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Alan Keith Davidson, AM, MBE (1929–2021)
Member of The Willows (1994–2021)
Alan Davidson, who passed away last year aged 92, was a truly great left arm opening bowler – as shown by his test record of 186 wickets at just 20.58. Since WW2 only three bowlers with over 50 test wickets have had a lower average. But Davidson was also a high class all rounder – a powerful left hand hitter batting anywhere from 6-10 for Australia and scorer of nine centuries in 1st class cricket, while his fielding was so good that he soon earned the nickname "The Claw".
Davidson made his debut for NSW in 1949 and promptly captured 4-32 in his first outing. The next year he was picked for an Australian "B" team to tour NZ in 1950. Davidson promptly announced himself to the cricketing World in spectacular fashion in a non first class match, by taking 10-29 v Wairarapa at Masterton and then scoring 157*. However such was Australia’s strength in pace bowling at the time, headed by the famed Lind-wall and Miller combination, that Davidson had to wait until 1953 to make his test debut.
So for the first five years of his test career he was somewhat of a spare part. In his 1st three Ashes series, which Australia lost, he played only 10 of the 15 tests and took just 13 wickets. At times he was even used as a spin bowler and he chimed in with some useful runs, although sometimes, seemingly, only his brilliant fielding kept him in the side. But then in South Africa in 1957-58, with other leading pace bowlers either retired or in-jured, Davidson became first choice to take the new ball and success followed. He captured 25 wickets in the tests and scored four centuries on the tour.
In his next three Ashes series, with Australia winning the Ashes back and then retaining them, he captured a total of 71 wickets at 21.24 (and also scored 480 runs at 32.60). And he reached his peak in the famous test series against the West Indies in 1960-61, when in the 1st test, the tied test at the Gabba, he took 11 wickets, plus scored 44 & 80 (after coming in at 5-57). In just four tests in this series (he was injured for the other one) he took 33 wickets.
He was a key figure in his final two Ashes series, firstly in England in 1961 when Australia won 2-1, and in Aus-tralia, in 1962-63, in a drawn series 1-1. In the latter series he topped the bowling averages and aggregates for both teams. So at the end of this series he retired at the top, then had a long and distinguished career as a cricket administrator. Alan Davidson, always a most personable player, was both a great cricketer and a great man of cricket.