Ernie Toshack - Invincibles Tour

Invincibles Tour

Main article: Ernie Toshack with the Australian cricket team in England in 1948 See also: Australian cricket team in England in 1948 and 1948 Ashes series

By the end of the Indian series, knee injuries had begun to hamper Toshack, and he only made the trip to England for the 1948 tour on a 3–2 majority vote by a medical team, despite being one of the first selected by the board. Two Melbourne doctors ruled him unfit, but three specialists from his home state presented a more optimistic outlook that allowed him to tour. The tour was to guarantee him immortality as a member of Bradman's Invincibles. He grew tired of signing autographs during the voyage, and entrusted a friend with the task. As a result, there are still sheets circulating with his name mis-spelt as Toshak. Between the new-ball attacks of Lindwall, Keith Miller and Johnston every 55 overs, Toshack played the role of stifling England's scoring. In one match against Sussex, his 17 overs yielded only three scoring shots. He finished the match bowling 32 overs while conceding 29 runs. At Bramall Lane, Sheffield, he recorded the best innings analysis of his first-class career, taking 7/81 from 40 consecutive overs, bemusing the Yorkshire spectators with the his accent and distinctive "Ow Wizz Ee" appealing. Bradman considered his 6/51 against the Marylebone Cricket Club at Lord's as the best performance of all. He removed the leading English batsmen Len Hutton and Denis Compton, as well as Martin Donnelly and Ken Cranston. In particular, Toshack was involved in an extended battle with Compton before dismissing him; Bradman said that their duel was "worth going a long way to see". This performance helped Australia to take an innings victory over a team that was virtually a full-strength England outfit and allowed Australia to take a psychological victory in a dress rehearsal ahead of the Tests.

Toshack's performance in the First Test at Trent Bridge was a quiet one, taking a wicket in each innings. He was involved in an aggressive final wicket partnership of 32 with Johnston, scoring 19 runs, his best at Test level to date in just 18 minutes. Toshack's best Test performance was his 5/40 in the second innings of the Second Test at Lord's when Miller was unable to bowl after being injured, including the wickets of Cyril Washbrook, Bill Edrich, captain Yardley and Alec Coxon. During this performance, he employed two short legs and a silly mid-off. He had a moderately successful Third Test, taking figures of 3/101 in the only Test that Australia did not win. His knee injury flared again in the Fourth Test after taking an ineffective 1/112 in the first innings, he was unable to bowl in the second innings of an Australian win. He made a recovery and it was hoped that he would be able to play in the Fifth Test, but he injured again himself in the lead-up match against Lancashire. He was taken to London for cartilage surgery, ending his tour and his Test career. An inept batsman with an average of 5.78 in first-class fixtures, Toshack managed a Test average of 51 on the 1948 tour after being out only once, behind only Arthur Morris, Sid Barnes, Bradman and Neil Harvey. The unbeaten 20 he managed in the Lord's Test was his best first-class score, made in an uninhibited tenth-wicket stand with Johnston. Due to the fragility of his knee, Toshack was used sparingly in the tour games, playing in only 11 of the 29 non-Test matches on the tour. Toshack totalled 50 wickets at the average of 21.12 for the tour.

The knee injury prevented Toshack from playing during the 1948–1949 Australian domestic season. The Australian team to tour South Africa in 1949–50 was named at the end of the previous season, and Toshack was omitted after a season on the sidelines. At the start of the 1949–50 season, when his Test teammates were sailing across the Indian Ocean to South Africa, Toshack made a strong start to his first-class comeback. He took 4/41 and 5/59 in a Shield match against Queensland in Brisbane, removing Ken Mackay and Wally Grout twice, helping to seal a close 15-run win. In the second match, against Western Australia, Toshack took 4/68 in the first innings before his injury resurfaced. New South Wales won the match despite Toshack's inability to bowl in the second innings. The injury cost Toshack dearly; it forced him to retire from first-class cricket and cost him a Test recall. Toshack had been offered a position on the South African tour as a reinforcement for Johnston, who had been involved in a car crash. Instead, Miller took the position and played in all five Tests.

Toshack subsequently joined a firm of builders and spent 25 years as a foreman and supervisor on construction sites around Sydney. He also wrote about cricket and enjoyed cultivating his vegetable garden in the northern Sydney suburb of Hornsby Heights. Toshack died on 11 May 2003. He was survived by his wife Cathleen Hogan, whom he married in 1939, their only daughter, three granddaughters and two great-granddaughters.