Lindsay Hassett - Test Debut

Test Debut

Hassett allayed doubt about his selection when he began the tour with innings of 43, 146, 148 and 220 not out, against Worcestershire, Oxford University, Leicestershire and Cambridge University respectively as Australia won their first four matches by an innings. He added 57 and 98 in the next two matches against the Marylebone Cricket Club and Hampshire, and despite failing to pass 30 in the next four innings, he was selected to make his Test debut at Nottingham in the first match of the series. Hassett had an ignominious debut, scoring one and two in a high-scoring draw in which almost 1,500 runs were scored for the loss of only 24 wickets on a "batting paradise". He maintained his county form between Tests, adding 118 against Lancashire before scoring his only half-century in the Tests, adding 56 and 42 at Lord's in the drawn Second Test.

The Third Test was abandoned without a ball being bowled due to rain, and Hassett prepared for what would be the decisive Fourth Test by scoring 94 and 127 in consecutive matches against Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire. The match at Headingley in Leeds was Australia's only Test victory, which was enough to ensure a drawn series and the retention of The Ashes. In a low-scoring match in a batsman-friendly series, Australia, chasing a target of only 105 runs to win, had slumped to 3/50 when Hassett came to the crease as an approaching storm threatened to either end the game or make the pitch difficult to bat on. Hassett calmly hit 33 runs from 36 balls, to guide the tourists to a five-wicket victory, much to the relief of his captain Don Bradman, who was so nervous about the outcome that he could not watch the play. The innings earned Hassett a reputation of being calm under pressure, and Bradman later wrote that Hassett was a "masterful player" in a crisis.

After the match-winning innings, Hassett failed to pass 31 in his next six innings before Australia lost the Fifth Test by an innings and 579 runs, the heaviest defeat in Test history. He made 42 and 10 in the record-breaking match, and added a pair of half-centuries against Sussex thereafter. As he finished third in the batting averages for the tour, with 1,589 runs at 52.97, and the dry summer resulted in pitches mostly favourable to batting, Wisden found his Test performances, in which he made 199 runs at 24.88, anomalous:

Hassett, adding together the runs he made and the runs he saved, was one of the most useful men on the side. He never quite fulfilled the promise of a sensational start ... He appeared to make his strokes very late and, although adopting almost a two-eyed stance, had, so far as could be seen, no technical faults ... there was a good deal of surprise that he did not come off in the big matches although it must not be forgotten that his second innings at Leeds counted a lot in Australia's victory.