Born in the
Adelaide suburb of
Hindmarsh, Hamence was the cousin of
Charlie Walker, a fellow Australian cricketer. At 15 years and 25 days, Hamence became the youngest
district cricketer in South Australian cricket history when he made his debut for Adelaide club
West Torrens in 1930. While playing with the SA team, he worked as a
public servant at the Government Printing Office. He was a compact batsman preferring attack over defence, however he suffered a weakness throughout his career against
fast bowling. This was to be his only match of the season, which left him with a debut season average of 121.00. At the start of his first full season, he followed this up with scores of 16 and four against the
touring England team and
Victoria and seven and 19 against
New South Wales. On
Christmas Day, 1936, however, he scored his second first-class century, 104 against
Queensland in the first innings. He would go on to score 52 in the second. Scores of three
not out, 28, 27, 35 and four followed before his next significant score, 52, against Queensland on 12 February 1937. Hamence scored 30 not out in the first innings as Australia made 253 in response to England's first innings 280. England managed 186 in response and Australia, set 213 to win, reached it in 52.2 overs. However Hamence made only one in his second innings. He returned to domestic cricket, however over six innings his highest score was 27. In the Third Test, which started on 1 January 1948, Australia achieved victory with centuries from Don Bradman and
Arthur Morris meaning Hamence was again not needed to bat in the second innings. He was then replaced by
Neil Harvey for the final two Tests. Hamence was a popular member of the touring squad and his cheerful nature and splendid
tenor voice added to the good spirits of the team. Bradman, following the
Invincibles tour described Hamence as "a fine batsman of the strictly orthodox type. Very sound and reliable with his game based on
driving" and a "very safe fieldsman". Barnes reported that Hamence, along with the other frequent omissions
Colin McCool and
Doug Ring, termed themselves the "Ground Staff". He added: "In the dressing room during
county games they would break out into ironic song about the few chances they got." His final full season saw him score 418 runs at 32.15. Of his eleven centuries, three were scored against Victoria, against whom he had an average of 41.75, however he scored the most runs, and his highest score, against New South Wales. In 2001, Hamence was awarded the
Centenary Medal for services to Australian society through the sport of cricket. He died in an Adelaide nursing home, aged 94, in 2010. == Test match performance ==