deliveries columns catches/stumpings year tenfor bowling country fivefor batting image name lasttestyear column international testdebutdate source date runs testdebutyear wickets lasttestdate s/s matches article_title
6974 2 9/0 85/0 1963 1 5 right-arm medium-fast australian 6 23 right-hand bat neil hawke.jpg neil hawke 1968 tests first-class true 15 february http://content-aus.cricinfo.com/ci/content/player/5611.html 15 february 365 3383 1963 91 458 20 june 0/0 1/11 27 145 neil hawke

neil hawke

neil james napier hawke -lrb- 27 june 1939 -- 25 december 2000 -rrb- was an australian test cricketer and leading australian rules footballer .
born in cheltenham , south australia , hawke quickly developed as a natural all-round sportsman who excelled in cricket , football and golf and made his senior australian rules football debut for south australian national football league -lrb- sanfl -rrb- club port adelaide in august 1957 .
hawke stamped himself as a future champion when in his third game he kicked 15 goals for port against south adelaide before being surprisingly dropped two weeks later .
hawke quit port at the end of 1957 to try his hand in western australia and made his west australian national football league -lrb- wanfl -rrb- debut in 1958 for east perth football club , playing 42 matches and kicking 157 goals in two seasons with the royals , including east perth 's 1958 and 1959 premierships .
hawke topped the wanfl 's goalkicking list in 1959 with 114 goals , represented western australia against south australia and gained local fame for apparently being the first footballer to perfect the drop punt over a long distance .
previously , the drop punt was only used over short distances on wet days but hawke 's innovation was said to have revolutionised the game in western australia .
fresh from his success on the football field , hawke also made an impact on the cricket field as a medium-fast swing bowler with an unusual `` crab-like ' '' action , a capable lower-order batsman and a sound fieldsman .
he made his first-class cricket debut for western australia in november 1959 , scoring 89 and returning the figures of 0/49 .
however , hawke failed to capitalise on this initial success and returned to south australia at the end of the 1959/60 cricket season .
playing for west torrens football club in the sanfl and south australia in the sheffield shield , hawke continued to star in both football and cricket .
hawke was part of the 1963 south australian football team that defeated victoria at the melbourne cricket ground ; the first time south australia had won at the mcg since 1926 , and in so doing became the first -lrb- and still the only -rrb- person to have represented both south australia and western australia in australian rules football and cricket .
his cricket also developed enough for him to make his test debut on 15 february 1963 in the fifth ashes test against england at the sydney cricket ground , scoring 14 and recording match figures of 2/89 .
hawke was a member of the 1963/64 sheffield shield winning south australian team , and toured england -lrb- where he qualified for the british amateur golf championship and became fred trueman 's 300th test victim -rrb- , india and pakistan in 1964 and the west indies in 1965 .
the west indies tour found hawke in top form as he took 24 wickets at 21.83 in the test series , including match figures of 10 -- 115 in the third test at bourda cricket ground , georgetown , guyana , as well as making his highest score , an unbeaten 45 at sabina park , jamaica .
back in australia hawke was the top wicket taker in the 1965-66 ashes series , taking 16 wickets -lrb- 26.18 -rrb- with garth mckenzie also taking 16 , but at the higher average of 29.18 .
in the third test at sydney england reached 308/2 before hawke had colin cowdrey , m.j.k. smith , dave brown and jim parks all caught behind by wally grout in succession , and his 7/105 was his best bowling in tests , but australia still lost by an innings .
in the second innings of the fourth test at adelaide hawke took 5/54 , reducing england to 32/3 and 266 all out as australia won by an innings to draw the series .
hawke 's football career ended in 1966 when he dislocated his right shoulder .
a screw was inserted in the point of the shoulder , which not only forced him to retire from football but also greatly affected his bowling .
nonetheless , he played home series against south africa , pakistan and india and toured south africa in 1966 -- 67 and england in 1968 , where he played his final test at lord 's .
he finished his career after 27 tests , 365 runs at 16.59 , 91 wickets at 29.41 and a statement by his former test captain , richie benaud , declaring hawke as one of the finest medium-pace bowlers he had seen .
hawke began playing in the lancashire league , first for nelson and then east lancashire and moved to launceston , tasmania to become coach of the northern tasmanian cricket association .
he continued to play in the lancashire leagues until 1974 before returning to adelaide where he worked as a sports journalist and cricket commentator .
in july 1980 , hawke ate some peanuts which precipitated a total blocking of his bowel , requiring surgery .
during surgery , infection set in and spread rapidly through his body , leading to multiple organ failure .
over the next two years hawke suffered twelve cardiac arrests , gangrene , had a further thirty operations and was drip fed over that period .
his survival was considered a medical marvel by doctors and he was the subject of study by researchers on how long a patient could be drip fed .
in 1990 , hawke suffered heart failure and then blood poisoning , central nervous system damage , cirrhosis of the liver and later contracted hepatitis b and c before a brain dysfunction in 1996 severely impaired his speech and led to severe bouts of depression .
due to his mounting medical expenses , hawke sought to sell some of his cricket memorabilia in england .
unfortunately , the man to whom he entrusted the memorabilia , a fellow cricket writer , was later found to have pocketed the profits of the sale while informing hawke the items had been damaged in transit .
in his final years the former hellraiser hawke became a born again christian and joined the evangelical assemblies of god church .
he died in adelaide on christmas day , 2000 , aged 61 , survived by his third wife beverley and a daughter , janet , from his first marriage .
tributes poured in from throughout the sporting world : on day two of the 2000 boxing day test , the australian players wore black armbands as a mark of respect ; the south australian government created the neil hawke scholarship for young sportspeople and obituaries claimed that he was the finest all-round sportsman south australia had produced .
