Bill Brown With The Australian Cricket Team in England in 1948 - Dropped

Dropped

Brown was rested for the following match against Gloucestershire before the Third Test. Loxton scored 159 not out, featuring in two century partnerships and propelling Australia to 7/774 declared, which was its highest score of the tour and laid the foundation for an innings victory. Loxton’s effort was enough to oust Brown from his middle-order position for the Third Test at Old Trafford. According to O’Reilly, Brown had appeared out of place in the middle-order because he was used to the opener’s classical role of defending against and wearing down the opening bowlers, rather than attacking. During the Test, which was drawn, Barnes was injured and off spinner Ian Johnson was used as a makeshift opener as Morris was the only specialist left after Brown’s omission. Afterwards, Brown managed only eight as Australia defeated Middlesex by ten wickets in their only county match between Tests.

Barnes was still unavailable for the Fourth Test, but Brown was not recalled to open with Morris; instead, Hassett was promoted to open with Morris, while the teenaged Harvey came into the middle-order. Although Hassett failed with only 13 and 17 in his two innings, Harvey struck 112 in the first innings, before Australia chased down 404 on the final day to set a world record for the highest successful run-chase in Test cricket and won by seven wickets.

Brown partnered the recovered Barnes and patiently scored 140, before being the fifth man out with the score at 344, as Australia amassed 456 and defeated Derbyshire by an innings immediately after the Fourth Test. Looking to regain his Test position by sheer weight of runs, Brown started slowly; Barnes made 24 of the first 29 runs. He took 185 minutes to reach 50, much to the displeasure of the restless spectators, before accelerating and scoring his next 50 runs in 37 minutes.

In the next match against Glamorgan, Brown scored 16 in a rain-affected draw that did not reach the second innings. He scored 33 and seven in the following match, falling both times to the leg spin of Eric Hollies as Australia defeated Warwickshire by nine wickets. Brown was then rested as Australia faced and drew with Lancashire for the second time on the tour. He returned for the non-first-class match against Durham, scoring 49 out of Australia's 282 in a weather-affected draw that failed to reach the second innings. Brown was overlooked for selection in the Fifth Test at The Oval. Barnes returned to the team and Australia crushed England by an innings and 149 runs to take the series 4–0 after cutting them down for only 52 in the first innings.