page_title: Herbie Collins
section_title: First World War and Services XI
hierarchical_section_title: Herbie Collins / First World War and Services XI
caption_attribution_description: English: Sourced from: http://www.awm.gov.au/database/collection.asp Copyright: The AWM record for this photo states that the copyright status is 'clear'. The photo was taken in 1919. AWM Caption: London, England. June 1919. Group portrait of members of the AIF Cricket Eleven, which toured the United Kingdom from May to September, 1919, at Lords Ground. Back row, left to right: Staff Sergeant C. S. Winning, Dental Section, AIF Headquarters (HQ); Sergeant H. S. Love, Australian Army Service Corps (AASC); Gunner (Gnr) J. T. Murray, 103rd Battery; Gnr E. Bull, 26th Battery; Lieutenant J. M. Gregory, 4th Divisional Artillery; Captain (Capt) E. J. Long, Deputy Assistant Provost Marshal, Weymouth; Corporal E. A. Oldfield. Middle row: Capt C. T. Docker, General List; Capt C. E. Pellew, 27th Battalion; Lance Corporal H. L. Collins, 10th AASC; Capt C. B. Willis, Dental Section; Sgt A. W. Lampard, 10th AASC; Capt W. L. Trennery, 17th Battalion. Front row: Gnr J. M. Taylor, 101st Howitzer Battery; Warrant Officer W. S. Stirling, AIF Headquarters, Records Section. They are wearing the official team blazer with the AIF rising sun emblem on the pocket. .
context_page_description: Herbert Leslie Collins was an Australian cricketer who played 19 Tests between 1921 and 1926. An all-rounder, he captained the Australian team in eleven Tests, winning five, losing two with another four finishing in draws. In a Test career delayed by First World War he scored 1,352 runs at an average of 45.06, including four centuries. Collins was also a successful rugby league footballer, winning the 1911 NSWRFL season's grand final with the Eastern Suburbs club.
  Collins was a keen gambler, a pastime that became habitual during his time as a soldier in the Great War. After the war, he played with the Australian Imperial Forces cricket team that toured England, South Africa and Australia and was later appointed captain of the team. He was not a stylish or forceful batsman, preferring to rely on nudges and deflections to score runs. His slow left arm off-spin, bowled from a two step run up, was seldom seen after the AIF XI tour. On return to Australia, he made his Test début against England at the Sydney Cricket Ground scoring 104 in the second innings; the fifth Australian to score a century on Test début.
context_section_description: In 1915 Collins was one of 417,000 Australians who enlisted and was a member of the First Australian Imperial Force (AIF) as a reinforcement for the Australian Light Horse. He served in the Sinai and Palestine Campaign and later on the Western Front, carting ammunition to the artillery shelling the German lines. At the end of the War, Collins was a Lance Corporal.
  Following the war he was included in an Australian Imperial Forces cricket team, touring England in 1919. Charles Kelleway, an officer, was the captain of the team for the first six matches. Despite Collins's rank Field Marshal Birdwood, the former commander of the Australian Corps, asked him to take over the captaincy for the remainder of the tour. Some of his colleagues were officers such as Jack Gregory and Nip Pellew. Collins proved a capable and popular captain with the team losing only four of twenty eight matches during the tour. He scored 1,615 runs including five centuries at an average of 38.45 and took 106 wickets at 16.55 apiece.
  On their way home the AIF team played ten matches in South Africa, eight of them first-class, remaining undefeated in this section of the tour. While Jack Gregory relished the conditions, the local newspapers acclaimed Collins as the finest player in the touring team. Collins scored 602 runs in South Africa at an average of 50.58 and took 39 wickets at 16.53. In a match at the Old Wanderers ground in Johannesburg against the South African XI, Collins scored 235 from a total of 441 in the first innings as the AIF XI won by 8 wickets.
  On arrival back in Australia, the AIF team played three first-class matches, defeating the reigning Sheffield Shield champions New South Wales and perennial Shield powerhouse Victoria. A likely victory against Queensland was frustrated due to torrential rain. The results in Australia demonstrated the strength of the AIF team and within a few months of the team's dissolution, Collins would make his Test début, along with his AIF team-mates, Gregory, wicket-keeper Bert Oldfield and the batsmen Johnny Taylor and Nip Pellew.
caption: Collins with the AIF team in London, 1919
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