Lindsay Hassett - War Years and The Services Team

War Years and The Services Team

See also: Australian Services cricket team and Victory Tests

On 23 September 1940, Hassett enlisted in the Second Australian Imperial Force (AIF); despite his enlistment he remained active in cricket and played four first-class matches in the following 1940–41 season, scoring 384 runs at 54.86 including a century against South Australia, before his posting to the Middle East in early-1941. As a member of the 2/2nd Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment, attached to the Australian 7th Division, he was stationed at Haifa in the British Mandate of Palestine (now Israel). During his time in the army, Hassett became popular among his colleagues because of his "blithe spirit". He was offered a commission as an officer, but declined. Hassett maintained his connection to cricket by captaining an AIF team against service teams from other Empire countries serving in the region, playing matches in Egypt and Palestine. Following the outbreak of war in the Pacific, the Australian 6th and 7th Divisions were recalled to Australia. He married during his brief return to Melbourne in May 1942, before his unit was deployed to Port Moresby in New Guinea to fight against Imperial Japan.

In 1945, with the cessation of hostilities in Europe, Hassett was selected to lead the Australian Services cricket team on a tour of England. Officially a military unit, the team's commanding officer was Squadron Leader Stan Sismey of the Royal Australian Air Force, although Hassett was the on-field captain. They went on to play 64 matches in nine months of cricket in four countries. The focal point of the campaign was a series of matches against England known as the "Victory Tests", which began in May. Australian cricket administrators would not accredit the three-day matches as official Test matches, arguing that there were not enough Test-level players among the servicemen; Hassett was the only player who had Test experience, and only nine others had played first-class cricket. As a result, Australia were not expected to be able to seriously challenge the hosts, who had many of their pre-war Test players.

The Victory Tests were expected to usher in a new post-war era, which it hoped would be more aggressive and attractive. The last Anglo-Australian Test series before the war had featured a large number of draws due to defensive play. Australia unexpectedly drew the series 2–2, and Hassett wrote at the end of the series that "This is cricket as it should be ... These games have shown that international cricket can be played as between real friends—so let's have no more talk of "war" in cricket". The series was regarded as an outstanding success, with a total attendance of 367,000 watching the bright and attacking play. In the five Victory Tests, Hassett made 277 runs at 27.70, including two fifties. The Services and Australian Imperial Force teams played separate matches in England during the season, which lasted until September, although only one other Services match was given first-class status. Hassett scored three centuries in matches for the Services.

Due to the unexpectedly strong success of the Victory Tests, the government of Australia ordered the team to delay their demobilisation. With the team raising so much money for war charities, the government directed them to travel home via India and Ceylon for further fundraising matches for the Red Cross.

Hassett enjoyed greater success on the Services tour of India, although the Australians had little to celebrate as a team. It was a tougher proposition for Hassett’s men, as all but one of the nine matches were against first-class opposition, and many of the players regarded the local umpires as being deliberately biased in favour of the home teams. After arriving in October, conflict hit the team after a series of ineffective displays. The team, mostly made up of RAAF personnel, had been ill with food poisoning and dysentery, and travelled across the Indian subcontinent via long and bumpy train journeys for the first month. The airmen wanted to travel by air, and tried to ask Hassett and manager Keith Johnson for air travel. When this was refused, they threatened to abandon the tour or replace infantryman Hassett with either Keith Carmody or Keith Miller—who were RAAF fighter pilots—if their wish was not granted. With incumbent Australian captain Bradman likely to miss the upcoming tour of New Zealand, the Services leader would be one of the frontrunners for the national captaincy. Miller refused to plot against Hassett and the dispute ended when Sismey arranged for a RAAF plane already in India to transport the team; after a month in India, their first flight came in late November.

In the opening match of the tour, a draw against North Zone, Hassett made 73. In a high-scoring match in hot conditions against the Prince's XI in Delhi, he struck 187 and 124 not out in Australia's 8/424 declared and 5/304. The team was scheduled to play East Zone in Calcutta, but the city was gripped in deadly riots as independence activists agitated against British rule. Australia batted first and made only 107, before East Zone replied with 131. Led by Hassett's 125, Australia posted 304 to leave the hosts a target of 281. On the final day, pro-independence rioters broke through the security presence and invaded the pitch for the second time during the match, while East Zone were batting. East Zone batsman Denis Compton told the rioters to talk to Hassett, saying that the Australian skipper controlled proceedings. Hassett smiled at the leader of the irate demonstrators and asked "You wouldn't happen to have a cigarette, would you, old boy?" The rioters calmed down and play resumed.

Australia struggled in the three representative matches against India. Hassett made 53 in the first match in Mumbai, and although the Australians took a 192-run first innings lead, the hosts managed to hold on for a draw. The second match in Calcutta was an evenly-contested draw, before India won the deciding match. Hassett top-scored with 143 in Australia’s 339, but the hosts took a first innings lead of 186 to set up a six-wicket win. Hassett ended with 235 runs at 47.00 in the three international matches, but did not taste victory in any of his seven matches on Indian soil. He scored 57 as Australia defeated Ceylon by an innings in Colombo before returning to Australia mid December. As time had passed, the players had become increasingly tired by the long campaign, and morale began to drop as waited for their return to their families and civilian life.