Neil Harvey - Senior Player and Vice Captaincy

Senior Player and Vice Captaincy

As expected, the Australian team's leaders Ian Johnson and Keith Miller, retired from cricket after the tour. Harvey replaced Johnson as Victorian captain and was the logical choice as successor to the Test captaincy, as the most experienced member of the team (48 Tests). Queensland's captain, the veteran paceman Ray Lindwall, was no longer an automatic Test selection. However, both Harvey and Benaud had been criticised for their attitude towards Johnson in an official report to the board about the 1956 tour. Harvey was surprisingly overlooked for the captaincy, which went to Ian Craig, who had replaced Miller as New South Wales skipper. Craig was only 22 and had played six Tests; he had yet to establish himself in the team. After several disappointing results against England, the selectors chose a youthful team. Harvey was named vice-captain to Craig for both the 1956–57 non-Test tour of New Zealand and the 1957–58 Test tour to South Africa.

Australia's two new leaders featured in a dramatic game during the season—the first tied match in Sheffield Shield history, played at the Junction Oval in Melbourne. New South Wales, chasing 161 to win, slumped to 7/70 when Craig (suffering tonsillitis) defied medical orders, left his hospital bed, and came out to bat. A partnership of 75 with Richie Benaud took them to within 16 runs of victory, but another collapse left the scores tied.

The day after the captaincy announcement, the Harvey-led Victorians met Craig's New South Welshmen at the SCG in the last match of the Shield season. Harvey admitted to being irked by the board's snub and felt that it was because of his blunt nature. The men were cordial at the toss and Craig sent the Victorians in to bat. At the same time, Victorian batsman Colin McDonald hit a ball into his face and broke his nose while practicing, as Harvey and Craig went out to toss. Harvey asked for a gentleman's agreement to allow a substitute for McDonald. Craig refused, citing the importance of the match. This evoked a rare angry response from Harvey, according to Benaud. Playing with ten men, Benaud said that Harvey "proceeded, with a certain amount of anger, to play one of the best innings I have seen in Sheffield Shield". He made 209 and later forced New South Wales to follow-on. In the end the match was drawn and Harvey was unable to deny New South Wales the title. Harvey said that his first double century for Victoria "gave me as much pleasure as any innings I had ever played". He finished his only season as Victorian captain by leading the Shield averages with 836 runs at 104.50.

His other substantial scores were 108 (more than half the team total) and 53 in an innings loss to Queensland, 125 and 66 not out in a win over against South Australia and 115 in the return match against Queensland. In a selection trial, he led Harvey's XI to a seven-wicket win over Lindwall's XI, scoring 31 and 61 not out.

The New Zealand tour was regarded as a test of Craig as a leader. Wicket-keeper Barry Jarman said that Craig "had to do it himself...Iwasn't so dumb that I couldn't see the senior players didn't give him much support". The senior players resented his surprise selection as captain, but he gained favour by defying a management-imposed curfew, which was later scrapped.

Harvey was unable to maintain his from the Australian season after crossing the Tasman to face the New Zealanders. He scored 129 runs at 25.80, including an 84, as Australia won the third and final match to take the series 1–0. Outside the international matches, Harvey was productive, and he totalled 460 runs at 46.00 for the tour.

Some players remained resentful of Craig's dubious elevation ahead of Harvey during the 1957–58 tour of South Africa but appreciated that he had not promoted himself and that he was fair and open to input from teammates. On the tour, Harvey broke a finger at catching practice and missed the early tour matches. After it healed, Harvey returned for a match against a South African XI, in a virtual dress rehearsal for the Tests. He scored 173 as the tourists crushed their hosts by an innings.

However, he broke the same finger again and missed the First Test, ending a run of 48 consecutive Test matches. He returned for the remaining Tests and scored 68 in the Third Test to help to force a draw, after Australia had conceded a 221-run first innings lead, but apart from that he had a disappointing series, failing to pass 25 and finishing with 131 runs at 21.83.

Despite the disagreement as to whether Craig was deserving of the captaincy, the team proceeded smoothly without infighting. Prior to the Fifth Test, Craig wanted to drop himself due to poor form, which would have made Harvey captain. Peter Burge, the third member of the selection panel and a Harvey supporter, was comfortable with this, but Harvey relinquished his opportunity to seize the leadership by ordering Burge to retain Craig. When the vote was formally taken, Harvey and Burge outvoted Craig, who was still offering to drop himself.

The Tests aside, Harvey continued to score regularly in the other games, and ended with 759 first-class runs at 50.60, with two centuries and five fifties. The team under Craig and Harvey, labelled the worst to leave Australian shores, went home 3–0 victors in the five Test series.