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Robert Neil Harvey MBE (born 8 October 1928) is a former Australian cricketer who represented the Australian cricket team between 1948 and 1963, playing in 79 Test matches. He was the vice-captain of the team from 1957 until his retirement. An attacking left-handed batsman, sharp fielder and occasional off-spin bowler, Harvey was the senior batsman in the Australian team for much of the 1950s and was regarded by Wisden as the finest fielder of his era. Upon his retirement, Harvey was the second-most prolific Test run-scorer and century-maker for Australia. One of six cricketing brothers, four of whom represented Victoria, Harvey followed his elder brother Merv into Test cricket and made his debut in January 1948, aged 19 and three months. In his second match, he became the youngest Australian to score a Test century, a record that still stands. Harvey was the youngest member of the 1948 Invincibles of Don Bradman to tour England, regarded as one of the finest teams in history. After initially struggling in English conditions, he made a century on his Ashes debut. Harvey started his career strongly, with six centuries in his first thirteen Test innings at an average over 100, including four in 1949–50 against South Africa, including a match-winning 151 not out on a sticky wicket. As Bradman's team broke up in the 1950s due to retirements, Harvey became Australia's senior batsman, and was named as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1954, in recognition of his feat in scoring more than 2,000 runs during the 1953 tour of England. In 1957 he was passed over for the captaincy and was named as the deputy of Ian Craig, who had played just six matches, as Australia sought to rebuild the team with a youth policy following a decline in the team. Craig later offered to demote himself due to poor form, but Harvey prevented him from doing so. Craig fell ill the following season, but Harvey moved interstate and Richie Benaud was promoted to the captaincy ahead of him. Harvey continued in the deputy's role until the end of his career, and was captain for only one Test match. In the Second Test at Lord's in 1961, when Benaud was injured, Harvey led the team in the "Battle of the Ridge" on an erratic surface, grinding out a hard fought victory. Only Bradman had scored more runs and centuries for Australia at the time of Harvey's retirement. Harvey was best known for his extravagant footwork and flamboyant stroke play, as well as his fielding. Harvey was particularly known for his innings in conditions unfavourable to batting, performing when his colleagues struggled, such as his 151 not out in Durban, his 92 not out in Sydney in 1954–55 and his 96 on the matting in Dhaka. In retirement, he became a national selector for twelve years but in recent times is best known for his strident criticism of modern cricket. In 2000, he was inducted into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame in and selected in the Australian Cricket Board's Team of the Century. In 2009, Harvey was one of the 55 inaugural inductees into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame. == Early years == Harvey was the fifth of six boys born to Horace Harvey. Despite his small build, Harvey was born large, weighing in at .〔Robinson, p. 258.〕 The family lived in Broken Hill, where Horace was a miner, before moving to Sydney, and finally to Melbourne in 1926, where they settled in the inner northern industrial suburb of Fitzroy. There the six boys were taught cricket under the guidance of their father. In conditions conducive to producing batsmen rather than bowlers, they played cricket using a tennis ball on cobblestones or a marble rebounding from the backyard pavement. The boys went to George Street State School and Falconer Street Central School.〔〔Mallett, p. 170.〕 Cricket and cricket talk was an integral part of the daily family life. Horace held the family batting record with 198 for Broken Hill, and continued to play in Melbourne club cricket. Harvey's eldest brother Merv went on to play one Test for Australia, while Mick and Ray both played for Victoria. All six brothers, the other two being Brian and Harold also played for Fitzroy in district cricket. Except for Harold, all five represented Victoria in baseball.〔〔 Harvey played his first game aged nine as a wicket-keeper in the North Fitzroy Central School team, the average age of which was 14. In a school final, he once made 112 of the total of 140. Aged twelve, he joined the local Fitzroy club and rose to the first grade team when he was fourteen.〔〔 By this stage he had transferred to Collingwood Technical School. On the advice of the Victorian coach, Arthur Liddicut, Harvey stopped wicket-keeping to focus on his batting. Joe Plant another Fitzroy veteran also gave advice on batting. Both Liddicut and Plant identified Harvey's potential as a batsman." What they liked about him was his modesty, his eagerness to pick up every point in the game, and his willingness to listen to the old hands."〔The Argus November 1950 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article23020667〕 Briefly playing for Fitzroy Football Club, Harvey gave up the sport and played baseball during winter.〔 After leaving school, Harvey worked as an apprentice fitter and turner for the Melbourne City Council.〔 The apprenticeship was supposed to take three years, but it eventually took six years because Harvey's cricket career caused frequent absences.〔Haigh, p. 21.〕 First-class cricket had been cancelled during World War II and resumed in 1945–46.〔Harte, pp. 388–393.〕 At the start of the season, Harvey was selected for a trial match. The Victorian state team played against the Rest of Victoria, and Harvey represented the latter. However, he made a duck in his only innings and was not selected for the senior state side during the season.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.cricketarchive.com/cgi-bin/player_oracle_reveals_results2.cgi?playernumber=813&opponentmatch=exact&playername=Meckiff&resulttype=All&matchtype=All&teammatch=exact&startwicket=&homeawaytype=All&opponent=&endwicket=&wicketkeeper=&searchtype=InningsList&endscore=&playermatch=contains&branding=cricketarchive&captain=&endseason=&startscore=&team=&startseason= )〕 An aggressive 113 for Fitzroy against Melbourne Cricket Club in 1946–47 saw Harvey selected for the Victorian team at the age of 18.〔 He made 18 in his only innings during his first-class debut against Tasmania. In the next match against Tasmania, Harvey made his maiden first-class century, scoring 154.〔 He said that his effort was inspired by elder brother Merv, who gained Test selection in the same year.〔Perry, p. 227.〕 At the time, Tasmania was not part of Sheffield Shield,〔 and Harvey made his Shield debut against New South Wales. He was dismissed without scoring in the first innings before making 49 in the second innings in an emphatic 298-run win over their arch-rivals.〔 Victoria went on to win the title convincingly. His next match for Victoria was against Wally Hammond's English tourists. After the fall of three early wickets, Harvey joined captain Lindsay Hassett. He dominated a partnership of 120, making 69 in his second match against the guileful leg spin of Doug Wright. His opponents had no doubt that he would become a Test player.〔 English wicket-keeper Godfrey Evans congratulated him by proclaiming "We'll be seeing you in England next year (Australia's 1948 tour of that country )".〔 He ended his debut first-class season with 304 runs at 50.66.〔 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「Neil Harvey」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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