International Swansong
Burke started the 1958–59 season strongly. He scored 113 and took 3/23 in the opening Shield match of the season against Queensland. After adding a helf-century in the following match against Western Australia, he compiled 104 against the touring England team for New South Wales ahead of the Tests.
In the First Test against the England team at Brisbane, he scored 20 in the first innings of a low-scoring and slow match. After Australia had made 186 to take a 52-run lead, English all-rounder Trevor Bailey, notorious for his defensive batting, took 357 minutes to compile the slowest half-century in first-class history.
Australia required 147 on the final day to win, and Burke gave a display similar to Bailer, taking 250 minutes to score 28 not out and anchoring the hosts to an eight-wicket win, scoring less than 20% of the runs added while he was at the crease. Between Tests, Burke scored 53 and 77 in New South Wales' 162-run win over Victoria. Burke then suffered a month of low scores in a run of four matches against the ENglishmen. He made 3 and 18 not out in an eight-wicket win in the Second Test in Melbourne, and was then dismissed for 12 and 7 in the drawn Third Test by his old nemesis Laker. In the second innings of the Test, Burke took 2/26 including the wicket of English captain Peter May for 92, and he was frequently accused by the touring journalists of throwing.
His run of low scoring continued in his state's match against England before the Fourth Test. He made 5 and 22 not out, dismissed by Bailey although he did remove his slow-scoring English counterpart with the ball. In the Fourth Test, Burke made 66 in the first innings to help set up a lead of 236 and he was unbeaten on 16 as the Australians sealed the series with a ten-wicket win. He then took 4/52 and 1/19 against Victoria before playing in the Fifth Test, his last match for Australia. He made only 16 and 13, dismissed twice by Frank Tyson, the fastest bowler of the era, as Australia won by nine wickets to take the series 4–0.
Criticised for slow scoring and for his bowling, and declaring himself unwilling to face fast bowling of increasing fierceness, in particular short pitched bowling, Burke retired suddenly after series, having scored 199 runs at 28.43. He played in the two Shield matches after the Tests, scoring 103 and 65 in the penultimate match, a 174-run win over South Australia. He then made five in his final match against Western Australia, which New South Wales won by an innings and completed their sixth consecutive Sheffield Shield title.
He continued to play grade cricket for 13 further seasons and later became a well-known commentator for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
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