Bill Lawry

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Bill Lawry bigraphy, stories - Cricketer

Bill Lawry : biography

11 February 1937 –

William Morris "Bill" Lawry, AM (born 11 February 1937) is a former cricketer who played for Victoria and Australia. He captained Australia in 25 Tests, winning nine, losing eight and drawing eight, and led Australia in the inaugural One Day International match, played in 1971. An opening batsman with a reputation for resolute defence, he had the ability to spend long periods of time at the crease. As his career progressed, he wound back his strokeplay to the point where he was described by an English journalist as "the corpse with pads on". Lawry was unceremoniously dumped as captain and player for the final Test of the 1970–71 Ashes series in Australia. Lawry’s sacking is regarded as one of the more distasteful incidents in Australian cricket history—he was not informed personally of the selectors’ decision before the decision was first broadcast on radio and he only became aware of his fate when confronted by reporters. Lawry is part of Channel Nine’s cricket commentary team and has been in the role for over 30 years.

Legacy

In Australia a bottle opener is sometimes called a Bill Lawry, on account of him being a famous opener. Also a breed of pigeon (racing) is commonly known as the Lawry bird after his love of pigeon racing.Word Map, Kel Richards and The Macquarie Dictionary, 2005, ISBN 0-7333-1540-2, p. 14, recording the term in Perth

The Westgarth Street Oval in Northcote was renamed the Bill Lawry Oval. In 2010, Lawry was inducted into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame.

Commentary career and later work

After retiring from playing, Lawry worked as a commentator on radio and on Channel 9 television, beginning in the days of World Series Cricket. His distinctive, enthusiastic and excitable style has often been parodied, especially in The Twelfth Man series; in addition for his persistent use of cliches, the Victorian was known for his signature catchcries, particularly "Got him, yes!" whenever a wicket fell, "It’s all happening!" in reference to a see-sawing or chaotic passage of play, and "bang" (when a batsman attempts a long hit) and for his love of racing pigeons. Lawry’s long-running, argumentative but humorous commentary partnership with the South African-born former English captain Tony Greig was a mainstay of the Nine Network’s commentary offering for 33 years, ending with Greig’s death in December 2012.

During the late 1980s and early 1990s, Lawry was the cricket manager of the Victorian Cricket Association, helping to recruit players for the Victorian team.

Sacking

Bill Lawry, a defensive captain, had failed so far to defend the Ashes. Was he more likely to be able to regain the ascendancy? Of course not. Was he more likely to return to his former batting form, his early club and Shield batting form, if he were diplomatically relieved of the responsibility of leadership? Of course, yes. All the more likely if he were undiplomatically removed, because he would be nursing a grudge, burning to stage reprisals…p. 181, Richard Whitington, Captains Outrageous, Cricket in the seventies, Stanley Paul, 1972

Richard Whitington

The 1970–71 home series against England was the longest in Test history, with six Tests scheduled and another added when the Third Test was washed out. Lawry was to bow out of international cricket in one of the most acrimonious series in Test history. Lawry had gone through a difficult phase on the previous tour, with only 432 runs at 28.80 in nine Tests on the tour of India and South Africa. With Australia losing, and as a non-smoker and non-drinker, he became more distant from many of his own teammates. Lawry had been under pressure after a highly critical report by team manager Fred Bennett. Australia went to the series with confidence after the tourists were unable to win any of their four opening tour matches.Harte, p. 527. Lawry had success in his preparation, scoring 87 and 58 not out in a ten-wicket win over Western Australia at the start of the season.