Arthur Morris

The acme of elegance and the epitome of sportsmanship, Arthur Morris lost prime run-getting years to the war after the then unprecedented feat, as an 18-year-old, of scoring a hundred in each innings of his first-class debut in December 1940. By his first series against England in 1946-47, however, this calm and compact left-hander was close to the finished article, and scored three consecutive hundreds. He then outscored even Bradman in the Tests of 1948: only three Australians, in fact, have a better Ashes average. Once decoupled from his favourite partner Sid Barnes, Morris was a more spasmodic performer, although he ended a run of outs against England in January 1951 with his highest Test score, 206, and carried on molesting bowlers most civilly for another five years.
Gideon Haigh