I did not have the pleasure of seeing Arthur Morris bat, but met him a few times at the Australian Cricket Society meetings in late 1990s.
I also met him at Don Bradman’s 99.94th birthday, organised by my friend Ron Holmes in Sydney in August 2008.
I also had a few friendly telephone chats with Arthur Morris who passed away two days ago aged 93, the oldest living Australian Test cricketer.
During our telephone talks he never once said, “In our times we never argued with umpires nor sledged nor hugged each other at the fall of a wicket.”
I enjoyed his quiet sense of humour. A contemporary and an admirer of Sir Don Bradman, Arthur told me tongue-in-cheek, “Don would have had to attend an acting/drama school to learn how to jump, yell and hug. We did not have good deodorants then for hugging each other after a day’s play!”
He loved telling this story. “People ask me whether I was present when Bradman had scored a duck in his final Test at The Oval in 1948. I tell them that I had made 196 runs in that Test, being at the other end when he came and went in two balls!”
The importance of his 196 run out is enhanced when England had been bundled out for only 52 and 188 in that Test. Imagine, one batsman outscoring a country in either innings.
With an innings victory, Bradman’s Invincibles had regained the Ashes 4-0.
In the previous Test at Leeds Australia was set 404 runs to win and was one down for 57 when Bradman joined Morris.
They put on 301 runs for the second wicket and Australia won by seven wickets; Morris registering 182 and Bradman 173 not out.
Australia’s 3 for 404 was the highest fourth innings total to win a Test and remained so until 1975-76 when India scored 4 for 406 to beat the West Indies in Trinidad.
In the five-Test 1948 series Morris, then aged 26, had scored 696 runs at 87.00, hitting three centuries. He had outscored his hero Bradman; 508 runs at 72.57 with two centuries.
Arthur Morris played 46 Tests for Australia from 1946 to 1954, scoring 3533 runs at 46.48 with 12 centuries. His highest score was 206 against England in Adelaide in 1950-51, having been handed in fun a coaching manual on how to bat by England’s legendary bowler Alec Bedser.
A member of Australia’s Test Team of the Century in 2000, Morris was inducted into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame in 2001.
“We have sadly lost a cherished link with our past,” Cricket Australia Chairman Wally Edwards commented yesterday.
“Arthur Morris was a great man and one of the true greats of Australian cricket who until now had been a treasured connection to an extraordinary era of the game.
“When Australia’s best openers are discussed his name will always be one of the first mentioned.
“We extend our deepest sympathies to Arthur’s wife Judith and his family at this sad time. He will be greatly missed but remembered forever.”
Bradman felt Morris was the best left-hander he had ever seen.
Born in Bondi on 19 January 1922, Morris moved around New South Wales with his schoolteacher father until settling back in Sydney as a teenager.
His father could not afford to buy him a bat so he borrowed one from his St George club, and was still using it when he became the first player to hit two centuries on his first-class debut. Morris was only 18 when he amassed 148 and 111 against Queensland in 1940-41.
His rise to the top was interrupted by World War II and he had to wait until England arrived in 1946-47 for his Test debut. After a disappointing start of two, five and 21 runs, he roared with three successive centuries, including two in the Adelaide Test.
He continued to make valuable contributions until he retired after touring the West Indies in 1955.
The following year his wife Valerie died of cancer. He remarried and he and Judith lived happily for many years in Cessnock and Erina, near Gosford.
A few days before his death, the Hon. David Hurley, Judith Morris and SCG Trust Chairman Tony Shepherd unveiled the Arthur Morris Gates to pay tribute to the popular cricket icon.
Well timed.
Vale Arthur Morris.
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