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The Australian Services XI was a cricket team comprising solely military service personnel during World War II. They became active in May 1945 after the defeat of Nazi Germany. The team played matches against English cricket sides of both military and civilian origins to celebrate the end of the war. These matches were aimed at increasing morale in the war-ravaged English cities and as a means of reviving cricket after the conclusion of fighting. The end of the war marked the start of the 1945 cricket season.〔Perry, p. 102.〕 Plum Warner organised a series of matches between England and Australian servicemen, known as the Victory Tests, to celebrate the end of hostilities.〔Perry, p. 103.〕 However, Australian cricket administrators would not accredit the three-day matches as official Test matches,〔〔Pollard (1988), p. 366.〕 arguing that there were not enough Test-level players in the armed services; Lindsay Hassett was the only Australian who had Test experience.〔〔Whitington, p. 65.〕 The side was composed of an amalgam of a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) team, which had already been stationed in England during the war, and another group of mostly Australian Imperial Force (AIF) soldiers from Australia. The players were deliberately stationed with each other in England for the express purpose of forming a cricket team to tour the country, with Australian prime minister John Curtin pushing for the immediate resumption of international cricket after the war was over. The team was officially a military unit, led by Squadron Leader Stan Sismey, the team's wicket-keeper. England were close to full strength, so the AIF and the RAAF teams merged to strengthen their quality. As a result, the Australian Services cricket team was formed under the leadership of Warrant Officer Lindsay Hassett to compete in the Victory Tests.〔Perry, p. 104.〕 The Australian team, despite being split by rank and service, all took their place in the side in good spirit and not much was made of the fact that Hassett, a warrant officer who was outranked by almost every other member of the team, was appointed captain.〔〔Jaggard, p. 66.〕 The Victory Tests were greeted by packed English grounds, and raised a lot of money for war charities. Against expectations, the Australians managed to draw the series 2–2 against an England team filled with Test cricketers. As a result, the Australian government, cricket administrators and military officials ordered the team to travel home via India to play more fundraising matches, before finishing their campaign against the Australian state teams. By the time the team arrived in Australia they were extremely tired and their performances deteriorated, leading analysts who had not seen them in England to regard them as a weak team. == Personnel == The following cricketers played in at least one match.〔Jaggard, p. 77.〕 *Warrant Officer Lindsay Hassett (captain) (VIC) *Squadron Leader Stan Sismey (NSW) *Flying Officer Keith Miller (VIC) *Captain Richard Whitington (SA) *Flying Officer Jack Pettiford (NSW) *Flight Sergeant Jim Workman (SA) *Sergeant Cec Pepper (NSW) *Flight Lieutenant Keith Carmody (NSW) *Flight Lieutenant Ross Stanford (SA) *Flying Officer Bob Cristofani (NSW) *Flying Officer Eddie Williams (SA) *Sergeant Charles Price (NSW) *Warrant Officer Graham Williams (SA) *Flight Lieutenant Mick Roper (NSW) *Captain Albert Cheetham (NSW) *Flying Officer Reginald Ellis (SA) *Flying Officer Colin Bremner *Sergeant L.W. Maddison The manager was Flight Lieutenant Keith Johnson from New South Wales.〔 Only one player in the side, future Test captain Lindsay Hassett had Test match experience.〔 Keith Miller, Bob Cristofani, Cec Pepper, Keith Carmody, Ross Stanford, Albert Cheetham, Stan Sismey, Dick Whitington, and Graham Williams were the players who had previous first-class experience.〔 The spinner Reg Ellis and opening batsman Jack Pettiford had not prior experience at first-class level, but played for their states in Australia after making their debut for the Services. Charles Price and Jim Workman made their debut during the Australian Services campaign and never played first-class cricket afterwards.〔 Keith Miller, one of the ten inaugural inductees of the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame at the time only a batsman with Victoria, played what many consider to be his breakout series in the Victory Tests, ensuring that when he returned to Australia he would have a place in the Australian national team now referred to as ''The Invincibles''. In the batting department, Miller was the top-scorer; he scored 1,447 runs in 20 matches at an average of 49.89. Hassett scored 1,434 runs at 49.44 in 18 matches and top-scored for the whole campaign with 187. Opening batsman Whitington was the only other member of the team to score more than 1,000 runs. He totalled 1,054 runs at 35.13.〔 On the bowling front, Australia was heavily dependent on its spin attack. The left arm orthodox spinner Ellis took 72 wickets at 25.02, while the leg spinner Pepper took 71 wickets at 32.47. The third highest wicket-taker was Cristofani, also a leg spinner; he took 34 wickets at 30.73.〔Jaggard, p. 78.〕 Miller was the leading paceman, taking 29 wickets at 28.96.〔 For all rounders, Pepper also scored 987 runs at 36.55, while Cristofani added 558 runs at 27.90. Pettiford scored 768 runs at 38.40 and took 22 wickets at 41.86 with his leg spin.〔 Graham Williams, the team's main strike bowler, had only been released from a German prisoner of war camp weeks before the series started,〔Jaggard, p. 61.〕 and played at 31 kg (68 lb) below his pre-war playing weight. In between overs he drank glasses of glucose and water to keep his energy up,〔 but when he was unable to bowl Miller took his place and demonstrated what a valuable pace bowler he would become in the future himself. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Australian Services cricket team」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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