page_title: Stan Sismey
section_title: Cricket career
hierarchical_section_title: Stan Sismey / Cricket career
caption_attribution_description: Lindsay Hassett and Stan Sismey walk out to bat, Victory Tests, more information at link
context_page_description: Stanley George Sismey OAM was an Australian cricketer. Sismey, who achieved the rank of Squadron Leader in the Royal Australian Air Force during World War II, was the official Commanding Officer of the Australian Services XI that played England in the Victory Test series that followed VE Day. He was not, however, the on-field Captain, an honour bestowed upon pre-war test cricketer Lindsay Hassett. Sismey was the team's wicketkeeper and a middle order batsman during the five unofficial Test matches.
  In 1942, Sismey was seriously wounded when the flying boat of which he was the co-pilot was attacked by fighter aircraft of the Vichy French Air Force, over the Mediterranean Sea off Algeria. He received multiple wounds in his back from shrapnel. These injuries sometimes affected Sismey long after his recovery: he had to leave a ground during at least one game, because a piece of metal had begun to work its way out of his body. During the Services XI's tour of India in 1945, Sismey withdrew from the team temporarily so that surgeons could remove shrapnel.
context_section_description: Sismey entered club cricket as the wicketkeeper for Western Suburbs in the Sydney grade competition. He made his debut for NSW on 15 December 1939 against South Australia – led at the time by Don Bradman – at Adelaide Oval. He was considered a contender to succeed Bert Oldfield as the wicketkeeper of the national team when the war intervened; there were no official international matches involving Australia between 1940 and 1946.
  During the war, Sismey played for a combined Dominions XI and a RAAF XI.
  His best first-class batting performance, 78 runs, was achieved for the Australian Services XI against H. D. G. Leveson-Gower's XI at the North Marine Road Ground, Scarborough, Yorkshire in September 1945. Sismey played in the five Victory Tests of 1945, as well as two more unofficial tests in India, and other games in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and Australia.
  On 21 November 1945, as a result of his war wounds, Sismey underwent an operation at a hospital in Bombay (later Mumbai) to remove a metal fragment that was working its way out of his body.
  Wisden, commenting on Sismey's performance for the Services XI, said: "Looking to a renewal of the fight for the Ashes, critics tipped Hassett and  [Keith] Miller, plus Sismey and Cristofani, to play for Australia. The first two did, to well-remembered effect. Sismey found his way barred, first by the brilliant Don Tallon and then by the stylish Ron Saggers."
  Sismey was also kept out of the NSW team by Saggers, before being re-selected during the 1949/50 season, when his keeping also earned him selection for an unofficial Australian Second XI that toured New Zealand. His first-class career in Australia concluded with the 1951/52 season, after which his banking career took him to Scotland. There Sismey played for Clydesdale Cricket Club, as well as one game for the national team of Scotland, during 1952 against Yorkshire at Hamilton Crescent, Glasgow.
  He was on the board of selectors for NSW between 1958/59 and 1978/79, including 10 seasons as chairman of the board.
  Sismey was honoured with the Medal of the Order of Australia (1990) for "services to cricket", the Australian Sports Medal (2000) for his 20 years of voluntary service as a NSW selector, and life membership in Cricket NSW (the former NSWCA).
caption: Lindsay Hassett and Stan Sismey (right) walk out to bat for the Australian Services XI, against England, during 1945.
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