Legendary Australian allrounder Alan Davidson passed away at the age of 92 on Saturday morning, October 30th. Known for his ability to bowl and bat with equal measures, Davidson ended off with the second-best Test average among bowlers with more than 150 scalps in Test cricket’s history. Only SF Barnes of England has a better average than the New South Wales player.
In his career which began in 1953 and ended in the summer of 1963-64, Davidson represented the Aussies in 44 Tests. In these Tests, he took 186 wickets and scored 1328 runs with 80 being his highest score. His best bowling figures in an innings were 7/93.
He was not only great with bat and ball but was a great catcher of the leather ball as well. His accuracy with catching was high that he was nicknamed 'The Claw'.
The most famous Test for Davidson was the one against a touring West Indies side in the summer of 1960-61. The left-arm batter entered the match with a broken finger and finished it with the honour of becoming the first to take 10 wickets and score 100 runs in a Test.
With the ball he grabbed 5-135 and 6-87; with the bat, he posted 44 and 80, the second-innings contribution keeping the locals in the game which eventually ended in a tie.
The passing of Davidson has now meant that in less than 24 hours Australia lost two of its very famous Test cricketers as former Test off-spinner Ashley Mallett died on Friday at the age of 76.
"On behalf of Cricket Australia, and all those who benefitted from Alan's vast contribution across Australian cricket, I offer my deepest condolences to the Davidson family as well Alan's many close friends, colleagues and former teammates,” Cricket Australia chair Richard Freudenstein said in a statement.