William Alfred Brown, (31 July 1912 – 16 March 2008) was an Australian cricketer who played 22 Test matches between 1934 and 1948, captaining his country in one Test. A right-handed opening batsman, his partnership with Jack Fingleton in the 1930s is regarded as one of the finest in Australian Test history. After the interruption of World War II, Brown was a member of the team dubbed "The Invincibles", who toured England in 1948 without defeat under the leadership of Don Bradman. In a match in November 1947, Brown was the unwitting victim of the first instance of "Mankading".
Raised in New South Wales, Brown initially struggled in both work and cricket, before gradually rising through the cricket ranks. He made his first-class debut for New South Wales in the 1932–33 season and forced his way into the national side during the 1934 tour of England. When long-term openers Bill Ponsford and Bill Woodfull retired at the end of the tour, Brown and his state opening partner Fingleton took over. After poor form made his selection for the 1938 tour of England controversial, Brown responded with a total of 1,854 runs, including an unbeaten 206 that saved Australia from defeat in the Second Test, and was honoured as one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Year.
The outbreak of the Second World War cost Brown his peak years, which he spent in the Royal Australian Air Force. Cricket resumed in 1945–46 and Brown, in Bradman's absence, captained an Australian eleven in a match that was retrospectively awarded Test status. Brown missed the entirety of the following season because of injury. Upon his return, he was unable to repeat his previous success and was ousted from the opening positions by Arthur Morris and Sid Barnes. Selected for the Invincibles tour, he performed reasonably well in the tour matches but, with Morris and Barnes entrenched as openers, he batted out of position in the middle order during the first two Tests. He struggled and was dropped from the Test team, never to return. Upon returning to Australia, Brown continued playing for Queensland until the end of the 1949–50 season.
In retirement, Brown briefly served as a Test selector and sold cars and, later, sports goods. In 2000, he was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for his services to cricket. At the time of his death in 2008, he was Australia's oldest Test cricketer.
Early years The son of a dairy farmer and hotel owner, Brown was born in Toowoomba, Queensland. Aged three, business failure hit the family, and they moved to Marrickville in inner Sydney.Cashman, p. 67.Robinson, p. 197. The family's poor financial position meant that they lived in a one-bedroom home, with Brown and his brother sharing a bed. Educated at Dulwich Hill and Petersham High Schools in Sydney, Brown started playing cricket as a wicket-keeper, before changing his focus to opening the batting. He left high school after two years, but was unable to find regular full-time work amid the Great Depression. In 1929–30, Brown played grade cricket for Marrickville Cricket Club, but was unable to hold down a regular place. He was on the verge of leaving Sydney when an innings of 172 in the Poidevin-Gray Shield reinvigorated his career. Brown progressed through the grades and reached the club's First XI, where he performed steadily to earn selection for New South Wales in 1932–33.
Pre-war career
Making his first-class debut for New South Wales in a Sheffield Shield match against Queensland on 11 November 1932, Brown was run out for a duck without facing a ball, while opening with Jack Fingleton. However, the match ended happily with Brown's team winning decisively by an innings and 274 runs. The highlights of Brown's first season were his 79 against South Australia, and 69 against Douglas Jardine's England. However, neither Harold Larwood nor Bill Voce, the Bodyline spearheads, played in the match. During his first season, Brown earned the ire of Don Bradman, who was displeased with Brown's poor communication with batting partners when running between the wickets, with the ensuing risk of falling foul of run outs. Brown ended his debut season with 269 runs at 29.88.
The following season, in the opening match of the season against Queensland at Brisbane in November 1933, Brown made 154, partnering Bradman in a stand of 294 in just three hours. This set up a total of 4/494 declared and an innings victory. He followed this with 205 in an opening stand of 340 against Victoria. Brown amassed two further half-centuries to end with 878 runs for the season at an average of 67.53, which placed him second behind Bradman in the first-class run-scoring aggregates. When the selectors met to discuss the tour party for the 1934 tour of England, Brown and Fingleton had similar figures, but with the incumbent Victorian opening pair of Bill Ponsford and captain Bill Woodfull firmly in place, there was only one spot available for a reserve opener. The selectors asked Bradman—Australia's leading batsman—for advice. Bradman nominated Brown, believing that his style was better suited to English pitches.Perry (2002), p. 175. A disappointed Fingleton disagreed and wrote to Woodfull, saying "You have chosen chaps who do not like fast bowling". Brown justified his selection before departure with a pair of 90s in two matches for a combined Australian XI against Tasmania.
Brown missed selection for the tour opener against Worcestershire—in which Australia traditionally fielded its first-choice XI—before making his debut in the second match against Leicestershire. He made a century against Cambridge University in his second tour match, making 105 in the middle order. Batting at number 3 against Lancashire in the final tour match before the Tests, Brown scored 119. After compiling 351 runs at 43.88 in the opening tour matches, he was selected for the Test side. Playing in all five Tests, Brown made his debut at Trent Bridge, Nottingham and scored 22 in his first innings. After Australia lost three early wickets in the second innings, Brown scored 73 to help secure a winning lead. Brown then made a century while opening the batting against Northamptonshire, and an unbeaten 62 in the second innings, guiding Australia to an eight-wicket victory over the Gentlemen of England. He was promoted to open in the Second Test at Lord's with Woodfull, after Ponsford was unavailable due to illness. At the home of cricket, Brown made his maiden Test century, scoring 105 in the first innings. His innings was an unhurried one; he tended to wait for the ball to come onto the bat rather than attacking the leather. However, he was unable to prevent Australia from being forced to follow-on and made two; the match ended in an innings defeat. He was retained as opener upon Ponsford's return for the Third Test, with Woodfull dropping down the order in a reshuffled batting line-up. Brown made 72 and a duck. The match ended in a draw after both teams passed 490 in the first innings.
It was the start of a barren month for Brown, who passed 30 only once in 11 first-class innings, totalling 171 runs at 15.55. He ended the unproductive sequence with an unbeaten 100 against Nottinghamshire. This came after Bill Voce had bowled Bodyline at the start of the Australian innings, in contravention of a prior agreement. After an Australian protest, Voce missed the remainder of the match and Brown's innings was punctuated by angry heckling by the local supporters.Haigh and Frith, p. 85.Harte, p. 356.Robinson, p. 164.
He was unable to pass 20 in the final two Tests and ended the series with 300 runs at 33.33. Despite his inability to make a substantial contribution, Australia won the Fifth Test by 562 runs to reclaim the Ashes 2–1. Brown scored three consecutive half-centuries after the Tests and ended with 1,287 first-class runs at 36.77.
Brown's strong form continued upon returning to Australia, compiling 683 runs at 45.53, including three centuries, to be the second highest run-scorer for the 1934–35 domestic season. He started the season with the testimonial match for Woodfull, who retired upon returning to Australia. Brown scored 102 in the second innings to help Woodfull's men defeat Victor Richardson's XI by seven wickets. He started the Sheffield Shield season with 11 in an innings victory over South Australia, and scored fifties in three consecutive matches, before rounding off the season with 116 in the final match against Western Australia.
Opening in Tests with Fingleton
With the retirement of Woodfull and Ponsford after the tour of England, Brown and his state partner Fingleton became Australia's opening pair for the 1935–36 tour of South Africa. It was one of the most productive phases of both men's career. In Australia's warm-up match against Western Australia before sailing across the Indian Ocean, Brown struck 55 in an innings win.
Brown started the tour consistently, scoring 148, 58, 31 and 28 not out in the three warm-up matches. In the first match of the tour against Natal, both Brown and Fingleton made centuries; the first two matches were won by an innings and the third by ten wickets.
Brown scored three consecutive half-centuries in the first two Tests in Durban and Johannesburg. Australia won the first by nine wickets and were 124 runs from victory with eight wickets in hand in the second when bad light stopped play. In the Third Test at Cape Town, the pair set a new Australian opening record of 233, which laid the foundation for a large Australian total and an innings victory. It was Australia's first double-century opening stand in Test cricket,Robinson, p. 199. and remains an Australian Test record for the first wicket against South Africa. Brown posted 121, his highest Test score at the time. He scored 34 and 84 in Australia's only innings of the Fourth and Fifth Tests in Johannesburg and Durban, making solid opening stands with Fingleton, who scored three consecutive centuries. The pair laid the platform for two further innings victories, as Australia took the five-Test series 4–0. Brown compiled 417 runs at 59.57 for the series. He scored a further four fifties in the remaining tour matches to end with 1,065 runs at 62.65.
In 1936, Brown accepted a coaching position and employment as a car salesman to move back to Queensland, representing his state of birth from 1936–37 onwards. He was appointed captain the following season. Brown started the new season strongly, scoring 111 for Victor Richardson's XI in a testimonial match against Bradman's XI, in the opening match of summer. In November, Brown played for an Australian XI and Queensland in two matches against the touring England team, scoring 71 and 74 in the two drawn matches.
His 1936–37 season was interrupted by injury and he appeared in only the Third and Fourth Tests against England. They were relatively unsuccessful, yielding only 95 runs at 23.75 in four innings without passing fifty. Nevertheless, Australia won the two matches. His debut season for Queensland was moderately successful, with 557 runs at an average of 37.13, including one century and four fifties. Brown did not taste victory with his home state during the season; the closest Queensland came was a one-wicket loss to New South Wales.
Wisden Cricketer of the Year Brown's form started to deteriorate in 1937–38; he scored only 400 runs at 36.36 for the season. Queensland played five matches under his watch, losing three, and went without victory. Of the two draws, one was washed out and in the other, Queensland hung on with two wickets in hand when time ran out. Although Brown compiled two centuries, he was only twelfth in the aggregates during an Australian season with no international tours. As a result, his selection for the 1938 tour to England was criticised in some quarters.