Jockey - Waverley Council

32
TOHN HENRY WEBB FINGLETON, O.B.E. Cricketer
BORN: 28 April, 1908, Waverley N.S.W.
DIED: 22 November, 1981, St Leonards, N.S.W.
AGE: 73 years
GRAVE: 50-51 Roman CatiioUc Special A, Section 20
Jack Fingleton's ffrst selection to a Test series came in the 1932-33 season.
The season of BODYLINE. "He faced the new ball in four Tests out of
the five. Those performances have become part of the Australian cricket
legend," wrote BUI O'ReUly fri the SMH. Ffrigleton himself wrote, "In
simple terms bodyline was nothing more than playing the man and not
the ball. It was conceived for Bradman and, with Larwood the perfect
instrument, it cut Bradman down to comparative size. But, as Warner
said, it wasn't cricket."
During the second Test, Ffrigleton and WoodfuU engaged in a soUd
opening stand. "Fingleton enhanced his reputation as a young batsman
of brilliance and pluck. He proved a great success as an opening
batsman. He defied the fierce attack of Larwood and Voce, carefully
watching the bumping balls, but as at Sydney he was struck a few
times, play once being delayed while Fingleton recovered from a knock
on the left leg from a ball from Larwood, which he failed to turn,"
reported the SMH. He batted 234 minutes for 83 nms including three
boundaries. This, on a day, when Bradman was out for a duck.
Claude Corbett related in the Daily Telegraph, "his was the greatest
innings I have ever seen from him, and one of the finest
fighting knocks in the history of the Tests. From the
moment he took strike to Larwood until he was bowled
by Allen 234 minutes later he never looked like getting
out, despite two uppish shots which were safe from
fieldsmen. Hit by the shock bowlers on fingers, arms,
and legs, Fingleton never flinched, and everybody was
sorry that he fell 17 short of his century."
Fingleton began with the Waverley Cricket Club,
represented Austialia in eighteen Tests between 1931 i^^'^
and 1938, and was the ffrst batsman in history to score
four successive Test hundreds. He was awarded the
O.B.E. in 1976. Jack was a joumaUst by profession
and the author of numerous books on cricket,
including his autobiography Batting from Memory,
and The Immortal Victor Trumper.
SOURCE: Waverley Cemetery Archives; Bat & Pad by Pat Mullins & Philip Derriman; Batting from Memory by
Jack Fingleton; The Immortal Victor Trumper by J.H.W. Fingleton; Who's Who in Australia 1980; The Bulletin
26-7-1994; Daily Telegraph 31-12-1932; SMH 31-12-1932,23-11-1981
Portrait source: Daily Telegraph 15-9-1936