Jim Burke (cricketer)
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 Australia (AUS) |
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| Batting style | Right-hand bat | |
| Bowling type | Right-arm offbreak | |
| Tests | First-class | |
| Matches | 24 | 130 |
| Runs scored | 1280 | 7563 |
| Batting average | 34.59 | 45.01 |
| 100s/50s | 3/5 | 21/35 |
| Top score | 189 | 220 |
| Balls bowled | 814 | 8540 |
| Wickets | 8 | 101 |
| Bowling average | 28.75 | 29.11 |
| 5 wickets in innings | 0 | 3 |
| 10 wickets in match | 0 | 0 |
| Best bowling | 4/37 | 6/40 |
| Catches/stumpings | 18/0 | 58/0 |
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Test debut: 2 February 1951 |
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James Wallace Burke (born June 12, 1930, Mosman, New South Wales, died February 2, 1979, Manly, New South Wales) was an Australian cricketer who played in 24 Tests from 1951 to 1959.
Burke grew up in the Sydney north shore suburb of Mosman, where his parents had immigrated to fromBromley in Kent. His great-uncle Percy Burke had played for Kent as a wicket-keeper. His mother was a talented golfer. Burke was a talented golfer and cricketer in his childhood, but was refused membership of Balgowlah Golf Club at the age of 12 on the grounds that he was too young. He began his cricket raining aged seven at Manly Oval. Burke attended Sydney Grammar School and aged 14 played in the First XI. At 15 he rose from Manly's third XI to first XI in Sydney Grade Cricket. At 16 his batting average for Sydney Grammar was 94, a record for a school which has produced many first class cricketers. At 18 he made his debut for New South Wales in the 1948–49 Sheffield Shield season, scoring 76 not out against Western Australia. Aged 20, he carried his bat to score for 162 not out against Victoria, whose bowling was headed by Jack Iverson, whose folded-finger spin took 6/27 in a Test the following year. He was selected for his Test debut against England at the Adelaide Oval, scoring 101 not out on debut. His innings was marked by cutting and glancing. He was promoted to opening the batting in the following Test, and after making 11 and 1, he was relegated to twelfth man against the West Indies in the following 1951–52 season. He was recalled for the Third Test on a wet Adelaide pitch, scoring 3 and 15 before disappearing from the Test team for two seasons.
He declined further, losing his New South Wales place in the last match of the 1953–54 season.
Burke made his come-back by combining business and cricket, moving to England for a season as Todmorden's professional in the Lancashire League. The Australian selectors recalled him for two Tests in the 1954–55 series against England. The first came in the Second Test in Sydney when Keith Miller was injured. Burke scored 44 and 14 before being dropped for the Third Test. He was recalled for the Fourth Test in Adelaide and made 18 and 5. However,he was omitted for the fifth time when left out of the 1955 squad to tour the West Indies. At this stage, he began to take a defensive attitude which prompted crowd heckling and demonstrations by Sydneysiders when he walked into bat.
After one defensive century in Perth, Don Bradman advised him to utilize more strokeplay and Burke endeared himself more to the public, as well as earning a place in the Australian squad for the 1956 tour of England. The rebuilding worked. Burke was chosen for the 1956 Australian tour of England and became the regular opening partner to Colin McDonald. In a low-scoring series in a wet summer with spinning pitches which saw England's off spinner Jim Laker, dominate, Burke topped the Test match averages, as well as Australia’s first class aggregate with 1,339 runs in 37 innings. His tour was highlighted by his second innings of 58 not out in the First Test at Trent Bridge in Nottingham, defying the English bowlers for four hours to force a draw. In the Second Test at Lord’s, he put on 151 with McDonald, making 65 to set up an Australian victory. Laker took two-thirds of Burke’s dismissals in the series, but Burke survived the second highest number of deliveries from Laker, behind Neil Harvey. Burke was noted for his strategy of playing back against Laker on spin friendly and wet wickets, fearing that he would be caught by short leg fielders if he played forward. In the Old Trafford Test dubbed “Laker’s Test”, Burke was the only Australian to not be dismissed twice by Laker; he was dismissed by Tony Lock in the first innings. He scored 41, 16, 22 and 33 as Australia fell to successive innings defeats in the Third and Fourth Tests.
As a result he eschewed his favoured leg glance stroke. With 138 and 125 not out against Somerset, Burke became the first Australian since Alan Kippax in 1930 to score a century in each innings of a match in England. His 194 on a spinning wicket against Warwickshire was the highest innings of his career to that point. In recognition of his performance on the tour, he was named as a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1957. He then toured India and Pakistan on the return trip to Australia, although his batting became increasingly dour. His century in the Second Test at Bombay in 368 minutes remains the slowest by an Australian Test player. His series otherwise uneventful, finishing with 197 runs at 32.83. He also took his first wickets in Test cricket, with 4/37 in the second inning of the Third Test in Calcutta as India were dismissed short of the victory target.
The following year, he toured South Africa in 1957–58. He topped the Australian run scoring aggregate, with 1,041 at an average of 65.06, the only Australian to pass 1000 runs. His 189 against South Africa in the Second at Cape Town, his highest Test score, took 578 minutes. It laid the foundation for an innings victory. He scored 83 in the drawn Third Test in Durban and his 81 in the first innings of the Fourth in Johannesburg set up a ten wicket victory. In the First Test against the England team at Brisbane in 1958–59, he took 250 minutes to score 28 not out.
Criticised for slow scoring and for his bowling, and declaring himself unwilling to face fast bowling of increasing fierceness, in particular short pitched bowling, Burke retired suddenly after the 1958–59 series against Peter May’s touring Englishmen, against whom he scored 199 runs at 28.43. He continued to play grade cricket for 13 further seasons and later became a well-known commentator on cricket for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
Burke was also an off break bowler and took 101 wickets in first-class cricket at an average under thirty. His jerky bent-arm action was considered to be suspect and was no-balled for throwing in grade cricket. At the height of the "throwing" controversy in 1958–59 he was not risked in Test matches. He was often effective on uncovered wickets in grade cricket, often skittling opposition batting lineups.
A popular and humorous figure and an honorary life member of the Marylebone Cricket Club, Burke hid personal and financial worries. In February 1979, while a member of the regular ABC commentary team for The Ashes Tests, he bought a shotgun from a Sydney store and killed himself with it.
Outside the pressure of Test cricket, Burke was an entertaining and attacking batsman, characterized by a clean line, quick movement back or forward and good balance, notably in playing the on-drive. Standing a little under six feet, Burke played with a low grip on his bat with little backlift. He played square-on while on the back foot, with chest facing the bowler, preferring to have his body behind swinging balls rather than the textbook side-on stance. Lantern jawed and poker faced, Burke showed little overt reaction to crowd sentiment over his batting approach, tugging his cap lower before every delivery. He was known for his sense of humour, often enlivening the team with his piano playing and jokes.
