Neil Harvey is a former Australian cricketer who played for the Australian team from 1948 and 1963. He is known as one of the favorite cricketing sons of Australia. He is a gifted left hand batsman, an occasional off spin bowler and a brilliant athletic fielder(due to being a top class baseballer as well) made his first test debut in 1948 against India and scored 178 runs.
Harvey was the senior batsman in the team for much of the 1950s period and was known by Wisden as the finest fielder ever of his era. During his career in cricket field from 1948 to 1963, he played in 79 Test matches.
This 5 feet 7 inches lad, was the fifth boy of the six boys of his parents. During the family’s stay in Fitzroy, their father guided them to play cricket. Cricket and its talks were an integral part of the daily family life. Harvey played his first game at the age of nine as a wicket keeper in the North Fitzroy Central School team. In the finals, he made 112 of the total 142. By 12, he had joined the local Fitzroy club and polished his skills as a cricketer.
At the start of the 1945-46 season, he got selected for a trail match and played for the Rest of Victoria team. In 1946-47, he played at 113 against the Melbourne Cricket Club and got selected for the Victorian team at the age of 18. In his first class debut against Tasmania, he made 18 and in the next match he made his maiden first class century scoring 154. Neil served Australia, Victoria and New South Wales, during a first class career that spanned for 16 years. This electrifying batsman amazed spectators with his splendor strokes. He had a masterful technique and a full range of enthusiastic shots. He displayed amazing strength to the cricket followers and made more than 20,000 first class runs. There are many performances for which he is still remembered of which foremost was his 153 runs against India in his second test match. This was an inning which made him the youngest ever Australian to have scored a test century. Then, he scored 112 in the Leeds Test in 1948, 151 runs in Durban in 1952-53 and many more.
Later on, he continued to play at the forefront of the cricket as a national selector for 12 years and during mid 1970s, he even played at an international level. He played around 79 test matches, scoring 6149 runs at an average of 48.21. His highest score was 205. He made 21 centuries and 24 half centuries. He took 3 wickets at an average of 40. His best innings were one for eight.
Career highlights
He even became the vice captain of the team from 1957 until he retired. During his retirement, he was known as the second most productive Test run scorer and even a century maker for the Australian team. He was inducted to the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame in 2000. He was selected in the Australian Cricket Board’s Test Team of the 20th Century.
