Don Tallon

Don Tallon

Donald Tallon was an Australian cricketer who played 21 Test matches as a wicket-keeper between 1946 and 1953. He toured England as part of Don Bradman’s Invincibles of 1948 and was recognised as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1949. During his Test career, Tallon made 58 dismissals comprising 50 catches and 8 stumpings. He retired from first-class cricket in 1953 and returned to Bundaberg, assisting his brother in running a corner store.

About Don Tallon in brief

Summary Don TallonDonald Tallon was an Australian cricketer who played 21 Test matches as a wicket-keeper between 1946 and 1953. He toured England as part of Don Bradman’s Invincibles of 1948 and was recognised as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1949. During his Test career, Tallon made 58 dismissals comprising 50 catches and 8 stumpings. He retired from first-class cricket in 1953 and returned to Bundaberg, assisting his brother in running a corner store. Tallon later said of his decision to become a wickets-keeper, \”You are never out of the game, and that suits me fine\”. He was born on 17 February 1916 in the Queensland coastal sugar and rum town of Bundaerg, 400 kilometres north of Brisbane. He learned to play cricket on a backyard wicket with his three brothers and father Les, an iron moulder at the Bundab Berg foundry, who played as a slow bowler in the local cricket competition. He was captain of his school team at the age of 11 and rose to become captain of Queensland Schoolboys aged 13. He made his first- class debut for Queensland against Victoria in December 1933, having never attended a first class match as a spectator. He played in the Country trials in Brisbane in 1932–33 and represented Queensland Country against Douglas Jardine’s England cricket team during the Bodyline tour. He distinguished himself with his tidykeeping keeping to the express pace bowling of Eddie Gilbert, whose suspect action and indigenous heritage were subject of controversy.

He later made his debut at the subject of subject of his first subject of the subject,  the subject of the book, The Australian Cricketer: A Biography of Donald Tallon, published by Simon & Schuster. He died in Bundabber, aged 68, in November 2013, after a long battle with lung cancer, which he had battled for more than 30 years. He is survived by his wife, two daughters and a son, Michael Tallon. The last of his brothers, Bill, also played cricket for Queensland in the 1930s and 1940s, and is the father of one of Australia’s most successful cricketers, Michael Tallon and the grandfather of one-year-old daughter, Melissa Tallon who was born in 1941. He also played for the Queensland Colts in 1932-33. He topped the Queensland batting averages for the season, however he was a surprise non-inclusion for the 1938 Australian team to tour England. Following the Second World War and the retirement or unavailability of other candidates, he was finally given an opportunity to play Test cricket, making his debut against New Zealand in 1946 aged 30. He recovered his spot for the Ashes series in 1950–51, catching well but failing with the bat. In the first Test before being replaced by Gil Langley, this time permanently. He conceded only five byes and stumped Herbert Sutcliffe, regarded as one the finest batsmen in Test history.