Harvey Brothers - First-class Team-mates

First-class Team-mates

Although the four brothers all played for Victoria, there was not a great deal of overlap in their careers at first-class level, due to a combination of age, interstate moves, international duty and omissions from the team. The most Harveys in one first-class team occurred twice in 1947–48, when Merv, Ray and Neil all played for Victoria in successive Shield matches.

The first time that more than one of the brothers played for Victoria together came in 1946–47, after Neil was selected to play for the state against Tasmania. At the time, a second-string team was used to play Tasmania—who were not in the Sheffield Shield—in two first-class matches, while the strongest team played in the regular interstate competition. Neil struck a century in the second match against Tasmania, and was called into the Victorian team to play against New South Wales in a Sheffield Shield match at the SCG, and he played alongside Merv for their state’s three remaining matches of the season. However, the brothers never batted together in these three matches. Merv opened the batting and was always out before Neil came in, usually at No. 6 upon the fall of the fourth wicket. Merv captained at first-class level for the first time in the last match, a draw against South Australia that was severely shortened by rain.

Neil and Merv retained their positions for Victoria’s first two matches of the 1947–48 season, against India and South Australia respectively. Again, Merv was out before Neil came in, so they did not bat together. The brotherly selection pairing was broken up for Victoria’s next match, as Neil was rewarded with selection for an Australian XI for a Test trial match against the Indians, while Merv continued to represent the state. Neil returned to the Victorian team for the match against New South Wales at the SCG the following week, and Ray was selected to make his first-class debut, so three Harveys were in the state team for the first time. Merv opened, while Neil and Ray batted at Nos. 4 and 7 respectively. Victoria batted first and the brothers again did not form any partnerships. Merv opened and made 45 before being dismissed at 2/99, prompting Neil’s entrance to replace him at the crease. Neil then top-scored with 61 before falling at 4/200, and Ray then came in at 5/208 to make 43. Victoria ended with 331 and the Harvey brothers had scored almost half the runs. New South Wales were forced to follow on, and Victoria were set 51 for victory. After the fall of Fred Freer at 1/24, captain Lindsay Hassett elevated Ray to No. 3, allowing two Harveys to bat together for the first time at first-class level. Ray and Merv put on an unbeaten partnership of 27 to take Victoria to a nine-wicket win. Merv and Ray ended unbeaten on 12 and 22 respectively.

The trio then proceeded to play together in the next match against Western Australia two weeks later and Merv captained the team as Hassett was away on Test duty. Victoria batted first and Neil came in to join Merv with the score at 2/102, and the pair added 173 together before Neil fell for 94. One run later, Merv was out for 141; later, Ray made only 1. Victoria ended on 370 and Western Australia took a 59-run lead. In the second innings, Merv, Neil and Ray made 6, 41 and 15 respectively, never batting together as the match was drawn after Merv declared the innings at 9/304, setting Western Australia a target of 246 for victory. The hosts reached 5/205 and Victoria avoided defeat.

After this match, Neil was called into the Australian Test team, so only Ray and Merv played in Victoria's next match against New South Wales. Merv—again captaining the side—made a duck and was out before Ray came in, in Victoria's only innings of the match and was not selected for the remainder of the season. After this, Ray and Neil played together for Victoria on two occasions in the second half of the season when the latter did not have a match for Australia. In the first match, against New South Wales, the two batted in partnership for the first time for their state. Ray came in at 5/53 to join Neil and he fell for 9 to leave the score at 6/64 as Victoria collapsed to be all out for 130. In the second innings, Ray joined Neil with the score at 5/266 and the latter fell at 6/292, ending a 26-run partnership. The pair did not bat together in the second match against South Australia as Neil was out before Ray came in on both occasions. The 1947–48 was the most productive for the Harveys as a combination for Victoria until Ray played a full season in 1953–54 together with Neil.

In 1948–49, Ray, who had made only 190 runs at an average of 21.11 in his debut season, was not selected for a single match, while Merv’s only first-class outings were two matches for a second-choice team against Tasmania while the leading players were participating in Shield fixtures at the same time. Mick was selected as an opener for Victoria’s first three Shield matches, and played with Neil in these matches. However, he struggled and made only 91 runs at 15.16 and was then dropped. In six innings, the two brothers batted together only twice, even though they batted in successive batting positions; Mick’s poor form meant that he was usually the first batsman out, bringing his younger brother to the crease. In the first match of the season, against Queensland, Mick was the first wicket to fall on each occasion. In the second match, the brothers shared partnerships. In the first innings, Neil came in at 1/8 and the Harveys put on 39 runs before Merv was out. The second innings proceeded similarly as Neil came in at 1/31 and 40 runs were added before the older Harvey fell. In the third match of the season, Mick was out for 4 and 12 before Neil came in and was subsequently dropped.

In 1949–50, none of the Harveys played together at first-class level; Merv had retired, Mick had moved to Queensland looking for more opportunities, while Neil was in South Africa with the Australian team. Ray and Mick played in one match each for the season, but not against the other. In 1950–51, Ray was selected in two matches for Victoria, both when Neil and the other Test players were competing against England. Both of these were against Tasmania, so he did not meet Mick. However, there were no international fixtures coinciding with Victoria’s two matches with Queensland, and Neil met Mick in both of these matches. In 1951–52, Ray was able to gain selection more regularly for Victoria. All of these came when Neil and the other Test players were playing for Australia; when they available for Victoria, Ray was not selected. Ray played in both of Victoria’s matches against Queensland, for whom Mick played in the first match.

In 1952–53 Ray only managed selection in the last three matches of the season, and played alongside Neil in the last two fixtures, against South Africa and Western Australia. The brothers had previously had little success in partnerships together for Victoria and in the match against South Africa, Neil came in to join Ray—who was playing as an opener—with the score at 2/21. The pair put on 96 runs. The Victorians drew the match and the brothers did not bat together in the second innings. In the match against South Australia, Neil joined his brother at 1/118 and the Harveys again narrowly missed a century partnership, as Ray fell at 2/211 for 121. Later, Neil was out for 95, missing out on another milestone. Mick was not selected for his adopted state in any fixture for the entire season and did not meet his brothers.

In 1953–54, Ray had his most effective season and played in all seven of Victoria’s Shield matches, even though there were no Test matches for the summer, meaning that all the national team members were available for state selection for the whole season. He played the entire season alongside Neil, and the pair encountered Mick in both matches against Queensland. During the summer, Neil typically batted at No. 3, and Ray usually succeeded him. Despite this, they batted together only four times in 13 innings, as Neil was usually out first. Their first partnership came in the first innings of the second match of the season, against New South Wales. It was brief; Ray came in at 2/93 and scored two runs before falling at 3/97. They then batted together on New Year's Day in the first innings of the next match against South Australia. Ray came in to join Neil after the Victorians had slumped to be 2/5, and after twice coming close to century partnerships for their state in the past, the brothers put on 150 before Neil was out for 88 to leave the score at 3/165. Ray went on to make 110. In the following match against Queensland, Ray came in with the score at 2/65 and put on 82 with his brother before he was out for 50. Their only other partnership of the season amounted to 36 runs in the second innings of the return match against New South Wales; Neil was out for 47 as Ray guided the Victorians to their target with five wickets in hand, scoring 106 not out himself. Ray and Neil were also selected for the testimonial match for retiring Australian captain Lindsay Hassett. Neil played for Hassett’s XI while Ray was on the opposition team captained by Arthur Morris.

At the start of the 1954–55 season, along with Neil, Ray was called into an Australian XI for a Test trial against Len Hutton’s touring English team, the closest that two Harveys came to playing in a Test for Australia together. Ray did not make an impact in the match, scoring only seven in his solitary innings, and was not selected for Australian duty. He came in at No. 4 after the dismissal of his brother. Ray was selected for all six of Victoria’s matches and played in all of these matches alongside Neil, as the domestic season was shortened and there were no scheduling clashes between the Tests and the domestic matches. Mick also played in all of Queensland’s matches, and three brothers met in their states’ only meeting for the season. Ray and Neil did not bat together in the first match, before adding 24 for the second wicket in the second innings of the following match against England. They did not bat together in the third match of the season, against New South Wales, as Ray, who was batting one position ahead of Neil, was out first in both innings. In the return match that followed, the brothers had brief partnerships of two and ten runs, Ray being dismissed soon after Neil joined him at the crease. These brief stands continued in the first innings of the match against Queensland, as Ray fell after a six-run partnership. In the second innings, the pair narrowly missed out on a century partnerhip. Neil came in at 1/17 to join Ray, who was opening in the match, and they took the score to 1/117 before Neil was out for 66. In the final match of the season against the MCC, Ray was the first wicket to fall in the innings and he did not bat with Neil.

In 1955–56, Ray was overlooked and spent four years out of first-class cricket, and he never played alongside Neil again at first-class level. Neil played in all of Victoria’s matches, and Mick played in Queensland’s first six matches before being dropped for the second and final match against Victoria. In 1956–57, Mick played in two matches for Queensland earlier in the season before being dropped and retiring; neither were against Victoria, so none of the brothers played together in one match.

Ray was recalled to the Victorian team in the latter half of the 1958–59 season. By this time, Neil had moved to New South Wales for employment reasons, and played each other late in the season. The Harvey brothers never played together or against one another again at first-class level. In 1959–60, Neil was in the Indian subcontinent representing Australia as Ray played his final first-class season before retiring.