57 Facts About Sid Barnes

Able to open the innings or bat down the order, Barnes was regarded as one of Australia's finest batsmen in the period immediately following World War II.

Sid Barnes averaged 63.05 over 19 innings in a career that, like those of most of his contemporaries, was interrupted by World War II.

Sid Barnes was a member of The Invincibles, the 1948 Australian team that toured England without losing a single match.

Sid Barnes had a reputation as an eccentric and was frequently the subject of controversy.

Sid Barnes was later involved in an incident where, acting as twelfth man, he performed his duties on the ground in a suit and tie, carrying a bizarre range of superfluous items.

Sid Barnes was born in 1916 in Annandale, an inner suburb of Sydney.

Sid Barnes attended Stanmore Public School and, although not a scholar, was a keen participant in sporting activities.

Sid Barnes's introduction to cricket came via his older brother, Horrie; Horrie was a useful batsman who played in the local Western Suburbs Churches league and paid Sid sixpence to bowl to him after he finished work.

An early controversy saw Sid Barnes suspended for three weeks for disputing an umpire's decision.

Sid Barnes made his first-class debut in the final Sheffield Shield match of the season, against South Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

Whilst fielding, Sid Barnes managed to find himself in controversy again, running out Vic Richardson, the opposition captain, after the end of the over was called.

The New South Wales captain Stan McCabe, whom Sid Barnes idolized, withdrew the appeal.

Sid Barnes finally scored his maiden first-class century against Victoria in the final game of the season, completing his hundred while bleeding profusely after being struck on the jaw by a ball delivered by Ernie McCormick.

Unfortunately for Sid Barnes, he broke his wrist while exercising on the sea voyage to England for the 1938 tour, keeping the injury secret until the tourists had departed Gibraltar, for fear of being sent home.

Sid Barnes scored 140 in a two-day match against Durham, which was not considered first-class.

Sid Barnes continued to play first-class cricket in Australia, before enlisting in the Second Australian Imperial Force in May 1942.

Sid Barnes met champion golfer Norman Von Nida early into his enlistment and the two were assigned to the 1st Armoured Division in Greta.

Von Nida and Sid Barnes remained friends and business partners for many years afterwards.

Sid Barnes discarded his aggressive and flamboyant shot-making and re-invented himself as a watchful, more defensive player, which made his scoring more prolific, although less crowd pleasing.

One of those was the match against the touring MCC team, and Sid Barnes was approached during the match about becoming an opening batsman for the forthcoming Test series.

Sid Barnes was first-choice as an opener with Arthur Morris throughout the Test series, although it was not until the Third Test that they had a first-wicket partnership of any substance.

The First Test at Brisbane was dominated by Australia, a pattern that was to be a feature of the series, although Sid Barnes contributed only 31 to the total of 645 which brought an innings victory.

Sid Barnes displayed his liking for slightly aggressive practical jokes in this match: during a break for a particularly ferocious thunderstorm, he.

Years later, Sid Barnes wrote about the effect this had on his batting style.

Sid Barnes was dismissed just four balls later, for 234, having batted for over ten hours.

Sid Barnes returned for the final Test and top-scored with 71 in Australia's first innings, adding 30 in the second.

Sid Barnes was worried that having played as a professional in the Lancashire League would damage his chance of further Test cricket, but at the same time suggested that he had offers from other Lancashire League teams to fall back on should he not be picked.

Sid Barnes made only 12 and 15, jeopardising his place, but what Wisden termed "another of his dour, determined but faultless innings for top score" in the New South Wales game against South Australia ensured a second chance.

Sid Barnes made a duck in the first innings but ensured success in the second, making 141.

When fielding, Sid Barnes stationed himself as close to the bat as possible at either forward short-leg or point.

The report of the tour in the 1949 edition of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, stated that Sid Barnes's fielding was as important a factor as his batting in The Invincibles' success:.

Sid Barnes thus played in four of the five Tests, missing the fourth Test through injury.

An important concern for Sid Barnes, when returning from the United Kingdom to Australia, was to avoid paying customs duties on the enormous amount of goods he acquired through various deals during the tour.

Sid Barnes played in Bradman's testimonial match at the MCG in December 1948, but otherwise made himself unavailable for first-class cricket, preferring to pursue business interests.

Sid Barnes wrote a regular column for Sydney's The Daily Telegraph, prosaically titled "Like It or Lump It", in which he often criticised the administration of the game and the amounts paid to Australia's leading cricketers.

Sid Barnes was one of a number of cricket writers of the immediate post-war era who adopted a confrontational tabloid style of journalism, in contrast to the more sedate reporting of the 1930s.

Sid Barnes approached Aubrey Oxlade, the chairman of Australian cricket's Board of Control, to ask if there was any impediment to his return to the Australian team.

Sid Barnes started the season solidly and, in the last match before the team for the third Test against the West Indies was chosen, he hit 107 against Victoria.

The Board vetoed the inclusion of Sid Barnes and requested the nomination of a replacement player.

Sid Barnes's form tapered off during the closing stages of the season and he finished with 433 first-class runs at an average of 39.36.

Nevertheless, the selectors overlooked him for the first Test and in the following state match, against South Australia at the Adelaide Oval, Sid Barnes offered to act as twelfth man to provide an opportunity for a younger player, Ray Flockton.

The crowd initially responded well to the joke, but their mood soured when the interval extended beyond its scheduled time and Sid Barnes received criticism for delaying the game.

The South Australian team, captained by future Australian selector Phil Ridings, officially complained to the New South Wales Cricket Association, which asked Sid Barnes to express regret over the incident.

Sid Barnes appeared just once more for New South Wales, against South Africa at New Year 1953, then made himself unavailable for selection, conceding that "his card had been marked".

Sid Barnes wrote Eyes on the Ashes, a book about the tour that included trenchant criticism of the behaviour of the Australian team, which did not go down well with some of his former team-mates.

Sid Barnes gripped the bat very low on the handle and bent over so far in his stance that the knuckles of his right hand were level with his knees.

Sid Barnes stood with his heels almost together and the toes of his left foot pointing toward extra cover, which left him open-chested when facing the bowler.

Sid Barnes married a school teacher, Alison Margaret Edward, on 11 June 1942.

Outside of cricket, Barnes followed his mother into property development and at various times entered into partnerships with Keith Miller and Norman Von Nida.

Sid Barnes's writing was of a provocative tone; his column in the Daily Express during the 1953 tour was called "The Aussie They Couldn't Gag".

Sid Barnes wrote The Ashes Ablaze in 1955, and turned to full-time writing, mostly for Sydney's The Daily Telegraph.

Sid Barnes's columns were perceived as being deliberately controversial, and, as time went by, increasingly regarded as carping.

Sid Barnes was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and treated with a combination of medication, mainly diazepam, and electroconvulsive therapy.

Sid Barnes spent much of his last years in and out of clinics seeking treatment for his condition.

In 1973, Sid Barnes died at his home in Collaroy, one of Sydney's northern beach suburbs, from barbiturate and bromide poisoning.

Sid Barnes's short career was dominated by his monumental double hundred, but he was a consistent performer, as the chart reveals.

In those series, Sid Barnes's averages bear comparison to Bradman's, particularly in the more combative Ashes series:.