Jim Burke (cricketer) - Wisden Cricketer of The Year and 1956 Tour of England

Wisden Cricketer of The Year and 1956 Tour of England

Burke's increased strokeplay during the season endeared himself more to the public, and his volume of scoring earned him a place in the Australian squad for the 1956 tour of England. During the tour, he became the regular opening partner to Colin McDonald. In a low-scoring series in a wet summer with spinning pitches which saw England's off spinner Jim Laker, dominate, Burke topped the Test match averages, as well as Australia's first-class aggregate with 1,339 runs in 37 innings.

In the second match of the tour, Burke scored 123 against Leicestershire, but the next month before the Tests was frequently truncated by rain. He only had four completed innings in three matches in that time, and did not pass 20. He went into the Tests with 212 runs at 35.33.

His tour was highlighted by his second innings of 58 not out in the First Test at Trent Bridge in Nottingham, defying the English bowlers for four hours to force a draw on a rain-affected pitch; more than half the playing time was lost to the weather. Between Tests, he made consecutive fifties in county matches and was unbeaten on 37 in his third innings. In the Second Test at Lord's, he put on 151 with McDonald, making 65 to set up an Australian first innings total of 285. The tourists took a lead of 114 and Burke was only able to make 16 in the second innings, but Australia wen on to a 185-run victory. With 138 and 125 not out against Somerset before the Third Test, Burke became the first Australian since Alan Kippax in 1930 to score a century in each innings of a match in England.

After this innings, Burke and Australia's fortunes declined. In the Third Test at Headingley, Australia were crushed by an innings and 42 runs, bowled out for 143 and 140. The opener was one of the few to resist, scoring 41 in the first innings and 16 as England levelled the series.

This was followed by the Old Trafford Test dubbed "Laker's Test", Burke was the only Australian to not be dismissed twice by Jim Laker, who took 19 of the 20 wickets; he was dismissed by Tony Lock in the first innings. He scored 22 of Australia's 84 in the first innings and then 33 of 205 in the second innings as the hosts won by an innings and 170 runs to retain the Ashes.

Burke then made 194 on a spinning wicket against Warwickshire, the highest innings of his career to that point, as Australia won by an innings. He then had a lean run for the next month, scoring only 54 runs in six innings in that period. This included eight and one in the Fifth Test at The Oval, dismissed by Laker twice on the latter's Surrey home ground. English captain Peter May set Australia a target of 228 on a rain-affected wicket late on the final day, and they collapsed to 5/27 before a final weather interruption saved them from another defeat.

Burke ended the series with 271 runs at 30.11.

The dominant Laker took two-thirds of Burke's dismissals in the series, but Burke survived the second highest number of deliveries from Laker, behind Neil Harvey. Burke was noted for his strategy of playing back against Laker on spin friendly and wet wickets, fearing that he would be caught by short leg fielders if he played forward.

After a lean month, Burke ended his stay on English soil with 94 and 21 as the Australians ended the tour with a five-wicket win over TN Pearce's XI. He then made 81 and 58 in two non-first-class matches against Scotland. In recognition of his performance on the tour, he was named as one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1957.

He then toured India and Pakistan on the return trip to Australia, where the tourists played four Tests with no other tour matches. On this campaign, Burke's batting became increasingly dour. In Australia's inaugural Test against Pakistan in Karachi, Burke made 4 and 10, dismissed both times by Fazal Mahmood as the tourists fell to a nine-wicket defeat. His poor run continued in the First Test against India in Madras, scoring 10 in an innings win. Burke then scored 161 in the Second Test at Bombay in 368 minutes, which remains the slowest by an Australian Test player. The match ended in a draw and Burke struggled again in the deciding Test in Calcutta, falling both times to the spin of Ghulam Ahmed for 10 and 2 on a pitch affected by flooding. He had been dismissed all four times against India by spinners. On the rain-affected pitch in the second innings, Burke took his first wickets in Test cricket, helping Australia to defend their target of 231. He trapped opener Pankaj Roy leg before wicket for 24, and then bowled Gulabrai Ramchand, had Prakash Bhandari caught, and then bowled Ahmed for a duck. He ended with 4/37 as India were dismissed 95 runs short of the victory target.