Barnes Sidney Image 5 New South Wales 1948

Description

Annandale, Sydney, New South Wales born right handed batsman and legbreak bowler Sidney Barnes was able to open the innings or bat down the order, although generally an opener. Barnes was regarded as one of Australia’s finest batsmen in the period immediately following the Second World War. He helped create an enduring record when scoring 234 in the second Test against England at Sydney in December 1946; exactly the same score as his captain, Don Bradman, in the process setting a world-record 405-run fifth wicket partnership. It was also his highest score in first class cricket. Barnes averaged 63.05 over 19 Test innings in a career that, like those of most of his contemporaries, was interrupted by Second World War years.

He made his first-class debut at the end of the 1936-37 season when selected for New South Wales, and having helped New South Wales win The Sheffield Shield by scoring 110 against Victoria, he was later included in the team for the 1938 Australian tour of England, making his Test debut in the final international of the series at The Oval. At the time he was described as “a confident batsman with a variety of strokes, he drives brilliantly, while as a defensive player he can be a throning in the side of any bowler”.

On the resumption of Test cricket after the War, he was picked as the opening partner to Arthur Morris. Barnes was a member of The Invincibles, the 1948 Australian team that toured England without losing a single match when he stood second in the Australian Test batting figures with an average of 82.25 and in all first-class matches. Retiring from cricket at the end of that tour, Barnes attempted a comeback to Test cricket in the 1951–52 season that was ultimately and controversially unsuccessful. He also had a brief spell with Burnley, the Lancashire League club, in 1947, but the contract was ended by mutual consent before the season ended.

In total he played 13 Test matches for Australia, scoring 1,072 runs at an impressive average of 63.05, with 3 centuries and 5 half centuries, also taking 4 wickets and 14 catches in Test match play. In 110 first class matches he scored 8,333 at an average of 54.11, with 26 centuries and 37 half centuries, also taking 57 wickets and 80 catches, with 4 stampings as an occasional wicket keeper.

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