Mick Harvey (umpire) - Move To Queensland

Move To Queensland

At the time, Queensland were the least successful team in the Sheffield Shield, and Harvey moved north to Brisbane the following season to try to get more opportunities to play Sheffield Shield cricket. Harvey joined the Toombul grade club, and made his first-class debut for Queensland against Victoria late in the season, although none of his brothers played for Victoria in this match; Merv had already retired, Neil was representing Australia, and Ray had been dropped. In his only match for the summer, he scored 1 and 13 and took two catches in each innings as an opener. He was dropped after the match.

In 1950–51, his most prolific first-class season, he hit 490 runs at 37.69 for Queensland. The season started with consecutive matches against a full-strength New South Wales, who had an attack including Lindwall, Miller, Alan Walker and Alan Davidson. In the first match, in Brisbane, Harvey made 40 and 19 batting at No. 7 before being dismissed by Davidson and Lindwall respectively. The visitors won by an innings.

In the return match at the Sydney Cricket Ground, Harvey was promoted to bat at No. 3. He made 38 in the first innings before being dismissed by Walker. Harvey broke through for his maiden first-class century in the second innings, scoring an unbeaten 100. Queensland declared at 4/237 as soon as he reached his milestone, only to see the hosts reach the victory target of 225 with all ten wickets intact.

Harvey played against an international outfit for the first time in the following match against the touring England cricket team, but made only three in his solitary innings. However, he continued to score consistently, making a half-century in each of the next three matches. From the third of these matches—against South Australia—onwards, he generally opened the batting for Queensland. On his first innings back as an opener, he narrowly missed a century, being dismissed for 95 by Geff Noblet. However, it was enough for the Queenslanders to take a 162-run first innings lead in a low-scoring match in which only one team surpassed 240 once, and set up an eight-wicket victory, the only time his state won a match for the season. Harvey’s performance tapered away in the last two matches of the season. He made only 0 and 2 in the last match against Victoria, and 48 runs in his last four innings.

Harvey started the 1951–52 season poorly, scoring 9 and 5 against a full-strength New South Wales team. In the following match, he made 90 in the first innings as Queensland defeated the touring West Indies by ten wickets. Harvey was sidelined for six weeks before returning in late December against Victoria. He struggled in this match and the next against New South Wales, scoring 9, 20, 9 and 3. In the next match, he made 46 in the first innings before managing only five in the second, against South Australia. Nor did Queensland have success in these three matches. They were one wicket away from victory in the first match when time ran out, and lost the other two. Harvey was dropped for the remainder of the season, ending with 196 runs at 21.77.

Harvey was overlooked for Queensland selection for the whole 1952–53 season. He was recalled at the start of the 1953–54 campaign and made 26 and 20 in the first match against New South Wales, failing to convert his starts into big scores. He was retained despite making 15 and 0 in the next match against Victoria, but scored only 1 in the first innings of the match against South Australia starting on Christmas Day. Victoria were set 329 for victory, and having made only 62 runs in five innings for the season so far, he was the mainstay of the innings, scoring 102, but his team were all out for 245.

The century saw Harvey retained in the side and started a productive second half of the season. He made 2 and 58 in the next match starting on New Year’s Day, against New South Wales. Harvey then made 84 in the only innings of a drawn match against Victoria, before scoring 111 in an innings win against Western Australia. It was the first time in over two years that Harvey had played in a victorious Queensland side. He made only 2 in the final match of the season against South Australia to end with 421 runs at 38.27 for the summer.