1. Donald Tallon was an Australian cricketer who played 21 Test matches as a wicket-keeper between 1946 and 1953.
125 Facts About Don Tallon
1. 2.
Don Tallon was widely regarded by his contemporaries as Australia's finest ever wicket-keeper and one of the best in Test history, with an understated style, an ability to anticipate the flight, length and spin of the ball and an efficient stumping technique.
3.
Don Tallon played in the first Test before being replaced by Gil Langley, this time permanently.
4.
Don Tallon retired from first-class cricket in 1953 and returned to Bundaberg, assisting his brother in running a corner store.
5.
Don Tallon was born on 17 February 1916 in the Queensland coastal sugar and rum town of Bundaberg, 400 kilometres north of Brisbane.
6.
Don Tallon learned to play cricket on a backyard wicket with his three brothers and father Les, an iron moulder at the Bundaberg foundry, who played as a slow bowler in the local cricket competition.
7.
Don Tallon was formally trained as a wicket-keeper at North Bundaberg State School where he and his brothers were coached by Tom O'Shea, a teacher and former Sheffield Shield wicket-keeper.
8.
Don Tallon became the primary school's wicket-keeper at the age of seven, playing with and against boys aged 11 and 12.
9.
Don Tallon learned to keep to the leg spin of his brother Bill, who went on to represent Queensland.
10.
Don Tallon later said of his decision to become a wicket-keeper, "You are never out of the game, and that suits me fine".
11.
Don Tallon was captain of his school team at the age of 11 and rose to become captain of Queensland Schoolboys aged 13.
12.
Don Tallon played in Bundaberg's A grade adult team at 14, and came to the attention of state selectors when Bundaberg played a team captained by Test player Alan Kippax in 1931.
13.
In England's innings of 376, Don Tallon conceded only five byes and stumped Herbert Sutcliffe, regarded as one of the finest batsmen in Test history.
14.
Don Tallon did not get a chance to display his batting prowess as the Bodyline spearhead Harold Larwood rattled him with a series of deliveries aimed at the throat, before bowling him for two.
15.
Don Tallon distinguished himself with his tidy keeping to the express pace bowling of Eddie Gilbert, whose suspect action and indigenous heritage were later the subject of controversy.
16.
Don Tallon made his first-class debut for Queensland at 17 against Victoria in December 1933, having never previously attended a first-class match as a spectator.
17.
Don Tallon conceded only six byes and took a catch in an innings of 542 in a tidy performance, and made 17 and three in an innings defeat, but was dropped after the match.
18.
Don Tallon reclaimed his position when Queensland returned for their home games and from then on was the first-choice wicket-keeper for the state.
19.
Don Tallon played in five matches for the season, and Queensland lost four and won none.
20.
Don Tallon took four catches, made two stumpings and scored 216 runs at 24.00 in innings, although he did score four ducks.
21.
Towards the end of 1934, Don Tallon moved to Brisbane, where he worked as a storeman for a car company.
22.
Don Tallon started well with 58 in a drawn match against New South Wales, and then scored 45 and made six dismissals in an innings as Queensland fell to an innings defeat against the Marylebone Cricket Club, including five stumpings.
23.
Don Tallon then made four dismissals in an innings in the next match against Victoria.
24.
Don Tallon was prominent in the next match against South Australia in Adelaide.
25.
The match was mainly noted for Bradman's 233 but Don Tallon impressed him by taking two particularly difficult catches, one of which dismissed the Australian captain himself.
26.
Bradman praised Don Tallon for conceding only seven byes in a total of 642, particularly his ability to take balls passing down the leg side.
27.
Don Tallon followed this with 51 in a defeat to New South Wales.
28.
The highlight of Don Tallon's season was his highest first-class score of 193, against Victoria in Brisbane, in the last fixture of the season, a match in which he took five catches in an innings.
29.
Don Tallon's innings played a large part in the hosts' saving of the match after conceding a lead of 252 on the first innings.
30.
Nevertheless, it was another unsuccessful season for Queensland; Don Tallon did not experience a win and suffered losses in three of his six matches.
31.
Don Tallon was selected in Bradman's XI for a one-off match against Victor Richardson's XI at the start of the season.
32.
Don Tallon took three catches but was unable to capitalise with the bat.
33.
Don Tallon made three and was unbeaten without scoring in the second innings as Bradman's men reached their target.
34.
Don Tallon had a final chance to push for selection in two matches for an Australian XI and Queensland respectively, against Gubby Allen's Englishmen before the Tests.
35.
Don Tallon made a total of seven dismissals but scored only 49 runs in three innings.
36.
Don Tallon remained consistent for Queensland, making 22 dismissals in total for the season.
37.
Don Tallon scored 101 against South Australia and 96 against Victoria, but both matches were lost.
38.
Don Tallon scored 204 runs at 22.66 without managing a half-century and made 17 dismissals.
39.
Don Tallon's omission was overshadowed by that of Grimmett, regarded alongside Bill O'Reilly as the world's leading legspinner.
40.
In reality, Don Tallon stood back and stood up to the stumps depending on the situation.
41.
Don Tallon made eight dismissals in the opening match of the Sheffield Shield campaign against New South Wales, but the visitors hung on for a draw with one wicket in hand.
42.
Don Tallon's dozen included three stumpings and he was at the crease when Queensland hit the winning runs to complete their first victory in two years.
43.
Don Tallon did not concede a bye in the innings of 348, and scored 44 as Queensland completed an innings win.
44.
Don Tallon finished the season with 34 dismissals in six matches, setting a new Australian season record.
45.
Don Tallon took more than five dismissals in an innings in four of the ten innings in which he kept wicket.
46.
Observers noted Don Tallon to be more motivated than ever; his catching and stumping style became more animated, and his appealing reached new levels of sound.
47.
Don Tallon was only 23 and regarded as an almost certain selection following his record-breaking performance with both bat and gloves.
48.
Don Tallon scored two fifties before scoring 154 in his last Sheffield Shield innings of the season.
49.
Don Tallon was selected for The Rest of Australia in a one-off match against New South Wales at the end of the season, but managed only a duck and eight.
50.
Don Tallon ended the summer with 401 runs at 28.62 and 17 dismissals.
51.
Don Tallon scored 55 and completed four dismissals as Queensland started with a 27-run loss to New South Wales.
52.
Don Tallon then starred in a match for combined Queensland and Victoria team against New South Wales.
53.
Don Tallon scored 55 and 152 and completed four dismissals, but was unable to prevent a one-wicket loss.
54.
Don Tallon ended with 379 runs at 42.11 and made 16 dismissals in five matches.
55.
Don Tallon was discharged in 1943 as a private and was not decorated.
56.
Don Tallon's discharge was due to stomach ulcers and he later had a major operation to remove part of his stomach.
57.
Don Tallon then scored 74 to guide Queensland to the target of 270 with four wickets in hand.
58.
Queensland won two of their seven matches and Don Tallon scored 305 runs at 30.50 and completed 27 dismissals to finally gain national selection.
59.
Don Tallon made his Test debut in a one-off Test against New Zealand at Wellington in March 1946, although the match was only given Test accreditation two years later.
60.
Don Tallon made a stumping, a run out and took a catch.
61.
Don Tallon had rarely kept to O'Reilly's leg spin and impressed the bowler, who compared him with Oldfield.
62.
Don Tallon scored 123 runs at 41.00 and made 12 dismissals.
63.
Don Tallon staked his claim for the Test wicket-keeping position in Queensland's second match of the season, which was against MCC.
64.
Don Tallon combined with McCool in four stumpings and two catches, and in the process took his first-class tally to 170 dismissals his 50th first-class match.
65.
Don Tallon's proficiency keeping wicket to McCool's bowling was now a major factor in his favour for national selection, because McCool had established himself as Australia's first-choice spinner since the retirement of O'Reilly.
66.
Don Tallon was duly selected for the First Test of the series in Brisbane.
67.
In First Test at Brisbane Don Tallon took two catches but scored only 14 in a victory.
68.
Don Tallon was worried that his poor batting might lead to him being replaced, but he was retained as Australia secured an innings victory in Sydney.
69.
The only negative aspect of the match for Don Tallon was that he dislocated his finger.
70.
Beyond the raw statistics, two of the catches that Don Tallon made in the first innings were regarded as among his finest ever and turned the tide of the match.
71.
Don Tallon declared to Bradman that he intended to dismiss Hutton down the leg side, so Bradman brought off spinner Ian Johnson into the attack immediately after lunch.
72.
Don Tallon turned around and was shocked to see that Tallon had intercepted the ball from a blind position at a range of just one metre.
73.
Bradman introduced McCool and Compton misjudged a cut shot which went wide of Don Tallon and struck Johnson, fielding at slip, in the chest.
74.
Don Tallon now felt secure about his place in the team for the rest of the series.
75.
Lindwall reached his century, but Don Tallon fell for 92 to Doug Wright.
76.
The England openers Len Hutton and Cyril Washbrook had put on 100 in the second innings when Don Tallon caught Washbrook, scooping up a ball from Lindwall.
77.
Don Tallon was known for his impetuous appealing - "he was often roaring before he had studied facts and it was his over-eagerness that brought about the shocking decision" - and this caused an umpiring controversy.
78.
Later in the match Don Tallon missed a vital stumping off the England wicketkeeper Godfrey Evans, who stayed put for 95 minutes without making a run.
79.
Don Tallon stumped Compton again, but he was given not out and went on to make an unbeaten 103 in a match-saving stand of 85 with Evans.
80.
Don Tallon's keeping was further lauded in the second innings of the Fifth Test, when he stumped Edrich, Jack Ikin and Alec Bedser from McCool's bowling.
81.
Don Tallon scored 54 and claimed seven dismissals in a Queensland win over South Australia.
82.
Outside the Tests, Don Tallon scored 229 runs at 22.90 and made 15 dismissals in six matches for Queensland.
83.
Don Tallon's form saw him selected for the 1948 Ashes tour as part of the side that would become known to cricket history as the Invincibles.
84.
Don Tallon was the first-choice wicket-keeper, with Saggers as his deputy.
85.
Don Tallon did not wet his inner gloves as was his custom due to the temperature.
86.
Early in the tour, Don Tallon struck an unbeaten 17 on a damp pitch in a low-scoring match as Australia defeated Yorkshire by four wickets.
87.
Don Tallon had difficulty with the English conditions early in the season as he sustained a bruised right finger when he lost sight of a Ray Lindwall bouncer on a misty morning during a tour match against Surrey at The Oval and was hit as he put hand over his face for protection, with the ball running away for four byes.
88.
Don Tallon took four catches, including two difficult ones to dismiss key batsmen at the start of the second innings.
89.
Don Tallon thus helped Australia to seize the initiative by denying England a good start, which was converted into an eight-wicket victory.
90.
Bradman described the catch as "miraculous" because Don Tallon had to reach so low, so quickly, in order to take the catch.
91.
However, Don Tallon conceded 16 byes in England's total of 186.
92.
Australia won the Test, and Don Tallon was rested ahead of the next Test to allow his finger to recover.
93.
The teams played out a draw in the third match at Manchester, where Don Tallon dismissed George Emmett from the bowling of Ray Lindwall with a diving one-handed catch.
94.
Don Tallon dropped Compton three times, allowing the English batsman to go from 50 to 145 not out as he held the hosts' first innings together.
95.
Don Tallon's little left finger swelled up after the Third Test and he exacerbated the injury during a tour match against Middlesex, ruling him out of the Fourth Test at Headingley, which Australia won to secure the series.
96.
Don Tallon returned for the Fifth Test at The Oval, taking three catches, including an acrobatic catch of Len Hutton down the leg side that was considered the catch of the season.
97.
Don Tallon never bowled in his Test career and only rarely in first-class cricket, where he delivered 301 balls, the approximate workload of a specialist bowler in one match.
98.
The Australian team strategy of primarily depending on pace bowling saw Don Tallon make 12 catches and no stumpings during the Tests; however, Bradman rested his lead pace bowlers Miller and Lindwall during the tour games to save energy for the Tests and allowed the spinners do more work, so that overall Don Tallon took 29 catches and 14 stumpings for the tour.
99.
Don Tallon featured in a tenth-wicket partnership of 100 with Geff Noblet, who scored only nine as Tallon farmed the strike effectively.
100.
Queensland lost more than they won during the season, but Don Tallon continued to be productive, scoring 453 runs at 34.85 and making 26 dismissals in seven matches.
101.
Don Tallon's place was taken by Saggers, who made 21 dismissals in the five Tests.
102.
Don Tallon ended with 349 runs at 43.63 and 11 dismissals in six matches.
103.
Don Tallon was selected for a brief tour of New Zealand at the end of the season with an Australian Second XI led by Bill Brown, and scored 116 in an unofficial Test in Dunedin.
104.
Many of the matches during the tour were not first-class but in one such game, Don Tallon scored 70 not out as Australia defeated Otago by an innings.
105.
Don Tallon took only eight catches, but kept tidily to retain his place in the team.
106.
Don Tallon walked out and was dismissed for a low score after attempting to attack the English bowlers, leaving his skipper displeased.
107.
Don Tallon did not play a first-class match because of lack of his fitness.
108.
Don Tallon totalled 508 runs at 33.87 for the season and made 33 dismissals in eight matches, including seven in one fixture against Western Australia, but failed to taste victory in a single Queensland match.
109.
Don Tallon's omission angered Queensland fans, who relentlessly heckled the Australians during the First Test against the tourists in Brisbane, making fun of the mistakes made by Tallon's replacement Gil Langley in particular.
110.
Don Tallon was selected for the 1953 tour of England, and scored 76 against Tasmania before the tourists departed.
111.
Don Tallon took two catches and scored a duck and 15.
112.
Still troubled by stomach ulcers, Don Tallon played in another eight first-class matches for the tour, scoring 119 runs at 19.83.
113.
Don Tallon's most notable effort was an unbeaten 83 in an innings win over Kent.
114.
Don Tallon scored 21 and 54 not out in a drawn match against New South Wales.
115.
Don Tallon continued to play local cricket in Bundaberg for another decade.
116.
In 21 Tests, Don Tallon kept wicket in 41 innings, making 58 dismissals at an average of 1.41 per innings.
117.
Don Tallon had an understated style, which was without flourish or flamboyancy.
118.
Don Tallon was known for his anticipation of the flight, length and spin of the ball.
119.
Don Tallon was particularly regarded for his stumping efficiency and his ability to catch balls down the leg side.
120.
Don Tallon often stood up to the stumps for medium pace bowlers and he had a textbook stumping technique in which he lifted the bails without disturbing the stumps.
121.
Don Tallon's crouch was more pronounced than most other keepers and he rebounded upwards further and faster than others.
122.
Don Tallon had a particularly smooth and graceful catching technique that left his hands undamaged from the ball's impact, the injury in England in 1948 being a notable exception that proved the rule.
123.
Don Tallon was a vociferous and frequent appealer behind the stumps, something that led to complaints from opposition batsmen who felt that the pressure he exerted was unfair.
124.
In retirement, Don Tallon helped his younger brother Mat in running a corner store in Bundaberg.
125.
Don Tallon died of heart disease on 7 September 1984.