Sad day for Oz cricket
AUSTRALIAN cricket was in mourning Saturday after the deaths of former greats Alan Davidson and Ashley Mallett within 24 hours of each other.
Test spinner Mallett died aged 76 following a long battle with cancer, while legendary allrounder Alan Davidson passed away at 92.
Davidson, a destructive left-arm fast bowler and hard-hitting lowermiddle order batter, was hailed as “one of cricket’s s finest players and most t influential and beloved figures”.
“Alan was a colossal figure in n our game,” said Cricket Australia a chairman Richard ard Freudenstein.
Davidson made de his Test debut on the 1953 Ashes tour against England and went on to play 44 Tests, taking 186 wickets at 20.53 with best figures of 7-93, while scoring 1,328 runs.
Mallett was remembered as a humble man who also played a significant role in Australian cricket.
Nicknamed “Rowdy” in an ironic nod to his quietly spoken nature, he played 38 Tests from his debut against England in 1968, taking 132 wickets at an average of 29.84.
He still holds the best figures for a finger spinner in Australia with 8-59 against Pakistan at Adelaide in 1972, but his efforts in India were heralded as his greatest.