128 Facts About Stan McCabe

Stanley Joseph McCabe was an Australian cricketer who played 39 Test matches for Australia from 1930 to 1938.

Stan McCabe was never dropped from the Australian Test team and was known for his footwork, mastery of fast bowling and the hook shot against the Bodyline strategy.

Stan McCabe regularly bowled medium-pace and often opened the bowling at a time when Australia lacked fast bowlers, using an off cutter.

Stan McCabe was one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1935.

At the age of 19, Stan McCabe was called up for the 1930 tour of England despite being yet to score his maiden first-class century as the selectors chose the youngest ever team to leave Australia.

Stan McCabe made his first century in a warm-up match but struggled in his month in England, scoring only 51 runs.

Stan McCabe's performance began to improve after adjusting his technique and he played in all five Tests, although he continued to have problems converting starts into large scores, failing to make a century during the tour.

Stan McCabe managed to maintain his position over the next two home seasons, playing in all ten Tests, but failed to make a century, and after 15 Tests, his average was below 35 although he had become increasingly successful at first-class level.

Stan McCabe ended the series as the only Australian other than Bradman to score a century.

Stan McCabe missed most of the next season due to illness, but was retained for the 1934 tour of England despite his interrupted preparation.

Stan McCabe scored 2,078 runs and eight centuries for the tour, including his maiden Test century in England.

Stan McCabe served in the military in a clerical position for a year before he was discharged due to chronic feet problems.

Stan McCabe was plagued by poor health in his middle age, and was hospitalised for a liver ailment shortly before his death.

Stan McCabe died at the age of 58 after falling off a cliff adjacent to his home in Mosman.

Stan McCabe's paternal grandparents settled in Grenfell, New South Wales in the 1850s; his grandfather Constable Edward James Stan McCabe was an Irish policeman who immigrated to Australia and served in the Victorian Police.

Stan McCabe's obituary described her as "one of the greatest of the pioneer women of the Australian bush, possessing all the qualities of self-sacrifice, resourcefulness, industry, determination, and courage that left their mark on the Australian race and laid the foundation of the nation".

The son of local barber William "Bill", Stan McCabe was the third of four brothers, who grew up playing local cricket in his hometown.

At the age of 14, Stan McCabe won a scholarship to the Catholic St Joseph's College, Hunters Hill in Sydney due to his sporting ability.

Stan McCabe did not make a good start, registering a duck in his first innings.

Stan McCabe was always short, and playing against boys three years his senior, he could not rely on brute force.

Stan McCabe did not receive special coaching attention from the school's staff, who merely encouraged him to hit the ball hard and along the ground.

Stan McCabe studied hard and placed first in the class in each of his three years at St Joseph's.

Stan McCabe returned to Grenfell at the end of the 1926, and spent two years playing for the Grenfell Juniors, alongside his brothers.

In 1927, Stan McCabe's cricket came to high-level attention for the first time.

Later, the Test leg spinner Arthur Mailey led a team that included Test player Tommy Andrews to Grenfell, and Stan McCabe scored 62,35 and 62 not out in three innings against them.

Stan McCabe made 92 not out in one match, but failed to pass 12 in six other innings.

At the start of the following season, Stan McCabe appeared with the New South Wales Colts team in one match against Queensland, before being selected for the New South Wales Second XI to play their Victorian counterparts.

Stan McCabe made 60 and 34, and bowled 17 overs without success, but was later omitted when the Test players returned from international duty.

Stan McCabe played twice against the touring England cricket team led by Percy Chapman, once in a match at Goulburn for the Southern Districts of New South Wales, and the other time for his state, but managed only 24 runs in three innings.

Stan McCabe settled in Sydney permanently in 1929, representing Mosman Cricket Club in Sydney Grade Cricket.

Stan McCabe passed 50 on eight occasions in the first eight matches of the season, and reached 29 in ten of his 12 innings, but failed to make a century, falling seven times between 60 and 90.

Nevertheless, Stan McCabe was selected to the 1930 tour of England under Bill Woodfull's Australian cricket team.

One of the reasons that Stan McCabe was chosen despite his lack of centuries was his medium pace bowling.

On his first overseas trip, Stan McCabe struggled badly in his first four weeks in England.

Stan McCabe added 65 in the next match against Hampshire and starred with both bat and ball against Cambridge University, the final tour match before the First Test.

Stan McCabe made his Test debut in the first match of the Ashes series at Trent Bridge, Nottingham.

Stan McCabe scored 44 and an unbeaten 25 as Australia squared the series with a seven-wicket triumph in the Second Test at Lords.

Stan McCabe took one wicket in the deciding match, bowling leading English batsman Wally Hammond for 13.

Stan McCabe continued his habit of failing to convert his starts into centuries in the tour matches after the start of the Tests.

On two occasions, Stan McCabe took more than two wickets in an innings.

Stan McCabe scored 90 in the First Test at the Adelaide Oval as Australia took victory by ten wickets.

Stan McCabe managed 21 and 44 as the tourists took their only Test victory of their first Test tour to Australia.

Stan McCabe totalled 196 runs at 32.66 and took three wickets at 42.00.

Undeterred, Stan McCabe came in and bravely counterattacked in a display that featured many aggressive hook and cut shots.

Stan McCabe scored 22 and 71 and took two wickets in the Third Test win in Melbourne, but managed only two runs and three wickets in the last two Tests, which Australia won by an innings.

Stan McCabe ended the series with 201 runs at 33.50 and nine wickets at 22.77.

Stan McCabe ended the season with 783 runs at 87.00 and 19 wickets at 23.94.

Stan McCabe played in 48 of the matches; he scored eight centuries and averaged 54 with the bat.

Stan McCabe took seven or more wickets in an innings 12 times including 12 in one innings, and totalled 189 wickets at an average of six.

Stan McCabe hooked the first ball he received from Bodyline spearhead Harold Larwood for a boundary.

Stan McCabe's innings was marked by dangerous cutting and compulsive hooking of short-pitched deliveries in front of his face, unfazed by the repeated body blows which hit his teammates.

Stan McCabe struck three consecutive fours from Allen's conventional fast bowling, prompting Jardine to call for Bodyline field placings.

Stan McCabe said that "it was really an impulsive, senseless innings, a gamble that should not have been made but came off against all the odds".

Stan McCabe scored 60 of the 70 runs that Australia added on the second day to finish 187 not out from 233 balls as Australia were bowled out for 360.

Stan McCabe added the runs in just one hour of batting and ended with 25 boundaries in his innings, which lasted a little over four hours.

Stan McCabe was particularly effectively in farming the strike while batting with his tail end partners; in his last wicket stand of 55 with Tim Wall, he scored 50 of the runs in just half an hour.

Wisden reported that Stan McCabe "scored off Larwood's bowling in a style which for daring and brilliance was not approached by any other Australian during the tour".

Immediately after the innings, Stan McCabe told his teammates that he would never be able to replicate the feat because it was too difficult to hook the ball consistently without hitting it up into the air and giving away catching opportunities.

Stan McCabe stepped into the [trajectory of the] bowling, he hooked, he pulled, and did what he liked with it.

Stan McCabe was one of the few Australians to make any impact in the second innings, making 32 as Australia fell for 164.

Stan McCabe was unable to repeat his performances in the later Tests.

Stan McCabe made 32 and a duck as Australia gained its only victory in the Second Test in Melbourne, before managing only 57 runs in the next four innings as Australia suffered consecutive defeats.

Stan McCabe scored 73 in the first innings of the Fifth Test in Sydney as Australia compiled 435, but scored only four in a second innings collapse, leaving England with an eight-wicket victory.

Stan McCabe had persisted with his strategy of standing his ground attacking the Bodyline bowling, but was unsuccessful.

Stan McCabe took three wickets at 71.66, and opened the bowling in some of the matches due to Australia's lack of fast bowling.

Away from the tumult of Bodyline, Stan McCabe played in five of New South Wales' six Sheffield Shield matches, and he scored 348 runs at 49.71 with four fifties and took 11 wickets at 17.54.

The selectors nevertheless chose him for the 1934 tour of England, and Stan McCabe returned to make 119 and 27 in two matches for the touring party against Tasmania before they departed for the northern hemisphere.

Stan McCabe then scored 192 against the Marylebone Cricket Club at Lord's, combining with Ponsford in a record partnership for the third wicket of 389, in what was effectively a dress rehearsal for the Tests; the MCC fielded almost a full-strength England team.

Between Tests, Stan McCabe registered his fifth century of the season, making an unbeaten 105 in the second innings as Australia defeated the Gentlemen of England by eight wickets.

Stan McCabe then scored 34 and 19 as England struck back with an innings victory at Lord's.

Stan McCabe then scored his first Test century on English soil during the high-scoring draw in the Third Test at Old Trafford, compiling 137 and 33 not out.

Stan McCabe made 27 in the rain-affected draw in the Fourth Test, the culmination of a quiet fortnight in which he failed to pass 30.

Stan McCabe aggregated 483 runs at 60.37 and took four wickets in the Tests.

Stan McCabe was forced to retire hurt when on five, and he missed more than two months of cricket.

Stan McCabe returned for only one match, scoring 92 and 53 as New South Wales were defeated by arch-rivals Victoria.

Stan McCabe enjoyed more success, heading the Test batting figures with 420 runs at 84.00.

Australia were set a Test world record target of 399 in the second innings to achieve victory on a turning wicket, and Stan McCabe told captain Richardson that he would not be able to bat or run between wickets effectively because of altitude sickness.

Stan McCabe had reached his century in only 90 minutes, and continued on despite a storm that brought low dust clouds and hindered visibility, and increasingly irregular bounce and cut off the pitch.

Stan McCabe finished unbeaten on 189, an innings described by Fingleton as "bordering on miraculous".

Stan McCabe struck 24 fours, and was productive square of the wicket, hitting numerous cut shots past point.

Stan McCabe ended the series with three wickets at 45.33.

Stan McCabe scored 76,28,23,83 and 46 in the lead-up, but started the series poorly; he made 51 in the first innings but managed only seven as Australia was caught out on a sticky wicket on the final day and were bowled out for 58 to lose the First Test in Brisbane by 322 runs.

Stan McCabe then made a duck as Australia was again caught on a sticky by a thunderstorm during the first innings of the Second Test in Sydney.

Stan McCabe made 93 in the second innings but Australia was unable to overcome the first innings deficit of 346 after being forced to follow on and fell to an innings defeat.

Four of the five Catholics in the team, Stan McCabe, leading bowler Bill O'Reilly, along with Leo O'Brien and Chuck Fleetwood-Smith were summoned by the Board of Control to respond to allegations that they were undermining Bradman.

The pressure on Stan McCabe increased when last-minute injuries meant that he had to open the bowling.

Stan McCabe made 63 and 22 and took a wicket as Australia won their first match in the series.

Stan McCabe then top-scored with 88 in Australia's first innings of 288 and made 55 in the second as Australia won by 148 runs in the Fourth Test in Adelaide to level the series.

Stan McCabe aggregated 491 runs in five Tests at 54.55, with a century and five fifties in a consistent display.

Stan McCabe started the Shield season with consecutive centuries against Queensland and South Australia, and finished with 83 and 122 in two warm-up matches for Australia before they departed for England.

Stan McCabe totalled 720 runs at 45.00 for the season, with three centuries and three fifties, and took eight wickets at 24.62.

Stan McCabe's lean run with the bat was causing concern for the Australians, as the other batsmen had been productive.

Stan McCabe, who had hit two boundaries thus far in the morning, was joined by Jack Badcock.

Stan McCabe had struck 62 of the 83 runs added since he had come to the crease.

Hammond brought back Farnes to try and finish off the tail, but Stan McCabe responded by hitting three fours in one over, forcing the English captain to remove his fast bowler after Stan McCabe had hooked him for six.

Stan McCabe reached his century in 140 minutes and England declined to take the new ball while he was batting.

Stan McCabe was the last man out, attempting to loft the spin of Verity, after a final wicket partnership with Leslie Fleetwood-Smith of 77 in 28 minutes, of which he scored 72.

Wisden reported that Stan McCabe played "an innings the equal of which has probably never been seen in the history of Test cricket; for the best part of four hours he maintained a merciless punishment of the bowling".

Stan McCabe demolished the English attack with aristocratic politeness, good taste and reserve.

Stan McCabe followed his efforts at Trent Bridge with 38 and 21 in the drawn Second Test at Lord's.

The Third Test at Old Trafford was abandoned before it started due to rain, and Stan McCabe contributed only one and 15 as Australia scrambled to a five-wicket win to retain the Ashes in the low-scoring Fourth Test at Headingley after chasing a target of 105 on the third day.

Stan McCabe made fifties in the two first-class matches before the Fifth and final Test at The Oval, where Australia played an extra batsman, meaning that Stan McCabe opened the bowling.

Stan McCabe made 14 and two, and finished the series with 362 runs at 45.25.

Stan McCabe scored 91 and 58 in tour matches against an England XI and the Leveson-Gower's XI to finish the English summer.

Stan McCabe had been in poor form apart from his double century at Trent Bridge and there was speculation that he was in decline.

Stan McCabe's feet had high insteps that meant that when he stood normally, his toes would not touch the floor.

Stan McCabe had always been susceptible to illness and was dogged for much of 1938 and 1939.

Stan McCabe ended the season with 699 runs at 53.76 from seven matches, with a century and six fifties.

Stan McCabe added two further half-centuries and ended the season with a win over arch-rivals Victoria.

Stan McCabe scored 8 and 41 as Queensland took a 17-run win.

Stan McCabe had 24 wins and four losses in 38 first-class matches as captain for all teams.

Certainly Bradman scored more runs, but Stan McCabe was the batsman you most wanted to be.

The leading English batsman Hutton said that Stan McCabe had several qualities in his batsmanship that were superior to those of Bradman, concluding that "It would be harder to think of a greater Australian batsman".

Stan McCabe was briefly a member of the Australian Defence Force during the Second World War, joining in late 1942.

Stan McCabe stayed in the role for 12 months before his feet problems resulted in an early discharge.

Stan McCabe was appointed to serve on the Sydney Sports Ground and Cricket Ground Trust and operated a sports store in George Street, Sydney from its opening until his death.

Stan McCabe often hired cricketing colleagues as salesmen; his close friend O'Reilly worked there in the late-1930s, as did paceman Ray Lindwall after the war, Lindwall opted to work for Stan McCabe because he was offered leave to travel overseas for Test tours.

Stan McCabe ran for an administrative position with his local club Mosman after his retirement, but was defeated, so he never had an opportunity to serve with the NSWCA.

Stan McCabe married Edna May Linton on 5 February 1935 at St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney, and the couple had two children, a son and a daughter, born in 1939 and 1950 respectively.

The devout Stan McCabe sent both of his children to Catholic boarding schools even though the family home was nearby.

Stan McCabe thus gained a lot of weight, and heavy smoking wore down his body, as did the large number of people who wanted to meet him.

Stan McCabe weakened significantly in the last two years of his life and was hospitalised for a period for liver problems.

Stan McCabe was released from hospital soon before his death, but still aged 58, was a very frail man who moved very tentatively.

Stan McCabe had earlier told Dwyer of his plan to clean out his backyard, and was told to rest, but did so anyway, falling down and rolling off the steep slope in his backyard and over the ledge of the cliff abutting the rear of his house.

The coroner's investigation noted that Stan McCabe's hands had tufts of ripped grass in them, indicating that he had tried to grab onto vegetation in a vain attempt to stop his fall.

News of Stan McCabe's death was made public while Australia and England were playing in the Fifth Test at The Oval.

In 1977, the Stan McCabe Sporting Complex was opened in Grenfell as part of the new high school, and the oval was named in his honour.

Stan McCabe was inducted into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame in 2002.