Sam Loxton with the Australian cricket team in England in 1948

Sam Loxton was a member of Donald Bradman’s famous Australian cricket team, which toured England in 1948. He played 22 first-class matches and scored 973 runs at 57. 23 with three centuries, and took 32 wickets at 21. 71. Noted for his energetic and combative approach, he was twice forced out of action for his troubles; he pulled a groin while searching for extra pace with the ball early in the tour.

About Sam Loxton with the Australian cricket team in England in 1948 in brief

Sam Loxton was a member of Donald Bradman’s famous Australian cricket team, which toured England in 1948. A batting all rounder, Loxton played as a right-handed middle-order batsman and right-arm fast medium bowler. He played 22 first-class matches and scored 973 runs at 57. 23 with three centuries, and took 32 wickets at 21. 71. He was the eighth-leading wicket-taker; all seven frontline bowlers ahead of him took at least 50 wickets. Noted for his energetic and combative approach, he was twice forced out of action for his troubles; he pulled a groin while searching for extra pace with the ball early in the tour, and towards the end of the season, he hit a ball into his face and broke his nose. Loxton’s debut came about because first-choice opener Arthur Morris had been rested from the Fifth Test so that the selectors could trial potential players for the 1948 tour. He scored 80 and took three wickets as an all-rounder in the Australian victory, and was rewarded with inclusion in the 17-man touring party. He ended the series with 144 runs at a batting average of 48. 00 and three wicket at a bowling average of 49. 33. He also took two catches, both from the bowling of fellow Victorian Doug Ring, as Australia fell for 130 in the second innings of the second Test at Leicestershire. In the next match against the hosts, he managed only four before being trapped leg wicket by expatriate left arm spinner Vic Jackson.

He then opened the bowling as Australia enforced the follow on in the third Test at Headingley. He took 355 in the first innings and scored a counter-attacking 93 on the third day to keep Australia in the game; they went on to win after a world record-breaking run-chase on the final day. He died in a car crash on the outskirts of Melbourne, Australia, in 1998. He is buried in a suburb of Melbourne called Stony Stratford, where he grew up with his wife and two children, and where he lived until his death in 2002. He has a daughter, a son, and a step-son, both of whom are also former Australian cricketers, and two step-daughters, who were born in Melbourne and Sydney, respectively, in the late 1960s and early 1970s. He never played Test cricket for Australia again after his retirement from the game in 1980. He had a son who is a professional cricketer and a grandson who played for Australia at the University of Melbourne in the early 1990s. His great-great-grandson is Australian cricket legend Michael Clarke, who is also a former Australian cricket captain and former captain of the Australian national team. He served in the Royal Australian Air Force during the Second World War and was awarded the Order of Australia for his services to his country. His son, Peter, also played cricket for the Australia national team in the 1950s.