Ron Hamence
batsman | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
International information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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National side | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Test debut (cap 176) | 28 February 1947 v England | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Last Test | 1 January 1948 v India | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Domestic team information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Years | Team | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1935/36–1950/51 | South Australia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Career statistics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Source: CricketArchive, 26 February 2008 |
Ronald Arthur Hamence (25 November 1915 – 24 March 2010) was a
While Hamence only played three Test matches for his national team, he had a successful domestic career, being called South Australia's most successful batsman in 1950.[5] He played 99 first-class matches from 1935 until 1951,[6] which brought him a career total of 5,285 runs that came at an average of 37.75 runs per innings and included 11 centuries.[6] He scored two of these centuries in his first and last first-class matches.
Career
Born in the
He joined South Australia part way through the 1935–36 season, and in March 1936, he scored a
Scores of three not out, 28, 27, 35 and four followed before his next significant score, 52, against Queensland on 12 February 1937.[12] He ended the season with 336 runs, one century, and an average of 30.54.[11] He then suffered his worst period of form thus far at the start of the 1937–38 season, failing to reach double figures from 17 December 1937 until early January 1938, when he scored 64 in the second innings, against Victoria.[6] He followed this with 49 against New South Wales, and ended his third season with 283 runs at an average of 21.76.[11] He did not play another cricket match until 16 December 1938 at the start of the next season, however he returned with a score of 90 against New South Wales, and followed that up two matches later with 84 against Victoria.[12] He narrowly missed out on his third century in November 1939 when he was caught by Morris Sievers for 99 against Victoria.[6] He scored 41, 12, 6 and 20 to see out the rest of the year,[12] ending with 239 runs at an average of 47.80, his most successful full season thus far.[11]
In 1940, he began the year with 26 and two against Queensland, and then a 43 against New South Wales. A series of low scores followed until he hit a vein of strong form beginning in February of that year. He scored 63 against Western Australia on 16 February 1940 in his last match of the 1939–40 season.[12] He began the following season with 41 in the following match against New South Wales.[12] Hamence then enjoyed great success against Victoria, where he scored 130 and 103 not out in one inter-state match, and then 85 and 62 in the next. Following this, in a match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground between two representative selections to raise money for the war effort, he played for Don Bradman's XI and scored 73 and 35.[12] He returned to play for South Australia for a match against New South Wales, where he scored 31 and five.[12] He ended the 1940–41 season with the highest average for a single season he would achieve in his career, 569 runs at 63.22, with two hundreds.[11]
Second World War and after
Hamence was not to play another first-class match until December 1945 after the end of the
International debut, England, India and the Invincibles
These centuries led to his debut for
Nevertheless, Hamence was picked to play in the Second and Third Tests against the touring
Returning once again to domestic cricket, Hamence scored 85 and 66 against Queensland, and this kept him in the running for a place in the national team, as he toured with
His touring colleague Sid Barnes criticised the omission of Hamence from much meaningful cricket on the tour. He wrote: "For instance, against the Gentlemen at Lord's we were 532 when Hamence came to bat. Brown got 120, Bradman 150, Hassett, not out, 200 and Miller 69. Hamence was left not out with 24. This was an innings in which he could have been sent in first wicket down, where he batted with his interstate team ... Despite this, Hassett still went in before Hamence in the next game, against Somerset ... Hamence batted No. 6... but he should have been sent in No. 3."[18] Bradman, following the Invincibles tour described Hamence as "a fine batsman of the strictly orthodox type. Very sound and reliable with his game based on driving" and a "very safe fieldsman".[19]
Barnes reported that Hamence, along with the other frequent omissions Colin McCool and Doug Ring, termed themselves the "Ground Staff". He added: "In the dressing room during county games they would break out into ironic song about the few chances they got."[18] Bradman did later state that "because of the strong array of batsman ahead of him, [Hamence] seldom had an opportunity to make big scores" but "was an extremely useful reserve who could have been played in the Tests with confidence".[19]
Return, retirement and later life
Hamence scored 58 and 45 in his first match upon return to Australia, playing for Bradman's XI against a team captained by
In total, Hamence played 69 matches for South Australia, scoring 4,244 runs at an average of 38.93, with 11 centuries and 22 fifties. Aside from his 52.75 average for Bradman's XI, South Australia was to be Hamence's most successful team.[21] Of his eleven centuries, three were scored against Victoria, against whom he had an average of 41.75, however he scored the most runs, and his highest score, against New South Wales.[22] In 2001, Hamence was awarded the Centenary Medal for services to Australian society through the sport of cricket.[23]
He died in an Adelaide nursing home, aged 94, in 2010.[4]
Test match performance
Batting[24] | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Opposition | Matches | Runs | Average | High Score | 100 / 50 |
England | 1 | 31 | 31.00 | 30* | 0/0 |
India | 2 | 50 | 25.00 | 25 | 0/0 |
Overall | 3 | 81 | 27.00 | 30 | 0/0 |
Notes
- ^ Obituary The Times, 27 March 2010.
- ^ a b c d Pollard, p. 506.
- Cricinfo. Retrieved 19 May 2008.
- ^ a b "Oldest Test player dies aged 94". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 25 March 2010.
- ^ Alexander, p. 730.
- ^ a b c d e "Ron Hamence". CricketArchive. Retrieved 20 May 2008.
- ^ Cricinfo. Retrieved 29 May 2007.
- ^ ed. Cashman, R. et al. (1997)The A-Z of Australian cricketers, Oxford University Press: Melbourne.
- ^ "West Torrens District Cricket Club" (PDF). West Torrens District Cricket Club. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 July 2011. Retrieved 20 May 2008.
- ^ "South Australia v Tasmania: Other First-Class matches 1935/36". CricketArchive. Retrieved 22 December 2007.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "First-class Batting and Fielding in Each Season by Ron Hamence". CricketArchive. Retrieved 20 May 2008.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q "Match by Match statistics – Ron Hamence". CricketArchive. Retrieved 20 May 2008.
- ^ a b c Allen, pp. 76–79.
- Cricinfo. Retrieved 20 May 2008.
- Cricinfo. Retrieved 20 May 2008.
- Cricinfo. Retrieved 20 May 2008.
- ^ The Herald Sun. Retrieved 20 May 2008.
- ^ a b Barnes, p. 180. "No. 6" and "No. 3" refer to positions in the batting order. The No. 3 batsman bats after the first wicket in the innings has fallen, i.e. third in order after the two opening batsmen. The No. 6 batsman will bat after the fourth wicket has fallen.
- ^ a b Bradman, p. 226.
- ^ "South Australia v Marylebone Cricket Club – 1950/1951". CricketArchive. Retrieved 20 May 2008.
- ^ "First-class Batting and Fielding For Each Team by Ron Hamence". CricketArchive. Retrieved 20 May 2008.
- ^ "First-class Batting and Fielding Against Each Opponent by Ron Hamence". CricketArchive. Retrieved 20 May 2008.
- ^ "HAMENCE, Ronald Arthur". Search Australian Honours – Simple Search. Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (Australia). Retrieved 22 December 2007.
- Cricinfo. Retrieved 19 June 2008.
References
- Allen, Peter (1999). The Invincibles: The Legend of Bradman's 1948 Australians. Mosman, New South Wales, Australia: Allen and Kemsley. ISBN 1-875171-06-1.
- Alexander, J. A. (1950). Australia: The Herald Year Book. Australia: The Herald & Weekly Times Ltd.
- Barnes, Sid (1953). It Isn't Cricket. London and Sydney: Collins.
- ISBN 1-875892-01-X.
- Cashman, R. (ed.) (1997). The A-Z of Australian cricketers, Oxford University Press: Melbourne.
- ISBN 0-207-15269-1.
External links
- Media related to Ron Hamence at Wikimedia Commons
- Ron Hamence at ESPNcricinfo