About Me
Ken Piesse
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Cricket and Football author and publisher of 80+ books - President of the Aust Cricket Society.
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question
Q: Ian Redpath was a champion on and off the field; genial, laconic , self-effacing. It was 60 summers back when he made 97 on his unforgettable Test debut having shared a 219 run opening stand with fellow Victorian Bill Lawry.
I still remember the hush and the groans of disappointment at the MCG when he was bowled by the South African swing specialist Joe Partridge. It was my first ever Test. Years later he told me it didn't bother him at the time, but rarely would a day go by when he didn't regret not making three figures.
Bobby Davis wanted Red to play VFL footy at Geelong after his outstanding exploits in the amateurs. But he didn't play so as not to endanger his amateur status.
Once he muscled administrator Alan Barnes against a dressing room wall after Barnes infamously said there were 500,000 others out there willing to play for Australia if the current ones didn't want to pay.
'Of course there are,' he said. 'But they wouldn't be any bloody good.'
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I still remember the hush and the groans of disappointment at the MCG when he was bowled by the South African swing specialist Joe Partridge. It was my first ever Test. Years later he told me it didn't bother him at the time, but rarely would a day go by when he didn't regret not making three figures.
Bobby Davis wanted Red to play VFL footy at Geelong after his outstanding exploits in the amateurs. But he didn't play so as not to endanger his amateur status.
Once he muscled administrator Alan Barnes against a dressing room wall after Barnes infamously said there were 500,000 others out there willing to play for Australia if the current ones didn't want to pay.
'Of course there are,' he said. 'But they wouldn't be any bloody good.'
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www.www.cricketbooks.com.au
question
Q: Their fame was fleeting and their stories compelling. Seventy of Australia’s Test cricketers appeared only once. Their journeys will entertain, enlighten and delight – and have been beautifully told by Australian cricket’s master storyteller Ken Piesse.
One of the debutants hitch-hiked to the ground, another broke down on match-eve.. but still played...
So gripped by nerves was one that he could hardly feel the ball in his hand. Another was plucked from Twenty-two of Ballarat into an MCG Test the very same week. Ken Meuleman’s sole Test ended in eight hours. Dr Bert Hartkopf was a luckier. His Test went for seven days. He made 80, yet still was dropped.
Fifteen Minutes of Fame, Australia’s 70- One Test Wonders, a 284 page hardback, is available now, for $60 including post or $10 as an e-book.
One of the debutants hitch-hiked to the ground, another broke down on match-eve.. but still played...
So gripped by nerves was one that he could hardly feel the ball in his hand. Another was plucked from Twenty-two of Ballarat into an MCG Test the very same week. Ken Meuleman’s sole Test ended in eight hours. Dr Bert Hartkopf was a luckier. His Test went for seven days. He made 80, yet still was dropped.
Fifteen Minutes of Fame, Australia’s 70- One Test Wonders, a 284 page hardback, is available now, for $60 including post or $10 as an e-book.
https://www.cricconnect.com/profile/572/ken-piesse/blog/1044/fifteen-minutes-of-fame-australias-70-one-test-wonders-by-ken-piesse
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Q: Bill Lawry's famed Test and first-class career was over when he shook the hand of president Jack Edwards and agreed to be St Kilda's new captain-coach for three years from 1972-73.
At $3000 per year he was being paid substantially more than he received in a season with Victoria and Australia.
Then 35, Lawry had played the last of his 99 state games with Victoria and his 67 Tests with Australia and was seeking fresh challenges.
"I'd been reluctant to leave Northcote," he said. "I had two young kids and a responsibility to their future. I said to the people at Northcote I didn't know what my future was going to hold. They said: 'We can't offer you any money but we can offer you a VCA delegate's badge'. That helped convince me."
Closer-to-home Carlton was also ready to pounce, but was 24 hours too late. Lawry had already made his commitment.
"It was an honour to go to St Kilda," he said.
At $3000 per year he was being paid substantially more than he received in a season with Victoria and Australia.
Then 35, Lawry had played the last of his 99 state games with Victoria and his 67 Tests with Australia and was seeking fresh challenges.
"I'd been reluctant to leave Northcote," he said. "I had two young kids and a responsibility to their future. I said to the people at Northcote I didn't know what my future was going to hold. They said: 'We can't offer you any money but we can offer you a VCA delegate's badge'. That helped convince me."
Closer-to-home Carlton was also ready to pounce, but was 24 hours too late. Lawry had already made his commitment.
"It was an honour to go to St Kilda," he said.
https://www.cricconnect.com/profile/572/ken-piesse/blog/1705/bill-lawry-joined-st-kilda-cricket-club-in-1972-73-on-3000-a-year
blog post
Bill Lawry's famed Test and first-class career was over when he shook the hand of president Jack Edwards and agreed to be St Kilda's new captain-coach for three years from 1972-73.At $3000 ...
question
Q: I've been hooked on cricket ever since I was 10. Mike Smith’s MCC had arrived in Perth for a stopping-all-stations summer of Ashes cricket, involving all the major capital cities, coast-to-coast. Every second day in the Melbourne Age, Percy Beames would profile a tourist from returning champions like Ken Barrington and Colin Cowdrey through to first-timers David Brown and Jeff Jones. It inspired my lifelong habit of keeping newspaper clippings. Later I was to work with Perc.
The very year I was born, 1955, he broke the biggest story of his career, when the Melbourne Cricket Ground’s pitch was watered mid-Test before ‘the Typhoon’, Frank Tyson decimated Australia with seven for 27. One of Perc’s old footy mates had tipped him off. For 24 hours he’d sat on the story, believing its publication would be detrimental to cricket’s good name.
The very year I was born, 1955, he broke the biggest story of his career, when the Melbourne Cricket Ground’s pitch was watered mid-Test before ‘the Typhoon’, Frank Tyson decimated Australia with seven for 27. One of Perc’s old footy mates had tipped him off. For 24 hours he’d sat on the story, believing its publication would be detrimental to cricket’s good name.
blog post
I've been hooked on cricket ever since I was 10. Mike Smith’s MCC had arrived in Perth for a stopping-all-stations summer of Ashes cricket, involving all the major capital cities, coast-to-coast. ...
question
Q: Even Wisden was aghast, cricket’s bible rating it a ‘bombshell’ – among the biggest in history. Knight-to-be Ian Botham called it ‘illogical, pathetic and diabolical’. Others were less compassionate. An Australian playing for England? Surely not! Melbourne roof tiler Darren Pattinson walked into the breakfast room at England’s Leeds hotel and introduced himself to his captain, Michael Vaughan. They’d never met. He was as stunned as everyone else.
It was match morning at Headingley and Pattinson, 28, was on standby after just five games with Victoria and six with Nottinghamshire.
It was match morning at Headingley and Pattinson, 28, was on standby after just five games with Victoria and six with Nottinghamshire.
https://www.cricconnect.com/profile/572/ken-piesse/blog/1044/fifteen-minutes-of-fame-australias-70-one-test-wonders-by-ken-piesse
blog post
Their fame was fleeting and their stories compelling. Seventy of Australia’s Test cricketers appeared only once. Their journeys will entertain, enlighten and delight – and have been beautifully ...
