Alan Davidson (cricketer) - Farewell and Legacy

Farewell and Legacy

At the start of the season, Davidson announced that the 1962-63 Ashes series against England was to be his last in the international arena, citing family and business reasons for his retirement. He started the season with half-centuries in the three consecutive innings ahead of the Tests. The third of these was in a state match that resulted in an innings victory over England.

However, he started the Tests slowly, failing to take a wicket in the first innings of the First Test at Brisbane before securing 3/43 in the second as the match was drawn. He removed Barrington, Pullar and David Sheppard. However he returned to form with 96 and 4/80 against South Australia, and then added a milestone to his first-class career with a hat-trick against Western Australia in Perth. Having taken a wicket with the first ball of the innings, Davidson proceeded to bowl both Barry Shepherd and John Parker before Russell Waugh was caught by Norm O'Neill in the first innings. He ended with 5/40 and took 2/32 in the second innings as the visitors completed an innings victory.

In the Second Test at Melbourne, Davidson made 40 in Australia's first innings of 316. and then captured 6/75 to restrict England's lead to 15. Australia then 248 with Davidson contributing 17, but he went wicketless in the second innings as England successfully reached their target with seven wickets in hand to take a 1–0 series lead. Australia's victory in the Third Test at Sydney, was Davidson's first Test victory on his home ground, and he made a major contribution with bowling figures of 4/54 and 5/25; the latter effort included the wickets of Pullar, Sheppard and Dexter to precipitate a collapse that saw England all out for 104. This left Australia with a victory target of only 65, which was reached just before the beginning of a heavy thunderstorm that would have caused the remainder of the match to be abandoned, thus saving England from defeat.

Davidson struck 46 runs in the first innings of the Fourth Test in Adelaide, then tore his hamstring muscle after bowling only 3.4 overs. Australia, with a bowler short, was unable to force a win without him. The Fifth Test was on his home ground at Sydney with the series locked 1–1. He captured 3/43 and 3/80, taking a wicket with his final ball in Test cricket when Alan Smith was caught at slip by Bob Simpson. This left Australia with a target of 241 in 60 overs, but there was to be no fairytale finish as the match ended in a draw.

The Ashes series was the only one of seven series that Australia failed to win since Davidson became the team's frontline strike bowler in 1957–58. Of the 33 Tests in this period, Australia won 16, lost four, drew 12 and tied one. Davidson missed one of the drawn games through injury and broke down mid-match in another two. In the five years that he and Benaud led Australia's bowling attack, the pair totalled 333 wickets; Davidson 170 at 19.25 and Benaud 163 at 25, and were a major part in Australia's return to the forefront of world cricket. This came after the first four years of Davidson's career saw Australia win none and lose seven matches out of twelve. Often bowling in tandem, Davidson's accuracy also forced opposition batsmen to attack Benaud, leading them to perish from the pressure to raise the run rate. In the four years after Davidson retired, Australia struggled without his wicket-taking ability. Only one of the six series was won and two were lost; in all Australia managed six wins and eight losses in 30 Tests. Davidson was at his best when Australia was on her knees; In the four Test losses during the last five years of his career, he took 32 wickets at an average of just 13.9 including a ten wicket haul. In the Tied Test, he took eleven wickets, the other ten wicket haul in his Test career.