Don Tallon - Later Career

Later Career

Upon Tallon's return to Australia, he made an unbeaten 146 in Bradman's Testimonial match at the MCG in December 1948. He featured in a tenth-wicket partnership of 100 with Geff Noblet, who scored only nine as Tallon farmed the strike effectively. This saw the match scores tied on the last ball of the match. Tallon also made seven dismissals for the match. Queensland lost more than they won during the season, but Tallon continued to be productive, scoring 453 runs at 34.85 and making 26 dismissals in seven matches.

Tallon was selected for but withdrew from the 1949–50 tour to South Africa due to illness caused by stomach ulcers, and employment reasons. His place was taken by Saggers, who made 21 dismissals in the five Tests. In the meantime, Tallon recovered and played in the Australian domestic season. After scoring 52 in the opening match for the season, he scored 98 and two scores of 58 not out to help Queensland end the season with consecutive wins. He ended with 349 runs at 43.63 and 11 dismissals in six matches. Tallon was selected for a brief tour of New Zealand at the end of the season with an Australian Second XI led by Bill Brown, and scored 116 in an unofficial Test in Dunedin. It was the top-score in Australia's 299 and the hosts led by only eight runs with one wicket in hand in their second innings when the match ended in a draw. Many of the matches during the tour were not first-class but in one such game, Tallon scored 70 not out as Australia defeated Otago by an innings.

In the 1950-51 Ashes series Tallon was fit once more and available for national selection. Despite making only 37 runs in four innings in the lead-up matches, Tallon was chosen for all five Tests. He had a poor time with the bat, making only 39 runs at an average of just 6.50. He took only eight catches, but kept tidily to retain his place in the team. His performances for Queensland were hardly more productive; he scored 161 runs at 16.10 and aside from a rain-affected draw, his state lost their remaining six matches.

By this time, Tallon was losing his hearing, and gained the derisive nickname Deafy. In one Test, he had been told by captain Lindsay Hassett before going out to bat that there was to be an appeal for bad light. Hassett said "go for the light" but Tallon misheard it as "go for a lash". Tallon walked out and was dismissed for a low score after attempting to attack the English bowlers, leaving his skipper displeased.

Tallon missed selection during the 1951–52 season due his increasingly error-prone glovework and a combination of health reasons including stomach ulcers and deafness. He did not play a first-class match because of lack of his fitness. In any case, Tallon had secretly been barred from selection by the Australian Board of Control for making unauthorised comments in the media; this fact was not revealed for half a century.

He was unable to reclaim his Test place in 1952–53 despite making 133 against the touring South Africans and 84 against New South Wales for Queensland before the Tests. Tallon totalled 508 runs at 33.87 for the season and made 33 dismissals in eight matches, including seven in one fixture against Western Australia, but failed to taste victory in a single Queensland match. His omission angered Queensland fans, who relentlessly heckled the Australians during the First Test against the tourists in Brisbane, making fun of the mistakes made by Tallon's replacement Gil Langley in particular.

He was selected for the 1953 tour of England, and scored 76 against Tasmania before the tourists departed. Despite making only 35 runs at 7.00 in the lead-up matches, Tallon was selected for the First Test at Trent Bridge, his first match at the top level in more than two years. He took two catches and scored a duck and 15. Hassett and his deputy Arthur Morris then made the decision to replace Tallon with Langley. Still troubled by stomach ulcers, Tallon played in another eight first-class matches for the tour, scoring 119 runs at 19.83. His most notable effort was an unbeaten 83 in an innings win over Kent. He was unable to regain his Test position.

Tallon retired in dramatic circumstances after the first match of the 1953–54 Sheffield Shield season. During the match, he suddenly took off his gloves and handed the keeping duties to Peter Burge. He scored 21 and 54 not out in a drawn match against New South Wales. Two months later, he played for Arthur Morris's XI against Hassett's XI, a testimonial match for the latter. Tallon made 17 not out and nine in a 121-run win. Tallon continued to play local cricket in Bundaberg for another decade.