Ray Lindwall - Transfer To Queensland

Transfer To Queensland

In November 1953, Lindwall was given employment in Brisbane for the bus company Cobb and Co., but continued to play for New South Wales for the remainder of the 1953–54 season before being dropped for the final match of the domestic season. The move generated criticism from the cricketing community who felt that Lindwall's service merited a more dignified farewell. Lindwall had a mediocre season by his standards, taking only 22 wickets at 30.14. His batting was even more ineffective, scoring only 14 runs in six innings. Such performances led to media speculation that Lindwall was in decline. Lindwall began his career for Queensland at the start of the 1954–55 season and did well enough to retain his place for the First Test of England's Ashes tour. In front of his adopted home crowd, Lindwall returned to form with the bat, scoring an unbeaten 64 as Australia amassed 8/601 after being sent in by Hutton. Lindwall compounded Hutton's match by removing him for four and finished with 3/27 as England were skittled for 190 and forced to follow on. He took two further wickets as England fell to an innings victory. After the match, English paceman Frank Tyson asked Lindwall for advice on how to bowl a more effective bouncer. Lindwall promised that he would show Tyson on their next meeting, which happened to be the Second Test in Sydney. Lindwall bowled Tyson in the first innings and in the second innings, Lindwall gave him a bouncer which skidded towards Tyson's throat. Tyson turned his head and was hit the back of the skull, His batting partner Bill Edrich shouting "My God, Lindy, you've killed him!". Tyson was taken to hospital for X-rays and was bowled upon his return by Lindwall. He later said "thanks so much for showing me the bouncer". Lindwall took five wickets for the match but Tyson returned to win the low scoring match for England. Lindwall struggled in the Third Test while carrying a leg strain and a bout of hepatitis, taking only 1/111 for the match as England won again. He then pulled a muscle in the Sheffield Shield match and was sidelined as England sealed the series with a third consecutive win. Lindwall returned for the Fifth Test and dismissed Hutton early, before ending with 3/77. The third of his wickets was Bailey, giving Lindwall his 100th wicket in Ashes Tests. England amassed their highest total of the series but Australia managed to hang on for a draw after being forced to follow on. Lindwall ended with 14 wickets at 27.21 for the season, which was below his usual standards as Australia were convincingly defeated 3–1. The critics called for sweeping changes to the team. O'Reilly, Lindwall's mentor, was now a journalist and called for new selectors, claiming that Australia was at its worst for four decades.

Lindwall had no intentions to retire. He continued onto the early 1955 tour of the West Indies, the first by an Australian team to the Caribbean. Lindwall was determined to enjoy himself, having recovered from his recent illness. By day, he and Miller battled with the three W's but at night they socialised. However, Lindwall needed respite and dietary discipline in order to completely ward off his hepatitis. He was no longer the reveller that Miller once knew. After Australia had made 9/515, Lindwall took a match total of 6/124, as the hosts were forced to follow on in the First Test at Sabina Park in Kingston, Jamaica. Australia went on to win by nine wickets. The team's travelled to Queen's Park in Trinidad for the Second Test, where the West Indies batted first and made 382. This time Lindwall bowled a long spell of 24.5 overs, and eventually prized out six of the West Indians for the cost of 95 runs. The culmination of this was a spell of 4/16. Australia replied with 9/600, with Lindwall contributing an unbeaten 37 with the bat. Lindwall's match soured in the second innings when he broke down with an achilles tendon problem as the match ended in a draw. Lindwall recovered for the start of the Third Test at Bourda in Georgetown, Guyana. Lindwall had a quiet time in a spin dominated game, taking two wickets in an eight-wicket Australian victory. Australia won the toss and batted in the Fourth Test at Bridgetown, Barbados. Australia had already reached 6/439 when Lindwall came to the crease. In a highly aggressive innings, he reached his fifty in 69 minutes and was unbeaten on 80 at stumps. The next morning, he went on the make his second Test century, scoring 118 with two sixes and 16 fours. It was his second century at Test level, eight years after his first, but showed the same counter-attacking aggression. Lindwall had another quiet match with two wickets in another high scoring draw with both teams amassing more than 500 in the first innings. Lindwall finished the series with four wickets in the Fifth Test in Jamaica as Australia completed a 3–0 series win with another innings triumph. In a high scoring series, Lindwall had taken 20 wicket at 31.85 while also scoring 187 runs at 37.40, a strong all round performance.

Lindwall performed steadily during the 1955–56, which was purely domestic. Lindwall was appointed the Queensland captain, and he took 30 wickets at 28.97 and made 383 runs at 32.55. Lindwall was duly selected for the 1956 Ashes tour. Like the rest of the team, Lindwall had a poor tour on a series of dry and underprepared pitches designed to favour the Surrey spin twins of Laker and Lock. Lindwall's tour was further compounded by a recurrence of his groin injury. He took 0/43 in the first innings of the opening Test at Trent Bridge and broke down, being unable to bowl in the second innings. This forced him to miss the Second Test at Lord's, and he returned for a disastrous Third Test at Headingley. Although Lindwall took 3/67 in the first innings, Australia was forced to follow on and fell to its first innings loss since 1938, as Laker and Lock ravaged the Australians. Lindwall took two wickets in the Fourth Test at Old Trafford but the results were the same; Australia suffered another innings defeat in what was known as "Laker's Test" – the off-spinner took 19 of the Australian wickets to fall. Lindwall bade farewell to Test cricket in England at The Oval, taking two wickets. Overall, it had been a disappointing tour; Lindwall had been fit for three and a half Tests and managed only seven wickets at 34.14 Lindwall's performance reignited calls for the aging paceman to be axed from the team. Lindwall however, had other ideas.

Following the England tour, the Australians returned home via a tour to the Indian subcontinent. The first stop was Karachi, where Australia played its first ever Test against Pakistan. Lindwall's poor run continued, scoring two and a duck and taking match figures of 1/64 as Australia fell to a nine wicket defeat. The team travelled to Madras for the first of three Tests in India. Lindwall briefly bowled on the first morning without success before succumbing to a severe stomach bug. He took no further part in the first innings and spent the next two days in bed. Lindwall briefly got out of his bed on day three to bat, making only eight as Australia took a 158 run first innings lead. He hauled himself out of bed on the fourth day, and cut through the Indians in three spells, taking 7/43 in an innings victory.

The Second Test in Bombay was the only time that Lindwall was to captain Australia in a Test match. Captain Johnson and his deputy Miller were both injured, leaving the bowling depleted. Ron Archer was injured and unavailable as Australia bowled first in extremely hot conditions. The situation worsened throughout the match as pacemen Alan Davidson and Pat Crawford were hindered by stomach bugs and hip strains respectively during the game. Leg spinner Richie Benaud could not bowl for part of the match after being affected by a fever and left arm orthodox spinner John Wilson pulled a muscle midway through his debut. This left Lindwall and batting all rounder Ken Mackay as the only fully fit bowling options. Australia bowled out India for 251, before a strong batting effort led by Neil Harvey and Jim Burke, both of whom made centuries, saw Australia make 7/523. Lindwall contributed a hard-hitting unbeaten 48 at the end. Australia's depleted bowling told in the home side's second innings, as the visitors were only able to prise out five wickets and match ended in a draw, with Indian captain Polly Umrigar batting for six hours for a defiant 78. Lindwall finished the tour with scores of eight and 28 in the Third Test in Madras. In a low scoring match in which all four innings finished under 190, Lindwall took match figures of 3/41 in a 94 run victory. It was a successful series for Lindwall, taking 12 wickets at 16.58 and scoring 92 runs at 30.66.