William Morris Lawry was born on 11 February 1937 and is an Australian former cricketer who played for Victoria and Australia.
111 Facts About Bill Lawry
1.
2.
Bill Lawry captained Australia in 25 Test matches, winning nine, losing eight and drawing eight, and led Australia in the inaugural One Day International match, played in 1971.
3.
Bill Lawry was part of the Nine Network cricket commentary team until 2018, by which time he had been in the role for 45 years.
4.
Bill Lawry was given the names William Morris after the early Prime Minister of Australia, William Morris Hughes.
5.
Bill Lawry never saw his father play, who was aged 47 when Bill Lawry was born.
6.
Bill Lawry spent three years there, as well as playing for Preston Technical School.
7.
Bill Lawry was selected for Victoria's Second XI at the age of seventeen.
8.
Bill Lawry scored only three as the hosts took an innings victory and it was his only senior match of the season.
9.
Bill Lawry passed fifty only twice, scoring 51 against Queensland in his fourth first-class match, and making 74 against South Australia two games later.
10.
Bill Lawry made only one and seven against arch-rivals New South Wales in a low-scoring match that ended in the first tie in Sheffield Shield competitions.
11.
Bill Lawry bowled at first-class level for the first time, bowling two overs without success.
12.
Bill Lawry scored 85 and 33 and took his maiden first-class wicket in the next match against South Australia, but his form remained modest until the end of the season.
13.
Bill Lawry scored fifties in consecutive matches before registering his maiden first-class century, 127, against Western Australia, before scoring an unbeaten 38 in the second innings to see the Victorians to their target of 46.
14.
Bill Lawry ended with 666 runs at 44.40 for the season.
15.
Bill Lawry followed his double-century with scores of 66,83 and 85 in consecutive innings, and then ended the interstate season with a 134 against Queensland.
16.
Bill Lawry had scored 840 runs at 56.00 up to that point in the season and was selected for the tour of England.
17.
Bill Lawry scored 202 runs at 50.50 in three warm-up matches before the Australians departed for the British Isles.
18.
Bill Lawry was sent to England as a backup opening batsman for the incumbent pair of Colin McDonald and Bob Simpson, who had performed well against the pace attack of the West Indies during the previous season and were expected to be retained for the Tests.
19.
Batting for four and a half hours, Bill Lawry scored 165, reaching his century in three hours.
20.
Bill Lawry compiled 101 runs between lunch and tea, producing an array of powerful drives through the off side, while his hooking prompted Denis Compton to compare him to Don Bradman.
21.
Bill Lawry followed up with 100 and 24 not out in a nine-wicket triumph against Cambridge University and 104 on his first appearance at Lord's, against Marylebone Cricket Club, who boasted several Test players in their ranks.
22.
Bill Lawry added 72 against Oxford University, and in eight matches leading into the Tests, Lawry had totalled 720 runs at 80.00.
23.
Bill Lawry resisted for six hours, to register his maiden Test century of 130, while no other batsman on either side passed 66.
24.
Bill Lawry continued his fine form in the two matches before the next Test, scoring 70 and 35 against Somerset and 122 against Lancashire.
25.
Bill Lawry went on to make 102, helping to set a match-winning target before skittling England on the final afternoon.
26.
Bill Lawry made a duck in his only innings in the drawn final Test at The Oval, and scored 109 against the Gentlemen of England, but made only two fifties in the last six first-class fixtures of the tour.
27.
Nevertheless, Bill Lawry topped the batting aggregates with 2,019 runs at 61.18 in first-class matches and 420 at 52.50 in five Tests.
28.
Bill Lawry struck the most centuries on tour, with nine triple-figure scores.
29.
In spite of his team's poor form, Bill Lawry remained productive with the bat, particularly against the dominant New South Wales, whose many Test players swept them to a ninth successive Shield title.
30.
Bill Lawry scored centuries in both matches against South Australia and ended with three triple-figures scores and three fifties for the season.
31.
Between Tests, Bill Lawry scored 177 and 26 in a losing effort against the MCC for Victoria, and then made 133 in the next match against New South Wales, helping Victoria to an eight-wicket win, although he was jeered by an impatient gallery fed up with his slow batting.
32.
Bill Lawry did not pass fifty again in the series, ending the drawn series with 310 runs at 34.44.
33.
Bill Lawry obliged with an unbeaten 45 in four hours on the final day, even though "the crowd booed, barracked and slow-clapped".
34.
Bill Lawry ended the Australian season with 990 runs at 39.60.
35.
Bill Lawry began well with 43 and 87* in a drawn First Test at Brisbane overshadowed by the no-balling of Ian Meckiff.
36.
Bill Lawry then made his first century on home soil with 157 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in the first innings of the Second Test.
37.
Bill Lawry made another half century in the Third Test in Sydney, scoring 89 in the second innings to help Australia to a safe position after they had ceded a 42-run first innings lead.
38.
Bill Lawry then struck an unbeaten 187 for Victoria against the South Africans, but his form tailed away in the remaining two Tests, scoring 77 runs in the last two matches as the tourists won the Fourth Test by ten wickets to square the series.
39.
Bill Lawry ended the series with 496 runs at 55.11.
40.
Bill Lawry totalled 1340 runs at 67.00 for the season.
41.
Bill Lawry started where he left off last time, scoring 50 and 79 against Worcestershire and 106 and 39 not out against Gloucestershire in the first two matches.
42.
Bill Lawry ended with series with 317 runs at 39.62.
43.
Bill Lawry had struggled in the tour matches between the Tests; in 11 innings, he made three 60s and seven scores below 20.
44.
Bill Lawry made five centuries in the first-class matches on the tour.
45.
Bill Lawry batted consistently and defiantly against the Indian spin attack led by Bhagwat Chandrasekhar in three Tests, compiling three half centuries and two 40s without managing to convert any into a century.
46.
Bill Lawry was in fine form, striking four centuries, including triple-figure scores in both matches against South Australia.
47.
Bill Lawry made an unbeaten 143 in the second innings of the states' first meeting, staving off defeat after the Victorians fell 248 runs behind after the first innings.
48.
Bill Lawry then scored 246 and 87 not out in the second match to set up a 111-run win.
49.
Bill Lawry's team was not so successful, winning two and losing one of the seven matches.
50.
Bill Lawry ended the Sheffield Shield campaign with 788 runs at 98.50.
51.
Bill Lawry went on to make 210, his highest Test score, and added a further unbeaten 58 in the second innings of a high-scoring draw before Australia declared.
52.
Bill Lawry was consistent in the tour matches against the various countries of the West Indies, his lowest score being 49 in six innings.
53.
Bill Lawry made 62 and 134 not out against Trinidad and Tobago and ended with 423 runs at 84.60 in these matches.
54.
Bill Lawry was in fine form in the four lead-up matches, hitting 160 in the opening game of the season against South Australia and 153 and 61 for the Victorians against the Englishmen.
55.
Bill Lawry continued his run scoring in the Second Test at Melbourne, compiling 88 in the first innings.
56.
Bill Lawry made 47 as the hosts collapsed for 199 in their first innings and then compiled an unbeaten 126 in the second innings to help wipe out a deficit of 272 and prevent defeat.
57.
Bill Lawry scored 119 after combining in a record opening stand of 244 with Simpson in the Fourth Test in Adelaide to help level the series with an innings victory, the highest opening partnership for Australia against England and still the highest opening partnership against England at home.
58.
Bill Lawry continued his marathon season with a remarkable performance in the final of the Victorian district cricket season, playing for Northcote Cricket Club against the Essendon Cricket Club.
59.
Bill Lawry's innings took Australia to a 126-run first innings lead, but the hosts made 620 in their second innings.
60.
Bill Lawry then made 27 as Australia collapsed to a 333-run loss.
61.
Bill Lawry did have some success in the three remaining first-class matches, passing 50 in each one, including a 107 against Griqualand West.
62.
Bill Lawry had a productive summer with 369 runs at 52.71.
63.
Bill Lawry returned and made 27 and 46 in county matches before the final Fifth Test at The Oval.
64.
The innings was the first time that Bill Lawry attracted the derisive description of a "corpse with pads on".
65.
Bill Lawry finished the series with 270 runs at 38.57.
66.
Bill Lawry struggled for form in the tour matches after the start of the Tests, with only one century and fifty in 12 innings, including 135 against Essex.
67.
Bill Lawry responded with 205 in the Second Test at Melbourne, setting up a total of 510 after asking the tourists to bat first and forcing an innings victory to square the series.
68.
Bill Lawry had expected a pace onslaught after Australia's last trip to the Caribbean had ended in defeat, but Wes Hall and Charlie Griffith had begun to slow down, taking their wickets at an average over 40.
69.
The spectators lit fires and threw projectiles at the Australians after Bill Lawry refused to adjourn the match, contrary to police advice that warned them to run for their lives.
70.
Former Indian captain Lala Amarnath defended Bill Lawry, saying that he was not responsible for the umpiring error.
71.
Bill Lawry said that an Australian win was inevitable, so Lawry should have adjourned the game and defused the riot.
72.
Australia then completed a 96-run win over East Zone in Guwahati, Bill Lawry making 37 and 30.
73.
The Indian newspapers reported that Bill Lawry had knocked the man over and then struck him with his bat.
74.
Bill Lawry scored 120 in the first innings, his only century of the tour, as his colleagues collapsed to be all out for 195.
75.
Nevertheless, the series continued and Bill Lawry's men received a positive welcome upon arrival for the Fifth Test in Madras.
76.
Bill Lawry made 33 as Australia batted first and made 258, taking a 95-run lead.
77.
Bill Lawry had to survive investigation of his leadership by the Australian Board of Control in the light of adverse reports from the authorities of both India and South Africa.
78.
Bill Lawry scored 83 in the second innings, which was to be the highest Australian score for the series, an indication of his team's lack of batting form.
79.
Host captain Ali Bacher outwitted Bill Lawry by persuading the Australian skipper to toss long before the start of play.
80.
The laws of cricket allowed for the wicket to be mown up to half an hour before the start of play, so Bacher had talked Bill Lawry in tossing early so that he could change the pitch condition to advantage his team.
81.
Bill Lawry only managed 79 runs in the last two Tests, and passed 20 only once.
82.
Bill Lawry's men did not win any of the three matches against provincial sides after the start of the Tests, meaning that they went eight matches without victory.
83.
The dispute was the genesis of WSC, and on the team's return to Australia, Bill Lawry sent the Board a letter expressing player grievances.
84.
Apart from media criticism of the team's performances, Bill Lawry was slated for refusing to make a speech at the end of the series and refusing a gift from an umpire at the end of the Fourth Test.
85.
Bill Lawry had personal differences with Ian Chappell, Doug Walters, Ashley Mallett and Brian Taber, which reduced morale and led to a deterioration in Australia's performances on the field.
86.
Bill Lawry was to bow out of international cricket in one of the most acrimonious series in Test history.
87.
Bill 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.
88.
Bill Lawry had been under pressure after a highly critical report by team manager Fred Bennett.
89.
Bill 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.
90.
The First Test in Brisbane was drawn after both teams had passed 400 in the first innings, the visitors taking a 31-run lead, but not before Bill Lawry had top-scored with 84 in the second innings as his team collapsed to be all out for 214.
91.
The Second Test was drawn after England made 397 and Australia replied with 440, Bill Lawry making a duck and 38 not out as the hosts batted out the match in the second innings.
92.
Australia won the inaugural match by five wickets with five overs to spare, Bill Lawry making 27 in his only ODI.
93.
Bill Lawry's critics became more vocal, despite a defiant unbeaten 60 carrying his bat as Australia collapsed and fell for 116 in the second innings.
94.
Bill Lawry had batted for more than 24 hours in the series, averaging around 13 runs an hour.
95.
Bill Lawry was not informed privately by the Board and only found out after his axing was made public.
96.
Bill Lawry first heard the news on the radio and the selectors were much maligned in the press as a result.
97.
Bill Lawry never played for Australia again, despite being only 33 years old and averaging 47.15, but immediately began his almost 50-year career as a commentator in the Seventh Test, saying, "Well, I suppose we all have to get around to it some day".
98.
Bill Lawry played out the remaining two matches of the season for Victoria, scoring two fifties.
99.
Bill Lawry scored 116 not out against Western Australia and added four further fifties, three against South Australia.
100.
Bill Lawry added his only limited-overs century during the summer, scoring 108 not out in a win over South Australia.
101.
Bill Lawry totalled 488 runs at 44.36 for the first-class season, but was not recalled to the Test team during the summer.
102.
Bill Lawry just kept that long, sharp nose religiously over the ball, accumulating at his own deliberate gait, and in particular tucking everything away off his pads whenever the English bowlers bowled there, as all too often they did.
103.
Bill Lawry was fast between the wickets, and the pair were especially well known for their understanding, as exemplified by their fluency in rotating the strike with quick singles.
104.
Bill Lawry had little bend in his knees, and as a result batted with a stoop over his bat.
105.
Bill Lawry used his long reach to blunt spin bowling.
106.
Bill Lawry played with a very straight bat, combining well-organised defence with a somewhat limited range of strokes, marked by an efficiency of placement and an unusually heavy reliance on the hook shot.
107.
Bill Lawry's strengths were regarded as his composure and intense concentration which powered a relentless single-mindedness.
108.
Bill Lawry was a left-hander during his winter baseball recreation, which equipped him with a powerful throwing arm.
109.
Bill 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.
110.
From 2013, Bill Lawry scaled back his ball-by-ball commentary to international matches played in Melbourne such as the Boxing Day Test, and in Sydney for the New Year Test.
111.
In 2010, Bill Lawry was inducted into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame.