on the field. Hassett struggled in the opening first-class matches in England, passing 40 only once in six innings. In the last match before the Tests, against Sussex, he hit an unbeaten 108. Australia's progress before the Tests was constantly curtailed by bad weather. Of the six first-class matches that Hassett played, three did not reach the second innings, although Australia did manage two victories. The Third Test was another wet affair. Hassett made 26 as Australia scored 318 and took a 42-run first innings lead, but they then collapsed to be 8/35. In the Fourth Test, the Australians worked themselves into a position to win the match and thus retain the Ashes. Hassett made 37 as his team compiled 266 and took a 99-run first innings lead. Hassett made only four, but Australia had made 111 in 75 minutes and were on schedule for a win. The match was also marred by a series of umpiring decisions made by Frank Chester against the Australians, leading Hassett to request that he not be appointed for the Fifth Test, something the English cricket authorities granted. This meant that the fate of the Ashes would be determined by the final match at The Oval. Hassett warmed up with consecutive half-centuries against Surrey and Warwickshire. In the second innings of the latter match, he made 21 not out, holding the team together as Australia stumbled to 5/53 in pursuit of 166 for victory when time ran out. Hassett made 53 as Australia made 275 batting first. England then took a 31-run lead and Hassett was out for only 10 in the second innings as Australia fell for only 162, The hosts then reached the target safely with eight wickets in hand to claim a 1–0 victory, thus winning the Ashes for the first time since the infamous Bodyline tour of 1932–33. Hassett made one final first-class appearance upon returning to Australia, in a testimonial match against Morris's XI. He made 126 in the first innings, his final century, but could manage only three in the second as his team went down by 121 runs. and with more first-class centuries than any Australian except Bradman. == Style and personality ==

The diminutive Hassett was an elegant middle-order batsman, known for his wide range of strokes, timing, quick footwork and strong wrists. After bowing out of Test cricket in 1953 with a loss, he said that England "earned the victory from the very first ball—to the second last over anyway", referring to an over that he bowled when defeat became inevitable. During the 1948 tour of England, he was reported to have unnerved his teammates and tempted fate by bringing a toy duck into the dressing room, and held up play during a county match by hiding the ball in a pile of sawdust. During the 1953 tour of England, a waiter spilled a dessert on Hassett's jacket. Initially declining the waiter's multiple offers to have his jacket taken away for cleaning, Hassett acquiesced and while taking off his jacket, noticed a spot on his trousers. He then silently pointed to the spot, removed his trousers and handed them to the waiter, before continuing to eat his meal in his underpants. Aside from the humorous side of his personality, Hassett was also known for his diplomatic skills as a leader and his affability, particularly his ability to endear himself to hosts and public while representing Australia overseas. Richie Benaud wrote of Hassett: "There are others who have made more runs and taken more wickets, but very few have ever got more out of a lifetime." Teammate Keith Miller said that Hassett had "more genuine friends in all walks of life than any other cricketer". ==Outside cricket==

After returning from World War II, Hassett operated a sports store in Melbourne; one of his staff members was Victorian Test teammate Neil Harvey. After retiring from cricket, Hassett joined the Australian Broadcasting Commission as a radio commentator in 1956, remaining in that position until 1981. Hassett ran for election as South Melbourne's delegate to the VCA in December 1953, but was defeated. During the 1954–55 Ashes series in Australia, he wrote for The Daily Telegraph. In 1942, Hassett married Tessie Davis, a Geelong accountant, In his final years, Hassett moved to Batehaven on the south coast of New South Wales to pursue his love of fishing. He died there in 1993. == Test match performance ==