Neil Harvey - Peak Years

Peak Years

Harvey started the 1952–53 season without a first-class century in more than 18 months and in three matches ahead of the Tests, suffered two defeats and was still yet to break his drought.

Having failed to score a century in ten Tests and almost three years, the season saw Harvey at his productive best as South Africa, whom he had scored four centuries against three years earlier, toured Australia. On a slow pitch difficult for stroke play, and Harvey scored 109 and 52 in Brisbane where Australia grounded out a victory in the First Test. He top-scored in the first innings and was the second top-score (run out) in the second.

Such was his performance in the series that his scores of 11 and 60 in the Second Test, top-scoring in the second innings, were his worst, as Australia lost their first Test to South Africa for 42 years.

He then top-scored with 190 in the Third Test in Sydney to set up a large first innings lead of 270 and an innings victory. Harvey alone made more than his opponents in the first innings and the innings saw him complete 1000 Test runs against the South Africans in only eight Tests. Harvey made it consecutive centuries in as many matches, with 84 and 116 in Adelaide. Starting with an on-driven boundary off the first ball of the last day's play, Harvey's century took 106 minutes and was the fastest record in the Australia since World War II and the sixth fastest of all time in Australia. With leading pacemen Ray Lindwall and Keith Miller breaking down in the match, Harvey bowled for only the third time in his Test career. He took his first of three wickets at Test level, that of Russell Endean as a depleted Australian attack could not defeat the visitors who finished seven wickets down.

As the series 2–1 in Australia's favour and not yet won, the Fifth Test in Melbourne was a timeless Test. Harvey compiled his third consecutive century and highest Test score of 205 as Australia amassed 520 in the first innings. This put Australia in control of the Test, despite South Africa successfully chasing an unlikely target of 295. Harvey accumulated 834 Test runs at 92.66 in the series. This surpassed Bradman's aggregate of 806 runs in 1931–32 as a series record against South Africa. In ten Tests against South Africa, he had eight centuries, totalling 1494 runs at an average of 106.71.

Harvey totalled 1,659 runs at 63.81 for the season, the second highest tally for a season in Australian history, just 31 runs behind Bradman's record. In the last four matches of the season, he scored 95, 148, 49, 81 and 48 to come within striking distance. In the last match of the season, Western Australian captain Wally Langdon declared early on the last afternoon to allow Harvey another innings so he could break the record. However, Harvey muttered "I wouldn't want to break a record that way" and managed only 13.

In 1953 he became only the third Australian in a quarter of a century to score 2,000 runs on an Ashes tour. Bradman (three times) and Stan McCabe were the others. He made 2,040 at 65.80 and his ten centuries were twice that of the next best in the side.

Harvey started the first-class campaign with an unbeaten 202 against Leicestershire, setting up an innings victory. After reaching 25 in each of the next four innings without converting any starts into a score beyond 66, Harvey rectified this in the two weeks before the Tests started.

He struck 109 against the Minor Counties, 103 against Lancashire, 82 and 137 not out against Sussex and 109 against Hampshire. His 109 against Minor Counties was only nine less than the entire opposition managed in two innings, and he had scored 540 runs in four completed innings in 14 days.

Harvey was not at his best in the five Tests. In the 11 innings leading up to the Tests, Harvey's lowest score was 14, and he had only failed to pass 30 twice. However, in the First Test at Trent Bridge, Harvey had a duck and two and falling twice to Bedser as Australia hung on for a draw in a rain-affected contest. After scoring 69 against Yorkshire, Harvey made 59 and 21 in the Second Test at Lord's, again falling to Bedser in both innings. Some tenacious batting in the second innings saw the hosts save the match with three wickets in hand.

Harvey returned to form by striking 141 against Gloucestershire before taking 3/9, his first three-wicket haul at first-class level, to help Australia take a nine-wicket win. He added a second century in as many innings with 118 in an innings win over Northamptonshire. Harvey then struck 122 in the rain affected Third Test at Manchester; he helped Australia take a 42-run first innings lead, but was out for a duck in the second innings. Australia collapsed to 8/35 and were saved from defeat by the rain, which meant that less than 14 hours of play was possible.

Harvey then returned to Headingley, the venue of his famous innings five years earlier. In a low-scoring match, he top-scored for the entire match with 71 in the first innings as Australia took a 99-run lead. The tourists looked set for victory and retention of The Ashes at the start of the final day, but time-wasting and defiant defence from the English batsmen left Australia a target of 177 in the last two hours. This would have required a scoring rate much higher than in the first four days of the match. Harvey quickly scored 34 at a run a minute, and Australia had made 111 in 75 minutes and were on schedule for a win. At that point, English medium-pacer Trevor Bailey began bowling with the wicket-keeper more than two metres down the leg side in order to deny the Australians an opportunity to hit the ball, but the umpires did not penalise them as wides. The match ended in a draw, and Harvey described Bailey's tactics as "absolutely disgusting". English wicket-keeper Godfrey Evans said that the tourists "were absolutely livid" and he sympathised with them, saying that "they were right" in claiming that Bailey's bowling was "the worst kind of negative cricket" and that he had "cheated of victory".

With the series locked at 0–0, the fate of The Ashes would be determined in the Fifth and final Test at The Oval. In the lead-up, Harvey scored 113 and 180 in consecutive innings against Surrey and Glamorgan, before failing to pass single figures in his next three innings before the deciding match.

Harvey made 36 as Australia made 275 batting first. England then took a 31-run lead and Harvey was out for only one in the second innings as the hosts won the Ashes 1–0 after 19 years in Australian hands. Harvey scored 346 runs at 34.60 for the series; in a low-scoring series, this placed him second behind captain Lindsay Hassett (365 runs at 36.50). Harvey failed to pass 41 in the four first-class matches remaining after the Tests. With the retirement Hassett at the end of the season, Harvey was to bear more responsibility in the batting lineup. In recognition of his performances during the summer, during which he scored 2040 runs at 65.40, he was named as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year. The next highest Australian aggregate and average was 1433 at 51.17 by Miller, and the second most prolific centurymaker was Hassett with five.

Harvey returned to Australia and played in the 1953–54 season, which was purely domestic. He scored 639 runs at 42.60, including a century against New South Wales and four fifties. He had a few near-misses during the season; he scored 97 against Queensland in two matches and made 88 against South Australia.

The 1954–55 season saw England tour Australia, and Harvey scored 98 in three innings in warm-up matches against the visitors. He struck 162 in the First Test in Brisbane after Australia were sent in, helping to compile 8/601 to set up an innings victory. Between Tests, he scored 59 and 34 not out for Victoria against the Englishmen.

This was followed by a low scoring Second Test in Sydney when Australia were 4/77 needing 223 to win on a poor wicket against the lethal pace of Frank Tyson and Brian Statham. The express Tyson was bowling with the help of tailwind and the slips cordon were over 50 m behind the bat. Harvey stood firm while Tyson scattered the stumps of his partners, and he farmed the strike ruthlessly, protecting the tailenders and counter-attacking the England fast bowlers, relying on the cut shot and clipping anything on his pads through the leg side. Schoolboys watching the game leaned over the fence to beckon the boundaries towards them. Last man Bill Johnston came in at 9/145 with 78 runs still required, but protected by Harvey he only had to face 16 balls in 40 minutes and they almost produced an unlikely Australian victory. Harvey continued to attack the bowling, and he hooked Tyson over fine leg's head for four. Together, Harvey and Johnston they had added 39 for the last wicket and halved the runs required. At this point, the Australian pair were confident. Harvey and Johnston felt that Tyson was about to run out of energy, and that their prospects would improve when Hutton would have been forced to change bowlers in the near future. However, it was not enough and England won by 38 runs when Johnston gloved a Tyson delivery down the leg side to the wicket-keeper. Harvey had played what many observers thought was the greatest innings of his life, a defiant, unbeaten 92, exactly half of the Australian innings of 184 in which no other batsmen reached 15.

From there on, Harvey's series was unproductive, failing to pass 31 in the six innings of the final three Tests. Australia's form slumped along with that of Harvey, losing the next two Tests and the series 3–1. Harvey ended with 354 runs at 44.25 for the series. Despite this, he continued to productive in the other first-class matches and was by far the most productive batsman in the 1954–55 Australian season, accumulating 1100 at 47.83 runs ahead of Les Favell's 663. He scored a pair of 62s in a 36-run win over New South Wales, 95 and 66 against Queensland and 82 and 47 in a match for a Tasmania Combined XI against England.

This was followed by a tour in early 1955 to the West Indies, the first by an Australian team. Harvey began with two consecutive centuries, scoring exactly 133 in both the First and Second Tests at Kingston and Port-of-Spain respectively. The matches ended in an innings victory and draw to Australia respectively. In a low scoring match in Georgetown, Harvey scored 38 and 41* as Australia took a 2–0 lead. Another half century in the drawn Fourth Test followed, before Harvey scored the second double century of his career, 204 in the Fifth Test in Kingston in just over seven hours of batting. His 295 run partnership with Colin McDonald was the foundation of a Test total of 8/758, setting up an innings victory for Australia. He totalled 650 runs at 108.33 for the series. For the entire tour, he scored 789 runs at 71.73. After the tour Arthur Morris retired, leaving Harvey as the most experienced batsman of the team. Harvey had also expunged his demons that he experienced against Ramadhin and Valentine in the previous series. Of the spin duo, only Ramadhin was able to dismiss Harvey on one occasion.

The 1955–56 Australian summer was another purely domestic season. Harvey had a successful campaign with 772 runs 55.14. He struck 128 and 76 against a New South Wales team composed mainly of Test players, but Victoria's arch-rivals hung on for a draw with three wickets in hand. He added two further centuries and a 96, and all of these innings came in the span of a month in which he amassed 612 runs.