Merv Harvey - First-class Beginnings

First-class Beginnings

During the 1938–39 season, Harvey was selected for the Victorian Second XI to play in a match against their counterparts from New South Wales. Harvey was run out for four in the first innings and then made eight as his team succumbed to a 227-run defeat. As a result, he was not called up into the First XI for the next two years.

Harvey made his first-class debut for Victoria against Queensland at the Gabba in 1940–41. In the first innings, he made 25 before being caught by wicket-keeper Don Tallon from the bowling of Jack Ellis as the visitors took first innings points in a drawn match. In the next match, he made an impression. After making 35 in the first innings, he scored 70 in an hour's batting in the second innings at the SCG against New South Wales. In both innings, he was dismissed by leg spinner Bill O'Reilly, the leading bowler in the world, but Victoria managed to prevail by 24 runs. The teams met again three weeks later, and this time, New South Wales turned the table, winning by 235 runs. Harvey made 14 in the first innings, bowled by O'Reilly for the second innings in a row. In the second innings he made 38 before being removed by another leg spinner, Cec Pepper. Harvey ended the season with 182 runs at 36.40.

Harvey enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) at Fitzroy on 12 May 1942 and was a member of the 30 Squadron. He served as an airframe fitter during World War II, which severely interrupted his sporting career, and first-class cricket was cancelled after the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor prompted the outbreak of hostilities in the Pacific. He was discharged on 25 January 1946 with the rank of aircraftman. According to cricket administrator Bill Jacobs, the war cost Harvey his prime cricketing years. Jacobs believed that Harvey would have been selected for Australia in the period otherwise interrupted by war.