Sid Barnes with the Australian cricket team in England in 1948

About Sid Barnes with the Australian cricket team in England in 1948 in brief

Sid Barnes was a key member of Donald Bradman’s famous Australian cricket team, which toured England in 1948. The team went undefeated in their 34 matches; this unprecedented feat by a Test side touring England earned them the sobriquet The Invincibles. Barnes played in four of the five Tests and scored 329 runs at 82. 25, ranking him third in the aggregates and second in the averages. He scored half-centuries in both innings of the First Test at Trent Bridge and the Second Test at Lord’s, helping to set up victory in both matches. In the Third Test, Barnes was injured and hospitalised after being hit in the ribs by a Dick Pollard pull shot. After missing the Fourth Test, he returned to score his third half-century for the series as Australia completed a 4–0 win with an innings victory in the Fifth Test. Barnes ended the first-class matches with 1,354 runs at a batting average of 56. 41 including three centuries. He gained fame throughout the season for his fielding at short leg—just a few metres from the batsman—where he took 19 catches for the season. He was on his second trip to England after making his Test debut there in 1938 before the war. Barnes went to England in the Australian winter of 1947. In his autobiography, he claimed to have gone as a representative for an alcohol company, although appears to have dealt in commodities that were in short supply due to rationing. Once in England, he was approached by Burnley to play as a professional in Lancashire League cricket, which he did briefly before becoming disinterested and resigning.

Barnes returned to Australia for the 1947–48 season, keen to win a place on the 1948 tour to England. He made 33 while Brown made 99 run out as Australia complete a 4-0 series win. Barnes brought a lot of food and drink to England, including a tonne of alcohol, which was scarce due to the war and rationing, but he landed himself in trouble with the captain and manager when the players had to sign autographs on 5,000 paper sheets of paper with the name of a young boy. As a specialist batsman, he had to give assurances about the amount of contact he would have with his wife—still living in Scotland—before he was confirmed as the team’s first-choice opening batsman. He played in all five Tests, playing in all of the matches and averaging 73. 83 and 71. 85 respectively, playing with the left-handed Arthur Morris. Barnes was part of the Australian team that won the series 4-1 and was named as one of the best batsmen in the world in the final match of the series. He also played in the first Test against the visiting Indians, making 112 in an Australian victory. The Australian authorities frowned on those who played professionally in England. There was also concern that he would breach the Australian Board of Control’s rule that wives were not allowed to travel with players, by being in the same overseas country. Barnes and Morris were competing for the two opening positions in the team.