CHARLIE MACARTNEY

'Charles George "Charlie" Macartney' (born June 27, 1886, Maitland, New South Wales; died September 9, 1958, Little Bay, Sydney, New South Wales) was an Australian cricketer who played in 35 Tests between 1907 and 1926. He was known as ''The Governor-General'' in reference to his authoritative batting style. Macartney was a bowling all rounder when he made his Test debut in 1907, primarily a left arm orthodox spinner complemented with right-handed batting. As his career progressed, he developed into a batsman, with his flair and strokeplay earning comparisons to close friend and role model Victor Trumper, regarded as one of the most elegant batsmen in cricket history. He was a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1922, and in 1921 scored an Australian record score in England of 345 runs against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge in under four hours. In 1926, he scored a century in the first session of a Test match, and retired at the end of a series in which he had scored three consecutive Test centuries. In retirement, he worked was a journalist and also returned to the Australian Defence Force during the Second World War as an official.

Contents

Style

Early years

Pre-war Test career

Later career

International farewell

Outside cricket

Test match performance

References

External links

Style

Macartney's flair was compared to that of Trumper, and his determination to that of Don Bradman, universally regarded as the finest batsman in cricket history. His style was quite different to that of Trumper, but generated fascination with his daring and supreme confidence. Macartney was described by Wisden as the being self-taught to a greater extent than anyone else in Australia or England in his era, calling him “a triumph to individualism…he is not a model to be copied” and ”one of the most brilliant and attractive right-handed batsmen in the history of Australian cricket”. His success was largely attributed to his eye, hand and foot.^[1] Macartney was a short man, standing 160 cm. He had an unusual trait of attempting to leg glance yorkers pitched on middle stump down to fine leg, and often lost his wicket in this manner. He was known for preferring candid criticism from his teammates rather than praise. In later life he condemned modern batsmen stating “I can't bear watching luscious half-volleys being nudged gently back to bowlers”, while explaining why he no longer watched cricket.^[2] Jack Fingleton noted that he had a strategy of aiming a shot early in his innings straight at the bowler’s head, in order to rattle them and seize the psychological initiative. Neville Cardus wrote that “there was always chivalry in his cricket, a prancing sort of heroism. The dauntlessness of his play, the brave beauty and the original skill bring tears to my eyes yet.”
Macartney was known for his authoritative combative style, and his élan and devastating strokemaking led Kent cricketer Kenneth Hutchings to dub him the ‘’Governor-General’’. On one occasion after reaching his century before lunch on the first day, he immediately called for a bat change. He selected the heaviest bat from the batch that his teammates brought out and then stated “Now I’m going to have a hit”. He possessed powerful hands, strong forearms and broad shoulders. Leg spinning team-mate Arthur Mailey recalled that Macartney would often hit him for six in Sydney Grade Cricket matches. Grinning, he would say “Pitch another one there and I’ll hit you for a few more”. On the occasions when he fell attempting further long hits, his grin would remain, saying “Wasn’t it good fun”.^[3]
Macartney was also a left arm orthodox spinner and bowled at a fast pace for a spinner, comparable to Derek Underwood. He was known for his consistent length and his well concealed faster ball which often caught batsmen off guard. On sticky wickets, he was often incisive, helping him to take 17 five wicket innings hauls in his first-class career. He was known for his miserly attitude, often giving the impression that he would rather bowl ten consecutive maidens rather than take wickets and concede runs. This extended to his off-field activities, where he was considered careful and never wasteful with money. On the 1926 tour of England, he and Mailey visited a hat shop in London’s Piccadilly district which had a tradition of giving souvenir hats to cricketers of touring Australian squads. When asked if he would like a similar style to the gift he received in 1921, Macartney replied “Not on your life. I’ve been wearing this since you gave it to me in 1921.”
In 1909, Australian team-mate Trumper moved from Paddington, a suburb in Sydney’s south shore to Chatswood on the northern side of the harbour. Macartney and Trumper played together for Gordon and became close friends. Macartney regularly practised on the Trumper family’s backyard turf pitch. Trumper’s relocation made more frequent meetings possible, since the Sydney Harbour Bridge was not to open until 1932, and the only way of travelling between either side was by ferry. Trumper was regarded as the “crown prince of the golden age of cricket”, the finest and most stylish batsman of his era, and one of the most elegant strokemakers of all time. Under Trumper’s influence, Macartney became more audacious and adventurous. Macartney revered Trumper as a cricketer and as a person, and was a pall bearer when Trumper died in 1915 at the age of 37.

Early years

Macartney was taught to play cricket as a child by his maternal grandfather George Moore, a slow round-arm bowler who had represented New South Wales in three first-class matches against Victoria. The equipment consisted of small handcrafted bat made from cedar, and apples from the family orchard were used as balls. In 1898 his family moved from Maitland to Sydney. In his school career Macartney distinguished himself as an allrounder to Woollahra Superior and Chatswood Public schools, before briefly attending Fort Street High School. Macartney asserted that his cricket developed more while he was playing with his brother during summer at Chatswood Oval with their dog acting as a fielder.^[4] It was during his school career that he was noticed by Australian captain Monty Noble, who heaped praise on him in a newspaper article. After leaving school he worked for a produce merchant near the Sussex Street docks, honing his batting skills by practising without pads on a wooden wharf during his lunch break.^[5] At this stage in his career, he was known for his copybook technique and defensive nature, something he was to reverse during his long career.^[6]
Macartney joined North Sydney in 1902 in the first division of Sydney Grade Cricket and then moved to the Gordon club in the outer northern suburbs when it was formed in the 1905-06 season. He played regularly for them until 1933-34 when he was 47, amassing 7648 runs at 54.7. He was known for his dominant status at the Chatswood Oval. In one match he lofted a ball out of the oval, over the railway line into an adjacent bowling green, forcing the lawn bowlers to take evasive action. In 1905-06, he made his first class debut against Queensland, making 56 in the first innings and taking three wickets in the second. After a consistent but unspectacular season with both the ball and bat, Macartney made his Test debut against England in the First Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground in 1907-08. He was mainly viewed as a utility player selected for the flexibility in his batting position and his left arm orthodox spin.

Pre-war Test career

Macartney's Test career batting performance.

Macartney had a moderate debut, scoring 35 in the first innings while batting in the No. 7 position as Australia took a 27 run lead in response to England's 273. He took one wicket, that of leading English batsman Wilfred Rhodes. With Australia needing 274 runs to win, Noble decided that Macartney's first innings effort was enough to warrant a promotion to partner Trumper in the opening position. He managed only nine as Australia scraped out a two wicket victory. Macartney's domestic form after his debut was sufficient for him to retain his position for the Second Test in Melbourne. Noble persevered with Macartney as Trumper's opening partner and he scored 37 in an 84 run opening partnership in the first innings. He returned to the middle order in the second innings to score 54 and took one wicket as England squared the series with a narrow one wicket victory. His most productive batting came in the Third Test in Adelaide when he scored 75 at No. 3 and took 2/66 in a victory. His batting was ineffective in the last two Tests, not passing 30 in any innings, as he was moved to batting at No. 8 and then back to the opening position in the Fifth Test. Despite his trouble with his confused role as a batsman, he contributed with the ball in the Fifth Test victory on a turning pitch, taking match figures of 5/66. His first international series had yielded 273 runs at 27.3 and ten wickets at 26.6.^[7] In spite of his unsettled role in the batting line up, Macartney performed well as an all rounder and was selected for the 1909 tour of England, his first overseas tour.
At this stage of his career, Macartney was regarded as a bowling all rounder. He was only eighth on the batting lists with an average of 19, but took 71 wickets at 17.46. His bowling confounded the English team in the Third Test at Headingley in Leeds, where he took 7/58 in the first innings and 4/27 in the second. It was his best innings and match analysis in Tests helped win the Test and retain the Ashes. Australia had struggled to post 188 in their first innings on a spinning pitch. Australia responded with a dual spin attack, with Noble bowling off spin in tandem with Macartney. Noble (0/22 from 13 overs) tied down the batsman, allowing Macartney to attack at the other end. He bowled with a high trajectory, tempting the batsmen to attack him and then varied his speed to surprise them. He had John Sharp stumped after luring him from the crease and bowled Jack Hobbs with a faster ball. Another of his victims was English captain Archie MacLaren. England had fallen for 182 and Australia went on to win by 126 runs after Macartney took four more wickets in the second, including MacLaren and Wilfred Rhodes.
Macartney;s batting in the Tests was largely ineffective. He made 51 and 50 in the Fourth and Fifth Tests at Old Trafford and The Oval respectively but otherwise failed to pass 20 and ended with 153 runs at 19.13. In his era, the expectation was that batsmen would be able to bat in a variety of positions and Macartney was gradually moved from No.7 down to No. 10 by the end of the tour.^[8] Largely due to his efforts at Headingley, he ended the Tests with 16 wickets at 16.13.
Macartney started the Test series in 1910/11 against the touring South Africans poorly. In the first three Tests, he accumulated 15 runs in five innings and took a solitary wicket. As a result he was dropped for the Fourth Test. He bounced back with his maiden Test century came against South Africa in the Fifth Test in 1911, where he struck 137 and 56. It was his third century in as many first class innings. He had made 119 and 126 in a state match for New south Wales against the tourists the previous week.
During the English tour of Australia in 1911-12 he only played in the Fifth Test. Traveling in 1912 to England for the Triangular Tournament also including South Africa, he scored 2,207 runs during the tour at an average of 45.
On the 1912 tour of England he reached the peak of his all round performance totalling 2187 runs and 38 wickets for the tour. He made six centuries, including 142 and 112 in one match against Sussex, but Wisden regarded the 99 in a drawn Test match at Lord's to be his finest innings of the tour. The tour saw a triangular Test tournament involving Australia, South Africa and England in which each nations played the others three times. The 99 came in the first of Australia’s Tests against England, in a rain affected match which did not enter the third innings. He did not pass 34 in the other matches and ended with 197 runs at 32.83. He did not bowl heavily, taking six wickets at 23.66 in six Tests.
During an unofficial tour of the Australian team to the United States in 1913 consisting of more than fifty games – Macartney scored 2,390 runs at 45.92 and took 189 wickets at 3.81, topping both the batting and bowling averages. He also made the most centuries with seven triple figure scores, and the highest score of 186 against a combined Canada and United States team.^[9]
The 1913-14 domestic season was the last season of cricket before the outbreak of World War I. Macartney captained New South Wales for the first time against Tasmania and also changed jobs. He left his job on the Sydney wharves and joined the staff of New south Wales Railways & Tramways in the Chief Mechanical Engineer's Office at Redfern.

Later career

World War I then interrupted Macartney's career as competitive cricket was cancelled. In January 1916, Macartney enlisted with the Australian Infantry Force during the First World War. In July 1917 he was posted to France as a temporary warrant officer in the 3rd Division Artillery. In 1918 he was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal for gallantry. The death of his father later in the year caused his premature repatriation and prevented his appearance with the Australian Services team.
The war broke Macartney’s career into two halves. Prior to the war, he was primarily known as a bowling all rounder. In 21 Tests, he had taken 34 wickets at 26 and scored 879 runs at 26.64 with one century. After the war, Macartney had transformed himself into one of the greatest batsmen of his era. In his 14 post war Tests, he scored 1252 runs at 69.55 with six centuries. His bowling became more sporadic, taking 11 wickets at 32.36. Macartney resumed Test cricket when Australia hosted England in 1920-21, although only playing in two of the Tests. In the First Test, he struck 19 in the first innings as an opening batsmen. Australia's new post-war skipper Warwick Armstrong felt that Macartney was more effective at No. 3 and in the second innings he made a free-flowing 69 in a 111 second-wicket stand with Herbie Collins as Australia went on to inflict a heavy 377 run defeat. Macartney's return to form was interrupted by an illness which caused him to miss the following three Test matches. He returned for the Fifth and final Test, where he recorded his highest Test innings of 170 against in Sydney. Australia had reached 2/70 at stumps on the first day with Macartney on 32 in response to England's 204. Among the spectators was a 12 year old boy named Don Bradman, who had been taken to watch Macartney from the country by his father. Eight decades later, Bradman recalled the innings "as if it were yesterday," describing it as full of "delicate leg-glances, powerful pull, cuts and glorious drives" and concluding that it was one of the best innings he had seen in his long lifetime. Bradman cited the innings as an inspiration in his career.^[10] Macartney headed the Australian Test averages with 260 runs at 86.66 as Australia won the Ashes 5-0.
Macartney had a chance to rectify his lack of performance in his pre-war tours of England on the 1921 Ashes tour. He scored 345 against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge in 232 minutes, with 47 fours and four sixes. Macartney had an inauspicious start to the day, coming to the crease after the fall of Warren Bardsley with only one run on the board. He attacked immediately and was dropped in the slips when on nine. The grassed chance further emboldened Macartney, who had a philosophy that being dropped was a signal that it was to be his day. He proceeded to exhibit his full range of stroke repertoire. After reaching his double century in only 150 minutes, Macartney signalled to the pavilion. When Nottinghamshire captain Arthur Carr asked him if he was seeking a drink, Macartney said that he wanted a heavier bat and indicated that he was going to attack. Macartney held his promise, adding his next 100 runs in only 48 minutes to reach 300 in 198 minutes. It was the fastest ever triple century in first class cricket. This still stands as the highest innings put together by an Australian in England, and at the time was the most runs scored by any batsman in one day. Australia went on to make 675 and win by an innings and 517 runs, the largest winning margin achieved by Australia in a first class match. The cricket writer Sumner Reid described it as
Macartney was less successful in the Tests, failing to pass 35 in the first two Tests as Australia took a 2-0 series lead. In the Third Test at Headingley, he made his first Test century on foreign soil, striking 115 to take Australia from 2/46 to 407 in the first innings. This yielded a 148 run lead and was the basis of Australia taking an unassailable 3-0 series lead. He finished with a 61 in the drawn Fifth Test at The Oval. Macartney headed both the batting aggregates and averages with 2317 at 59.41 in first class matches and 300 runs at 42.6 in the batting. He did not take a wicket in the Tests. He was named as one of the 1922 Wisden Cricketers of the Year which stated that he was “by many degrees the most brilliant and individual Australian batsman of the present day”.
On the journey back to the southern hemisphere, Australia stopped for its first ever tour of South Africa. Macartney scored 59 and 116 in the First Test in Durban which was drawn. After missing the Second, he returned in the Third in Cape Town and scored 44 before taking 5/44 in the second innings to ensure that Australia would only have a small target to chase. The Australians went on to secure a ten wicket victory. He finished the series with seven wickets at 14.86. Macartney missed the 1924-25 series when England toured Australia. This was attributed to a flare-up of an injury he had suffered during the First World War, but sceptics alleged that he had suffered a nervous breakdown.

International farewell

Macartney's international farewell on the 1926 tour of England saw him at the peak of his batting powers. The First Test at Trent Bridge was washed out, with England batting in the only innings of the match. After scoring 39 in the first innings in the Second Test at Lord’s, an unbeaten 133 in the second helped to stave off defeat. In the Third Test at Headingley in the 1926 Ashes tour he became the second Australian to score a century before lunch on the opening day of a Test. The match had started poorly for Australia. English captain Arthur Carr had won the toss and sent Australia into bat after a thunderstorm on the previous day had turned the surface into a sticky wicket. Australia made the worst possible start when Bardsley was dismissed from the first ball of the Test. Macartney strode to the crease, surveyed the fielding positions and called down the wicket to the bowler Maurice Tate "Let's have it!" He was nearly regretting his comment when he edged the wall to Carr at third slip from the fifth ball of the day. It was a difficult chance but the English skipper had failed to hold the ball. Macartney was then on two. Within a few minutes, Macartney had seized the initiative and put the Australians firmly in control of the match. Utilising a mix of copybook shots and his more audacious self-styled repertoire, he pierced the field with a variety of cuts, hooks, pulls, drives and deflections. He teased the fieldsmen with deliberate deflections through the slips with late cuts described by Raymond Robertson-Glasgow as "so late they are almost posthumous". Macartney's attack helped his partner Bill Woodfull to free up in the difficult conditions. Macartney saved his severest hitting for George Macaulay, a medium pace swing bowler and off spinner who he regarded as England's most potent. Macartney had asked and received permission form captain Herbie Collins to target Macaulay. By the end of the Australian innings, Macaulay had the figures of 1/123 and never played against Australia again. Macartney's assault was such that he was charging medium pace bowlers on a sticky wicket. He reached 40 in even time as Australia's total reached 50. Australia reached 100 in only 79 minutes with Macartney having scored 83 of these. Macartney reached his century in 103 minutes with Australia on 131. He reached lunch at 112 in 116 minutes and continued until the score reached 1/235, when he was dismissed for 151 in 170 minutes. Former English captain Sir Pelham Warner said "I say without hesitation that I have never seen a greater innings. . .not even the immortal Victor Trumper could have played more finely".^[11] This allowed Australia to accumulate a healthy first innings total and force England to follow on, but they were unable to force a victory. Macartney hit 109 in the Fourth Test at Old Trafford in a rain affected draw with effectively only three days of play. Macartney failed in the Fifth Test, and England won the only non drawn Test of the series, and with it the Ashes 1-0. He ended with 473 runs at 94.6 and took four wickets at 53.75. Macartney decided to retire from Tests after the tour. He took part in twelve Test century partnerships, the largest being 235 with Bill Woodfull in the Leeds Test.
Having returned to Australia, Macartney continued to play club cricket. At the start of the 1926-27 season, he captained a combined Sydney City team against a New Sotuh Wales country team, which included the then 18 year old Bradman. Macartney scored 126 and Bradman 98 in a match viewed as a generational transition in Australian batting.^[12] In 1935-36 Macartney was the vice-captain of Frank Tarrant’s side led by Jack Ryder that toured India and he wrote forthright columns for The Hindu.

Outside cricket

Macartney had married Anna Bruce, a schoolteacher, at Chatswood Presbyterian Church in December 1921. At the times, the ''NSW Railway & Tramway Magazine'' noted that he was a "strict teetotaller and non-gambler" who loved his pipe, tennis and music. Thereafter described himself as a civil servant while he was not engaged in cricketing activities. He also wrote for several Sydney newspapers, and between 1936 and 1942 wrote regularly for the Sydney Morning Herald. In 1930 he published the autobiographical ''My Cricketing Days''. During the Second World War he was a lieutenant in the amenities service of the Australian Defence Force, and afterwards was a personnel officer at Prince Henry Hospital. Childless, he was predeceased by his wife, and died of coronary occlusion (heart attack) while at work.^[13]

Test match performance

		Batting[14]				Bowling[15]
Opposition	Matches	Runs	Average	High Score	100 / 50	Runs	Wickets	Average	Best (Inns)
England	26	1640	43.15	170	5/7	908	33	27.51	7/58
South Africa	9	491	37.76	137	2/2	332	12	27.66	5/44
Overall	27	410	12.81	56 ★	0/1	3254	144	22.59	7/54

References

1. Wisden 1922 - Charles Macartney
2. Wisden 1959 - Obituary - Charles Macartney
3. Cricket the Australian Way, , Jack, Pollard, , 1969,
4. Perry, pp. 113–114
5. The A-Z of Australian cricketers, , , Cashman, Franks, Maxwell, Sainsbury, Stoddart, Weaver, Webster, , 1997,
6. Perry, p. 114.
7. Statsguru - CG Macartney - Tests - Innings by innings list
8. Perry, pp. 114–115.
9. Perry, p. 116.
10. Perry, p. 116.
11. Perry, pp. 110–112.
12. Perry, p. 119.
13. Macartney, Charles George (1886 - 1958)
14. Statsguru - CG Macartney - Test Batting - Career summary
15. Statsguru - CG Macartney - Test Bowling - Career summary

External links

★ CricketArchive

★ CricInfo article and photos