alan davidson

Like his close friend and comrade Richie Benaud, Alan Davidson suddenly translated potential into performance when Australia toured South Africa in 1957-58. A left-arm paceman with a model approach and an economical action – summed up in the title of his autobiography Fifteen Paces – he took 72 wickets and scored four centuries on the trip. For the next five years, he would be the most menacing new-ball bowler of his day, not to mention a dangerous striker in the lower-middle order, and a versatile fielder at home in all positions. A martyr to injuries real and imagined, some of his best performances were reserved for moments when he seemed down and out: he took a broken finger into the 1960 Tied Test, and a bad back into the Ridge Test at Lord’s the following year, yet made telling contributions to both. He was also the first man to score 100 Test runs and take 10 wickets in the same Test, against West Indies in December 1960.
Gideon Haigh