Harvey, Robert Neil

Born Robert Neil Harvey at Fitzroy, an inner Melbournesuburb on October 8, 1928, the future ‘baby’ of the 1948 tour of Englandwas the sixth of Horace and Elsie Harvey’s seven children. In order of birth, the Harveyclan comprised Rita, Mervyn, Clarence, Harold, Raymond, Neil and Brian. Horace Harvey was born at Kapunda, South Australia, of Cornish mining stock, so it’s no surprise that he moved to Broken Hill and then Newcastlebefore coming to Melbourne. At Broken Hill, where he worked for BHP as a driver of horse-drawn vehicles, he married Elsie Bitmead. In Melbourne, the Harveyslived at 198 Argyle Street, Fitzroy, the first street northof Johnston Street, where the houses and factories combined to make it a densely occupied part of the world. Cheap pastimes such as sport appealed to families in this type of environment as a way of giving their children a healthy interest and also side-stepping the greater dangers of a youngster’s well-being.

Neil Harvey’s enthusiasm for cricket was unbounded as a boy. At Falconer Street Central school in North Fitzroyhe showed enough talent to be awarded a season medallion which entitled him to practice at Fitzroy Cricket Club with the senior players. At 13 he was playing in the club’s fifth XI, which played on matting in a nearby park in a suburban competition catering for players who enjoyed their Saturday afternoon game but did not aspire to or were incapable of anything much higher. Young Harvey’s rise through the grades was rapid. He was still 13 when promoted to the third XI where he hit a century in each innings of the 1941-42 final against Melbourne. At 14 he played with Fitzroy seconds and at 15 regularly appeared in the first XI. He had not long turned 16 when he shared a fourth-wicket partnership of 149 with Jack Moroney against Collingwood. Moroney, later to play seven Tests, made 115 and Harvey 71. Later in season 1944-45 Harveyhit his first senior century by making 100 against University. At 18 he was chosen to represent Victoriaand made 154 runs against Tasmaniain Hobart. Later that season he played for Victoriaagainst the 1946-47 English tourists and made a competent 69 which impressed wicketkeeper Godfrey Evans so much that he said on Harvey’s dismissal: “Well, I’ll see you in Englandnext year”.

Harvey displaced SA batsman Ron Hamence from the Test XI in the fourth match of the 1947-48 series against India. Batting at No 6 he made only 13 in a towering score of 674, but was retained for the fifth Test in Melbournewhere he was the outstanding player with a hand of 153 in front of his home crowd. This earned him a ticket to Englandand made a very good judge of Godfrey Evans. Again Harveyhad to wait until the fourth Test of the series for his chance and this time he played a brilliant innings of 112 which indicated that he was set for a long and prosperous run-making career against the world’s best bowlers.

In 1949-50 the Victorian left-hander reeled off eight centuries on the Australian tour of South Africa, four of them in Tests, and averaged 76.30. Oddly enough he had six Test hundreds to his name before scoring his first Sheffield Shield century, against SA, in 1950-51. Even at a young age Harveyhad developed an array of strokes and maturity beyond his years. Hence it came as a surprise in 1951-52 when he failed to average 30 in all first-class games and was confined to 261 runs in 10 innings in the Test series at home against the West Indies. Late in the season he regained touch by making 254 and 126 for Fitzroy in a semi final against St Kilda. Before that game he had batted six times for his club that season for an aggregate of 100 runs with a highest score of 33. Harveyreached his 254 in only 255 minutes and steered Fitzroy to a total of 8/424 before his brother Merv declared. St Kilda replied with 140 and Fitzroy batted again, with Harveymaking 126 out of 9/269 (dec). St Kilda was dismissed for 137 in its second innings, leaving Fitzroy the winner by 416 runs. In the final against Melbourne, Harveycontributed 76 and 19 but Fitzroy lost. His flurry of runs at the end of the season enabled him to head the VCA averages with 57.50.

If South Africa’s bowlers had tired of watching Harveymake big scores at their expense when they first encountered him, they were given a repeat dose when they visited Australiain 1952-53. Again he hit four Test centuries and for the Series amassed 834 runs, comprising 109 and 52 in the first Test, 11 and 60 when Australia won the third by an innings, 84 and 116 in the drawn fourth Test and 205 and 7 in the fifth game which South Africa won to square the series. For the season Harveyhit 1659 runs, second only to Don Bradman’s 1690 in 1928-29. Harvey maintained that form on his second visit to England in 1953, hitting 2040 runs including 10 hundreds, although is efforts in the Tests weren’t as good.

Not all of Harvey’s greatest innings brought him a century. In the second Test of the 1954-55 series against Englandin Sydney, Australianeeded 223 runs to win with paceman Frank Tyson at his best. Harveyplayed a lone hand, being 92 not out in a total of 184 when the game ended. His 69 in the third Test in Leedsin 1956 and hands of 73 and 53 in the corresponding game five years later were other examples of hard-earned runs.

A member of the first Australian team to tour the West Indiesin 1955, Harveyhit three centuries in Tests there including 204 in the fifth match in Kingston. In that instance the tourists were 2/7 when Harvey joined opener Colin McDonald, but the pair added 295 for the third wicket to provide the base for an Australian Test record score of 8/758 (dec). Five players – Harvey, McDonald (127), Keith Miller (109, Ron Archer (128) and Richie Benaud (121) hit centuries. For the series Harveyhit 650 runs at an imposing average of 108.33. The Australians scored 12 Test centuries on that tour, but no one reached three figures when they visited Englandthe next year. Despite hitting 225 against the MCC – at that stage his highest first-class score – Harveyfelt the impact of indifferent conditions that season and averaged only 31.48 from his aggregate of 976 runs. In the Tests he managed only 197 runs at 19.7 and at Old Trafford suffered the ignominy of a pair of spectacles. Harveywas not alone in having an ordinary tour, but much had come to be expected of him and if he had a bad day then Australia’s stocks tended to crumble. On the way home from Englandhe hit 140 in a Test against India, in Bombay, with strokes to all parts of the field. It was the 13th different venue at which he had hit a Test century and lifted his total to 16.

The retirement of Ian Johnson and Keith Miller meant that Harveywas the logical successor as Australia’s captain, but when the Board of Control appointed Ian Craig to lead a side to New Zealandat the end of the 1956-57 season Harveyhad been passed over. Harvey, captain of Victoriaat the time, was appointed vice-captain. The next day Victoriabegan a match against NSW in Sydneyand Harveydeputised for McDonald as an opener after McDonald had broken his nose at practice. In what turned out to be his last game with Victoriathe dashing left-hander made 209 and was looking towards hitting a triple century when tiredness led to his dismissal late in the day. After touring New Zealand, Harveyvisited South Africaunder Craig in 1957-58. This time the best he could do in a Test was 68. A broken finger forced Harveyto miss the opening game of the series, ending a run of 46 consecutive Tests he had played.

Aware that there was more to life than playing cricket, Harvey thought seriously of migrating to South Africa as he was concerned about his work in Melbourne. On leaving school he had been a fitter and turner with the Melbourne City Council, but later turned to selling sports goods. Interviewed on television in 1958 he said he was looking for better employment and the offer of a sales supervisor with Sydneyfirm John Dynon and Sons was enough for him to leave Melbourne. For the second time in a little more than a decade NSW had received a windfall as Keith Miller had been in a similar position in 1947.

New South Walesbegan the 1958-59 season by playing Queenslandin Brisbaneunder Benaud’s captaincy. Harveymade 160 on debut out of a total 500. In the second Test against Englandthat summer he played a memorable innings of 167 that dominated a team score of 308. Further success came his way the following season when he hit Test centuries in Indiaand he began the 1960-61 season with a blaze of 616 runs in five innings. His 229 against Queenslandin Sydneywas his highest in a first-class game to that stage and his 109 for NSW against the touring West Indiesside indicated that he was as good as ever. That series was cricket in excelsis, but apart from one innings Harveystruggled. His unexpected lapse was just one of those things, yet after five innings he was averaging 8.2. Then he came good, hitting 85 in the second innings of the third Test, but in the process he pulled a leg muscle and was forced to miss the next game. His final output of 143 runs at an average of 17.87 was most uncharacteristic.

Harvey showed good form in the early games of the 1961 tour of Englandand thrilled his legion of supporters by making 114 in the first Test. An injured shoulder kept Benaud out of the second Test at Lord’s where Harveyled Australiato a five-wicket win. Harvey’s fourth and final English tour produced a very useful 1452 runs at 44 per innings. The 1961-62 season was a domestic one, there being no Tests here or overseas for the Australian side, and Harvey went through another form of lapse. His highest score in 16 innings was 73 and his average of 26.56 was overshadowed by most of his NSW team mates.

The visit by Ted Dexter’s men in 1962-63 marked the final chapter in Neil Harvey’s distinguished career. In the first innings of the fourth Test in Adelaidehe revealed the Harveyqualities of old and after a couple of early let-offs he and Norman O’Neill highlighted the day with a fourth-wicket stand worth 194 runs. Harveyfinished with 154 and O’Neill 100. In his final Test he made modest scores of 22 and 28, but snared six catches – four in the first innings and two in the second – to end on a high. For many years Harveyhad been regarded as Australia’s finest cover fieldsman, constantly reducing 2’s to singles and conservatively saving his side 30 runs per match. A baseballer in the winter, his returns in the cricket field were worth going a long way to see.

A young family and his business, Har-V-Sales Pty Ltd, as a Tupperware distributor helped ‘Ninna’ Harveydecide that 1962-63 would be his last season in major cricket. Meanwhile on January 18, 1963his final innings with his adopted state was a big one, in keeping with his last for Victoriaand his first with NSW. Those fortunate to have the Friday free saw him make 231 not out in 285 minutes, an innings that included 22 4’s and 120 runs between lunch and tea, in total of 6/414 (dec). It also was his highest first-class score. While he could have continued at first-class level for some time, Harveyhad played a then Australian record 79 Tests which produced 6149 runs at a most respectable average of 48.41 and had hit 21 centuries at 15 different grounds. In all he played 306 first-class games in eight countries, scoring 21,699 runs at an average of 50.93 with 67 centuries. His value to the game was recognised in 1967 when he joined Sir Donald Bradman and Jack Ryder on Australia’s selection committee.