Neil Hawke Dead
naniwadekar
Neil Hawke, who played Test cricket for Australia in 1960s,
died on 25 December 2000. Here is his obituary, from The
London Times issue, dated 17 Jan 2001.
Before that, though, an aside.
Australians on this forum, and other people as well, are
found discussing all manner of garbage and non-events.
How come it did not occur to anybody to announce Hawke's
death on this forum ? I searched for his name, and found
no mention of his death.
This is a moving tribute. RIP.
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,60-69169,00.html
---------------------------------------------
Neil Hawke
Australian cricketer and journalist who battled against crippling
illness
NEIL HAWKE was an honest servant of Australian cricket who made more
impact by his gallant fight against crippling illness than he had as a
resourceful seam bowler or as a prominent Australian Rules footballer.
Big and powerful, he played in 27 Tests between 1962 and 1968, but in
1980 a staphylococcus infection after a routine bowel operation left
him, at 41, with a medically estimated 1 per cent chance of survival.
It took 11 months to beat the bacteria that destroyed much of his body
tissue and damaged his organs, and Hawke then faced continuing kidney
failure, liver damage and hepatitis. He survived 12 cardiac arrests, 30
separate operations, and was drip-fed for nearly two years.
He fought on for 20 years, under the devoted care of his wife Beverley,
the encouragement of an army of friends, and the support of a nation
which followed his struggle with admiration. His co-ordination and
speech were impaired, the robust frame was reduced to a shell, but,
drawing comfort from his new Christian faith, he maintained astonishing
cheerfulness.
Hawkeye — as he was widely known — returned to freelance journalism,
attended cricket matches and functions, and in 1992 wrote an
autobiography, Bowled Over. Even a supposed friend’s misappropriation
of Hawke’s cricketing mementoes, which he had been asked to sell, did
not wreck Hawke’s belief in humanity.
Neil James Napier Hawke was born in the Adelaide suburb of Cheltenham
in 1939, and educated at Woodville High School, where his cricket
career began as a wicketkeeper and batsman. At 15 he won the
President’s Trophy as all- rounder of the season among all Port
Adelaide Cricket Club players. His award was presented by Sir Donald
Bradman, who commented with unerring insight that he was “someone South
Australia has been looking for”.
Hawke was invited to join a South Australia Under-19 tour of Ceylon,
but his family could not afford it. So Woodville High School raised
funds to allow Hawke his first taste of international cricket. Employed
as a clerk by the South Australian Cricket Association, Hawke steadily
advanced, and Bradman invited him to the Adelaide Oval nets, personally
guiding his batting technique. At 17, Hawke was named in the State
Sheffield Shield practice squad.
Australian Rules football decided his next move. Hawke had graduated
from Port Adelaide junior teams to kick a senior club record of 15
goals on the Adelaide Oval in a South Australian National Football
League match. Unable to hold a regular place, he was lured in 1957 to
East Perth Football Club in Western Australia.
A lively forward who could burst into decisive action with real speed,
Hawke was a pioneer of the drop-punt — a kicking style which eventually
replaced more traditional methods. He was to share special triumph on
his interstate debut in 1963, when South Australia beat archrivals
Victoria at Melbourne for the first time in 37 years.
His made his debut in first-class cricket at 20 with a determined 89
for Western Australia against Victoria at Perth. With his wife
expecting their first child, Hawke decided his home town offered more
security: football friends arranged a job interview with Rupert
Murdoch, publisher of Adelaide’s afternoon newspaper, The News, and
Hawke spent two-and-a-half years learning the journalist’s trade.
He was first picked for South Australia against Worrell’s 1960-61 West
Indies: two wickets and 40 runs helped to confirm his regular place in
the side. He won Test selection, aged 23, by taking six wickets for 130
for South Australia against Dexter’s 1962-63 McC team, as well as
making 83 runs for once out.
In his debut in the fifth Test at Sydney, Hawke took just two wickets,
his first victim, the Rev David Sheppard, caught and bowled. A year
later, Hawke was brought back for the second Test against Trevor
Goddard’s South Africa, when Ian Meckiff was no-balled out of the game,
to take 13 series wickets at 33 runs apiece, and secure his place in
Bob Simpson’s 1964 tour of England.
Second in the Test averages to Graham McKenzie with 18 wickets at 27
runs apiece, Hawke played his part in retaining the Ashes — not least
with a battling 37 at Leeds backing Peter Burge’s 160, which set the
stage for victory. The fifth Test at the Oval saw Hawke prevent a Fred
Trueman hat-trick — only to be caught later at slip by Cowdrey to give
Trueman his 300th Test wicket, the first time this had been done. Hawke
responded with six wickets for 47 (his best Test figures came at Sydney
17 months later — seven for 107 against M. J. K. Smith’s England team).
Tours of India and Pakistan in 1964-65, the West Indies in 1964-65 and
South Africa in 1966-67 brought mixed fortunes, the Caribbean bringing
best results as Hawke topped the bowling of both sides with 24 wickets
at 22 runs each.
The danger of playing two sports at top level was underlined when after
two seasons away from Australian Rules football, Hawke returned to the
game in 1966, and dislocated his shoulder, necessitating an operation.
On the 1968 Bill Lawry tour of England — when he found his captain
difficult to work with — he took only one Test wicket. Although he
enjoyed a farewell first-class season with Tasmania, it was obvious
that his best days were gone.
He ended with 3,383 first-class runs, at an average of just on 24 runs
an innings, and 458 wickets at 26 runs each. His 27 Tests brought him
91 wickets at an average of 29.41, and 365 runs at 16.59.
Hawke delivered his aggressive medium-fast bowling after a curious
double step late in the run, with an open-chested action that meant he
basically moved the ball into the batsman, while also able to cut it
away. He made more use than most of bowling round the wicket,
maintaining accuracy. An ungainly batsman, he could knuckle down to
resolute defence, and hit one first-class century — 141 not out for
South Australia against Queensland in 1964.
English conditions usually suited his bowling: in 1967 he joined
Nelson, in the Lancashire League. Two more seasons with Nelson after
the 1968 tour were followed by four with East Lancashire as he settled
in England, honing his considerable golf skills.
However, the climate persuaded Hawke in 1980 to re- turn to Adelaide
sunshine, with thoughts of settling in South Africa. On July 6 of that
year, Hawke was taken to hospital with severe stomach pains, and life
from that point was an endless struggle for survival. In 1990 a dinner
in his honour drew guests including the cricket-loving Prime Minister,
Bob Hawke, the Governor and Premier of South Australia.
Hawke is survived by his third wife, the former Beverley Meyers.
Neil Hawke, cricketer and Australian Rules footballer, was born on June
27, 1939. He died in Adelaide on Christmas Day, aged 61.
-------------------------------------------
--
Neil Hawke, cricketer and Australian Rules footballer, was born on June
27, 1939. He died in Adelaide on Christmas Day, 2000, aged 61.
Sent via Deja.com
http://www.deja.com/
Aslam Siddiqui
place in the history of Test cricket. At The Oval in 1964, he achieved what
distinction as a batsman?
aslam
GO PACERS!!!
Lee
Aslam Siddiqui wrote:
Trueman's 300th Test wicket.
Lee
Mike Holmans
decided to opine:
> Someone just posted a belated obituary of Neil Hawke which reminded me of his
>
>place in the history of Test cricket. At The Oval in 1964, he achieved what
>
>distinction as a batsman?
Being Fred Truelyboring's 300th Test wicket. It's the only thing Hawke
is actually famous for.
Cheers,
Mike
--
1982 - last series England didn't lose to Pakistan
1962 - last series England won in Pakistan
2000 - England become first visiting team to win a Test in Karachi
Mad Hamish
> Someone just posted a belated obituary of Neil Hawke which reminded me of his
>
>place in the history of Test cricket. At The Oval in 1964, he achieved what
>
>distinction as a batsman?
>
being the only Australian batsman to ever shake the hand of a bowler
immediately after being dismissed by them...
Just after Trueman took his 300th wicket.
John Hall
Mad Hamish <h_l...@bigpond.com> writes:
>wrote:
>
>> Someone just posted a belated obituary of Neil Hawke which reminded me of his
>>
>>place in the history of Test cricket. At The Oval in 1964, he achieved what
>>
>>distinction as a batsman?
>>
>being the only Australian batsman to ever shake the hand of a bowler
>immediately after being dismissed by them...
Didn't Ian Johnson do that immediately after being Laker's 19th?
--
John Hall "Do you have cornflakes in America?"
"Well, actually, they're American."
"So what brings you to Britain then if you have cornflakes already?"
Bill Bryson: "Notes from a Small Island"
Michael Creevey
naniwadekar wrote:
>
> Neil Hawke, who played Test cricket for Australia in 1960s,
> died on 25 December 2000. Here is his obituary, from The
> London Times issue, dated 17 Jan 2001.
>
> Before that, though, an aside.
> Australians on this forum, and other people as well, are
> found discussing all manner of garbage and non-events.
That's what you call 'usenet'.
I suppose Aggy/Srinath/Bonda/Ghati/ blah blah
blah doesn't come into this category.
Regards,
Michael Creevey
Ian Galbraith
:Neil Hawke, who played Test cricket for Australia in 1960s,
:died on 25 December 2000. Here is his obituary, from The
:London Times issue, dated 17 Jan 2001.
:Before that, though, an aside.
:Australians on this forum, and other people as well, are
:found discussing all manner of garbage and non-events.
Please don't generalize, Australians are hardly the only offenders in this
regard.
:How come it did not occur to anybody to announce Hawke's
:death on this forum ? I searched for his name, and found
:no mention of his death.
There were a few posts at the time.
[snip]
--
Ian Galbraith
Email: igalb...@ozonline.com.au ICQ#: 7849631
"It is easier perceive error than to find truth, for the former lies on
the surface and is easily seen, while the latter lies in the depths,
where few are willing to search for it." - Goethe
tin...@my-deja.com
> In article <3a65a523...@news.bigpond.com>,
> Mad Hamish <h_l...@bigpond.com> writes:
> >wrote:
> >
> >immediately after being dismissed by them...
>
> Didn't Ian Johnson do that immediately after being Laker's 19th?
He might well have, because it was Len Maddocks who got out. Johnson
remained notout.
Tinnin'
Mango
John Hall wrote in message ...
>In article <3a65a523...@news.bigpond.com>,
> Mad Hamish <h_l...@bigpond.com> writes:
>>wrote:
>>
>>> Someone just posted a belated obituary of Neil Hawke which reminded me
of his
>>>
>>>place in the history of Test cricket. At The Oval in 1964, he achieved
what
>>>
>>>distinction as a batsman?
>>>
>>being the only Australian batsman to ever shake the hand of a bowler
>>immediately after being dismissed by them...
>
>Didn't Ian Johnson do that immediately after being Laker's 19th?
>--
Ian Redpath did it when he became Lance Gibbs 308th (I think) victim.