As part of my series on obscure-but-not-to-me Australian cricketers of the early 1980s, I thought I’d shine a light on the West Australian Ken MacLeay, who played 16 ODIs in the green and gold.
MacLeay was actually English – well, he was born there, in 1959, the son of a Royal Navy man who immigrated to Western Australia (specifically, Busselton) in order to farm. MacLeay moved to Perth at age 16 to attend Scotch College and later studied commerce at university.
A right arm seam bowler and useful middle order batter, he played for Western Australia Colts and in 1980 went to England for the winter to play for Buckinghamshire and the Kent Second XI.
In the summer of 1981-82 MacLeay had just joined the WA Institute of Technology as a trained auditor when he was selected in the state side, then needing new blood because of all the West Australians who were required on international duty.
He did well as a bits and pieces all-rounder in the Ian Brayshaw mould – a few useful wickets here, a few useful runs there, usually batting at 6 or 7: seven Shield games, 242 runs at 27, 10 wickets at 33. Those results would kind of set the template for MacLeay’s overall first class career (129 first class games, 3750 runs at 27, 300 wickets at 30).
MacLeay held his state spot throughout 1982-83. Some sexy performances, including 5-7 off 21 balls in a game against Victoria, 5-12 against Queensland, and most of all 100 against Victoria, combined with a spate of injuries, saw him selected in the Australia ODI team.
This was very rapid rise but MacLeay played for WA who were very strong and by this stage it gave you extra points coming from that state, and had gotten a first class century and a five-wicket haul, which was enough to be classified as an all-rounder and Australia were looking for one in ODI cricket.
They’d given a few games to Shaun Graf and Trevor Chappell – they’d even both been named 12th man in Tests over the 1980-81 summer – but neither player had quite worked out: both had their bowling moments but neither quite fitted into the batting line up. Spoilers: this would be the case for MacLeay, too.
Incidentally, Graf had leapt into international consideration after scoring a first class century in 1980-81 but, like MacLeay’s century, that was slightly misleading as to his actual batting ability – Graf was a very fine cricketer, but averaged 25 with the bat, which kind of makes you more of a useful tail-ender than an all-rounder. But something happens when you score a century – the selectors get a little blinded and see the promise rather than the actuality.
Anyway, MacLeay made his ODI debut against New Zealand, taking 1-39 and scoring 3. He kept his spot for a few more matches, having a terrific game in a special one-off ODI against NZ to raise money for bushfire victims, scoring 41 off 37 balls and taking 1-42.
I remember watching this on TV, and even though the Kiwis thumped us, I recall how exciting it was to discover MacLeay. He was picked on the Young Australia team that toured Zimbabwe in early 1983 under Dirk Wellham.
MacLeay was not initially chosen for the Australian World Cup squad in 1983, the selectors going for Trevor Chappell as the all-rounder. However, at this stage Greg Chappell still intended to go (as a player only – he’d retired as Australian captain).
Then Greg Chappell pulled out, pleading a neck injury, and MacLeay went in his place. This slightly unbalanced the team, as Chappell’s bowling was very useful in one-dayers – but how do you replace Greg Chappell? What other top-line Australian domestic batter could also bowl 10 overs? Peter Sleep? John Inverarity? Peter Faulkner?
MacLeay ended up playing four World Cup games and generally did well with the ball, including 6-39 against India (at that stage the second best performance recorded by an Australian bowler in a limited-over international), but could never quite get there with the bat, with a highest score of 9. And Australia needed him to bat as well as bowl.
MacLeay was dropped in favour of Jeff Thomson for a game against the West Indies, and Thommo went for 0-64. If we’d played MacLeay maybe we would’ve won!
Or not, the West Indies were pretty brilliant.
Anyway, here’s vision of the India game.
Macleay was picked for two ODIs in 1983-84 and Peter McFarline thought he might’ve been a smoky for the 1984 West Indies tour (he took seven wickets and scored 82 for WA against Pakistan) but he never quite produced one of those showy late-season “you gotta pick me” performances and it didn’t happen.
This did mean MacLeay could play in the Sheffield Shield final for Western Australia alongside Graf. Wisden said the two “could usually be relied upon to make useful contributions” throughout the season.
In that 1983-84 final, MacLeay’s second innings of 4-58 helped destroy Queensland (who had a first innings lead) and contributed greatly to Western Australia’s victory. It was Queensland’s first losing Shield final and there were to be many, many, many more but that’s another story.
Simon O’Donnell came along in 1984-85 and he became the big-hitting-tight-bowling ODI all-rounder that Australia wanted MacLeay, Graf and Trevor Chappell to be. O’Donnell shouldn’t have played Tests, at least not unless in tandem with another all-rounder, but he was one of Australia’s best ODI players of the 1980s.
MacLeay even lost his state spot for a time in 1984-85 which is a shame because he might’ve been a genuine chance for the 1985 Ashes squad as a bowler after all those South African defections; he would’ve been a better bet to take over there than Jeff Thomson, who did go.
MacLeay worked his way back into the WA team but when Steve Waugh emerged in 1985-86, giving Australian two strong ODI all-rounder options, it seemed the West Australian’s international career was done.
Or not.
Because Simon Davis had shown the benefit of miserly bowling and thus Macleay was recalled to the ODI side in 1986-87 as a bowler who could bat a bit. Australia were playing a series of ODIs in Perth for an Australia’s Cup Defence-inspired competition, the Benson and Hedges Challenge, and they wanted MacLeay’s knowledge of the WACA pitch and the ‘Fremantle doctor’.
(Photo by Speed Media/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
He did well with the ball – 2-36 against Pakistan, 1-29 against the West Indies – and was kept on over a number of other ODIs through the summer. This was actually his longest run in the national side (seven games) though it didn’t last and MacLeay was eventually dropped again.
MacLeay was part of WA sides that won the Shield in 1986-87, 1987-88, and 1988-89, playing in all the finals. In 1989-90, he became the first bowler who had never played Test cricket to take 200 wickets in the Sheffield Shield.
He had a magic season with the bat in 1990-91, making 586 runs at 48.8 but typically averaged around 23-28 for a season.
He kept playing first class cricket until 1992, including a stint for Somerset.
Somerset cricketer Peter Roebuck, who everyone kind of pretends never existed now, called MacLeay “a wily and capable cricketer”. Another writer summarised him as “an undemonstrative bowler closer in temperament to Graham McKenzie than to Dennis Lillee.”
MacLeay’s overall first class career indicates he was a bowler who was a handy batter rather than a fully-fledged all-rounder. You need to average at least 30 with the bat, which to be fair MacLeay did at the WACA, and he averaged 40 at the MCG… but he wasn’t as good elsewhere.
If he’d relocated to England – which he could’ve done quite quickly, owing to his parentage – those figures would have earned him an English Test cap, especially in the mid-’80s when England’s search for the next Ian Botham led to too many Tests being given to players like Derek Pringle and David Capel.
MacLeay was kind of lucky in a way that he was deemed to be an all-rounder when Australia really wanted one and there were no other alternatives. Still, a very, very good career and he is the sort of player who kept Australian first class strong through the 1980s despite all the kerfuffle at the top level.
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