Greatest Cricket Moments

Lindsay Hassett — Services Captain in the Victory Tests, 1945

1945-05-19Australian Services XI v EnglandAustralian Services tour of England, May-September 1945 — Hassett captain; Victory Tests drawn 2-22 min readSeverity: Moderate

Summary

Lindsay Hassett, the only experienced Test cricketer in the Australian Services side, captained the team that brought first-class cricket back to England in the summer of 1945. With Stan Sismey, Cec Pepper, Keith Miller, Graham Williams and Lindsay Hassett himself doing most of the cricketing work, the Services drew the five-Test 'Victory' series 2-2 against an England side led by Walter Hammond. Hassett, who had refused an officer's commission and toured on warrant officer's pay of 12 shillings a day, was praised in Wisden as 'a cricketer-captain in the Bradman mould but with rather more humour'.

Background

Hassett, a Geelong man and prewar Test centurion (Brisbane 1938), enlisted in the AIF in 1940 and saw service in Palestine and New Guinea. Bradman never served overseas; the leadership of the Services side gave Hassett a longer apprenticeship than Bradman in handling unfamiliar opposition.

Build-Up

By April 1945 the war in Europe was ending. The Services chiefs and the MCC, prompted by Plum Warner, agreed to put on a five-Test programme to mark VE Day. Hassett was the obvious senior cricketer.

What Happened

Hassett had served in the Middle East and New Guinea with the AIF before being seconded to lead a cricket side drawn from RAAF and Army personnel still stationed in Britain after VE Day. Squadron Leader Stan Sismey was the official tour manager-keeper; Hassett ran the cricket.

The five 'Victory Tests', played 19 May to 22 August 1945 at Lord's (twice), Bramall Lane, Old Trafford and Lord's again, attracted enormous crowds — over 90,000 across one Lord's Test — and were officially first-class but never accorded full Test status. England won the first by six wickets; the Services won the second at Bramall Lane by 41 runs (Pepper 6/91); the third at Lord's was drawn; England won the fourth at Old Trafford by six wickets; the Services won the final Test at Old Trafford by four wickets to square the series 2-2.

Hassett himself made 446 runs in the rubber including a century at Lord's. Keith Miller broke through with 185 for the Dominions (a separate fixture in August) and 71 not out at Lord's in the third Victory Test. The Australian Services then went on, via India, to play three further unofficial 'Tests' there in November 1945 before disbanding.

Key Moments

1

VE Day, 8 May 1945 — series confirmed

2

19-22 May — first 'Victory Test' at Lord's; England win

3

23-26 Jun — second at Bramall Lane; Services win by 41 (Pepper 6/91)

4

14-17 Jul — third at Lord's; drawn

5

6-8 Aug — fourth at Old Trafford; England win

6

20-22 Aug — fifth at Old Trafford; Services win to square series 2-2

7

Aug-Sep 1945 — Hassett 446 runs in series

Timeline

1940

Hassett enlists in AIF

May 1945

Confirmed Australian Services captain

May-Aug 1945

Victory Tests drawn 2-2

Nov 1945

Services tour India

1949

Succeeds Bradman as Australia captain

Notable Quotes

“A cricketer-captain in the Bradman mould but with rather more humour.”

— Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, 1946 (on Hassett's Services captaincy)

Aftermath

The Services side toured India in late 1945 (where Hassett scored 122 in the second 'Test' at Bombay), then home to Australia. Most of the team-mates would form the post-war Australian Test side: Miller, Hassett, Sismey-replaced-by-Tallon. The Victory Tests drew over 367,000 spectators in five matches.

⚖️ The Verdict

The captaincy that bridged Bradman's pre-war reign and his post-war one. Hassett's calm during the Victory Tests, often in front of his largest-ever crowds, marked him out as Bradman's eventual successor as Australian captain.

Legacy & Impact

Wisden's 1946 edition called the Victory Tests 'the most heart-warming cricket of the wartime years'. Hassett became Australia's captain in 1949 and led them to the 1953 Ashes. The Services tour is remembered as the bridge from war cricket to peace.

Frequently Asked Questions

Were the Victory Tests official Tests?▾
No — they were first-class but never granted Test status.
What was the series result?▾
Drawn 2-2 across five matches at Lord's (x3), Bramall Lane and Old Trafford.
How much was Hassett paid?▾
Warrant officer's wages of about 12 shillings a day; he refused an officer's commission for the tour.

Tags

#lindsay-hassett#victory-tests#1945#australian-services#warrant-officer#wwii#lords

Related Incidents

⭐Mild

Middlesex County Cricket Club Founded — Cricket Comes Home to Lord's, 1864

Middlesex cricket establishment

1864-02-02

Middlesex County Cricket Club was founded on 2 February 1864 at a meeting in London, the same year in which the MCC legalised overarm bowling and John Wisden published his first Almanack. It was one of several county clubs formally constituted in the busy years of 1863–65 as English cricket reorganised itself around a county structure that would eventually evolve into a formal championship.

#overarm-era#early-county-cricket#1860s
⭐Mild

Lancashire County Cricket Club Founded — Manchester's Game Gets Organised, 1864

Lancashire cricket establishment

1864-01-12

Lancashire County Cricket Club was formally constituted at a meeting in Manchester on 12 January 1864, giving England's most cricket-passionate industrial county a formal organisational structure to match the grassroots enthusiasm that had been filling grounds at Old Trafford and elsewhere for decades. Lancashire, alongside Yorkshire, represented the great northern cricket public that William Clarke's All-England Eleven had first mobilised commercially in the 1840s.

#overarm-era#early-county-cricket#1860s
⭐Mild

V.E. Walker Takes All Ten — Every Wicket at Lord's, Middlesex v Lancashire, 1865

Middlesex vs Lancashire

1865-07-26

Vyell Edward Walker of Middlesex took all ten wickets in a Lancashire innings at Lord's on 26 July 1865 — one of the earliest documented instances of a bowler taking all ten in a first-class match. Walker, a medium-pace round-arm bowler who also captained Middlesex, achieved the feat without assistance from any other bowler, delivering one of the most complete individual bowling performances of the Victorian era.

#overarm-era#early-county-cricket#1860s