Sam Loxton - Cricket Administration

Cricket Administration

Loxton continued to involve himself in cricket administration after his retirement as a player. He was a Victorian selector from 1957 to 1980–81 and the Prahran delegate to the Victorian Cricket Association (VCA) from 1955–56 to 1979–80. Loxton was Prahran's vice president and was involved in coaching and selecting teams, and his service to the club was honoured with life membership. He served as a MCG trustee from 1962 to 1982. The Victorian was appointed as the manager for Australia's tour of India in 1969–70 but had to withdraw due to a clash of commitments. In his absence, the campaign hit rocky waters. Although Australia won 3–1, the players became disgruntled with the arrangements made by the administrators, while rancorous incidents leading to crowd riots were frequent.

He was a Test selector for the Australian team from 1970 to 1981, filling the vacancy left by the retirement of former Test captain Ryder. Loxton's tenure on the selection panel coincided with a period of great upheaval in Australian cricket, on and off the field. Up until 1965, Australia had never lost a Test series to any country other than England, and their bilateral contests were regarded as the de facto world championship. However, in the next five years, Australia lost away to the West Indies 2–1, and to South Africa twice, 3–1 and 4–0 respectively. The former all-rounder became a selector after the whitewash in South Africa, joining Bradman and Harvey on the panel. During the 1970–71 home series against England, which Australia lost 2–1, the trio made a raft of changes, handing debuts to nine players, the largest number in a season since 1945–46 when competition resumed after World War II. One of the new players that Harvey and Loxton recommended to Bradman was Dennis Lillee, who went on to become one of Australia's greatest fast bowlers and the world’s leading wicket-taker. However, the season ended acrimoniously when captain Bill Lawry was sacked before the final Test without being informed of his fate; he only learned of his omission second hand.

In 1977, Loxton helped to select David Hookes to make his debut in the Centenary Test, after receiving a recommendation from Bradman, who had retired from the panel. Hookes famously struck five consecutive fours in one Tony Greig over in an Australian win. The later period of Loxton's tenure was thrown into chaos when most of the leading players abandoned the existing establishment to sign contracts with the breakaway World Series Cricket—which offered substantially more remuneration—meaning that an almost-entirely new team had to be cobbled together; the 42-year-old Bob Simpson was brought out of a decade of retirement to lead the outfit. During this time, Australia's depleted team suffered many heavy defeats.

During the 1970s, Loxton also became more disillusioned with cricket, as player behaviour deteriorated and incidences of verbal hostility and altercations increased. The former all-rounder was known for his vigorous advocacy of the more sedate and gentlemanly conduct that existed during his playing days and felt that he and his fellow administrators were losing control of the sport.

In February 1981, matters came to a head. Loxton, who was watching a one-day international between Australia and New Zealand at the MCG in his role as a selector, broke down and wept after Australian captain Greg Chappell infamously ordered his younger brother Trevor to exploit a loophole and bowl underarm to eliminate the chance of a defeat. Loxton saw the Australian skipper's action as a "betrayal" of cricket. He turned to a fellow official and remarked "The game's gone! Money has become the god and winning is everything."

At a VCA meeting in April 1981, Loxton announced that he was severing all connections with organised cricket. He initially said that he was resigning for family reasons, as he would be moving to the Gold Coast in Queensland with his wife. However, he proceeded to give a blunt 15-minute speech, claiming that he had lost the art of communicating with the players and expressing his disenchantment with some aspects of the game, a reference to the declining player conduct. After relocating to the Gold Coast, he was unable to turn his back on cricket, and umpired matches at local level into his 70s. Although he became severely visually impaired, Loxton still attended matches and asked his companions to describe the proceedings for him; ever opinionated and blunt, he still offered advice to local cricketers.