text: ron hamence ronald arthur hamence ( 25 november 1915 – 24 march 2010 ) was a cricketer who played for south australia ( sa ) and australia . a short and compact right - handed batsman , hamence excelled in getting forward to drive and had an array of attractive back foot strokes . already the youngest australian to play district cricket , he was also , from the death of bill brown in 2008 until his own death in 2010 , the oldest surviving australian test cricketer . while hamence only played three test matches for his national team , he had a successful domestic career , being called south australia 's most successful batsman in 1950 . he played 99 first - class matches from 1935 until 1951 , which brought him a career total of 5 , 285 runs that came at an average of 37 . 75 runs per innings and included 11 centuries . he scored two of these centuries in his first and last first - class matches . career born in the adelaide suburb of hindmarsh , hamence was the cousin of charlie walker , a fellow australian cricketer . at 15 years and 25 days , hamence became the youngest district cricketer in south australian cricket history when he made his debut for adelaide club west torrens in 1930 . while playing with the sa team , he worked as a public servant at the government printing office . he was a compact batsman preferring attack over defence , however he suffered a weakness throughout his career against fast bowling . he joined south australia part way through the 1935 – 36 season , and in march 1936 , he scored a century ( 121 ) on his first - class cricket debut against tasmania at the adelaide oval . this was to be his only match of the season , which left him with a debut season average of 121 . 00 . at the start of his first full season , he followed this up with scores of 16 and four against the touring england team and victoria and seven and 19 against new south wales . on christmas day , 1936 , however , he scored his second first - class century , 104 against queensland in the first innings . he would go on to score 52 in the second . scores of three not out , 28 , 27 , 35 and four followed before his next significant score , 52 , against queensland on 12 february 1937 . he ended the season with 336 runs , one century , and an average of 30 . 54 . he then suffered his worst period of form thus far at the start of the 1937 – 38 season , failing to reach double figures from 17 december 1937 until early january 1938 , when he scored 64 in the second innings , against victoria . he followed this with 49 against new south wales , and ended his third season with 283 runs at an average of 21 . 76 . he did not play another cricket match until 16 december 1938 at the start of the next season , however he returned with a score of 90 against new south wales , and followed that up two matches later with 84 against victoria . he narrowly missed out on his third century in november 1939 when he was caught by morris sievers for 99 against victoria . he scored 41 , 12 , 6 and 20 to see out the rest of the year , ending with 239 runs at an average of 47 . 80 , his most successful full season thus far . in 1940 , he began the year with 26 and two against queensland , and then a 43 against new south wales . a series of low scores followed until he hit a vein of strong form beginning in february of that year . he scored 63 against western australia on 16 february 1940 in his last match of the 1939 – 40 season . he began the following season with 41 in the following match against new south wales . hamence then enjoyed great success against victoria , where he scored 130 and 103 not out in one inter - state match , and then 85 and 62 in the next . following this , in a match at the melbourne cricket ground between two representative selections to raise money for the war effort , he played for don bradman 's xi and scored 73 and 35 . he returned to play for south australia for a match against new south wales , where he scored 31 and five . he ended the 1940 – 41 season with the highest average for a single season he would achieve in his career , 569 runs at 63 . 22 , with two hundreds . second world war and after hamence was not to play another first - class match until december 1945 after the end of the second world war . during the war , he served for four years with the royal australian air force . upon his return , he immediately hit form for south australia against new south wales where he hit 74 not out and 75 in a match starting 14 december 1945 . he then scored 56 against victoria on 18 january , and then after three single figure scores he hit 76 against queensland . he then experienced a drop in form , with only one significant score , 46 against wellington , for seven innings . he ended the 1945 – 46 season with 332 runs at 36 . 88 . at the start of the 1946 – 47 season , however , he enjoyed his greatest success thus far , scoring consecutive centuries in three innings from 15 november 1946 until 19 december : 116 against victoria and 132 and 101 not out against new south wales , the latter followed up by a score of 48 in the second innings . this was followed by a career - best 145 against the touring mcc team on 24 january 1947 , and 63 against queensland on 21 february . he ended the season with 675 runs at 56 . 25 . international debut , england , india and the invincibles these centuries led to his debut for australia in the fifth test at sydney on 28 february 1947 . hamence scored 30 not out in the first innings as australia made 253 in response to england 's first innings 280 . england managed 186 in response and australia , set 213 to win , reached it in 52 . 2 overs . however hamence made only one in his second innings . he returned to domestic cricket , however over six innings his highest score was 27 . nevertheless , hamence was picked to play in the second and third tests against the touring indian cricket team in australia in 1947 – 48 . he made 25 in the first innings of both matches , with the first , starting 12 december 1947 , ended in a draw before hamence could bat again . in the third test , which started on 1 january 1948 , australia achieved victory with centuries from don bradman and arthur morris meaning hamence was again not needed to bat in the second innings . he was then replaced by neil harvey for the final two tests . returning once again to domestic cricket , hamence scored 85 and 66 against queensland , and this kept him in the running for a place in the national team , as he toured with the invincibles in england in 1948 . he was not selected to play in any of the tests , however he reiterated when interviewed in 2008 that he felt no resentment over not having played . hamence was a popular member of the touring squad and his cheerful nature and splendid tenor voice added to the good spirits of the team . his success in the warm up games was mixed , scores of 92 , 46 and 49 not out against cambridge university , essex and lancashire mixed with a duck , seven , one , three , two and five against other counties . against somerset , approaching his first century of the tour , the australian players , keen to see hamence succeed , left their card games to applaud only to see him dismissed for 99 , his highest score for the season . he also faced scotland for two matches in august 1948 , scoring six and 15 . overall on the tour he played 19 matches scoring 582 runs at an average of 32 . 33 . his touring colleague sid barnes criticised the omission of hamence from much meaningful cricket on the tour . he wrote : " for instance , against the gentlemen at lord 's we were 532 when hamence came to bat . brown got 120 , bradman 150 , hassett , not out , 200 and miller 69 . hamence was left not out with 24 . this was an innings in which he could have been sent in first wicket down , where he batted with his interstate team ... despite this , hassett still went in before hamence in the next game , against somerset ... hamence batted no. 6 ... but he should have been sent in no. 3 . " bradman , following the invincibles tour described hamence as " a fine batsman of the strictly orthodox type . very sound and reliable with his game based on driving " and a " very safe fieldsman " . barnes reported that hamence , along with the other frequent omissions colin mccool and doug ring , termed themselves the " ground staff " . he added : " in the dressing room during county games they would break out into ironic song about the few chances they got . " bradman did later state that " because of the strong array of batsman ahead of him , [ hamence ] seldom had an opportunity to make big scores " but " was an extremely useful reserve who could have been played in the tests with confidence " . return , retirement and later life hamence scored 58 and 45 in his first match upon return to australia , playing for bradman 's xi against a team captained by lindsay hassett on 3 december 1948 . he then scored a career best 173 against new south wales , and 55 the following match against queensland . he then faced western australia for his 91st first - class match , scoring another century when he hit 117 against western australia . hamence then suffered a loss of form , not exceeding 31 for 11 innings . he scored a 53 against new south wales , 64 not out against queensland and 58 against victoria , however he then scored nine , one and five in his next three innings . a 48 and 78 against new south wales and western australia followed , however it was becoming clear that his form was waning . hamence played his final match against freddie brown 's mcc team on 27 october 1950 , scoring 114 in the first innings as south australia reached 350 , and then seven in his final innings before being run out by bob berry . his final full season saw him score 418 runs at 32 . 15 . in total , hamence played 69 matches for south australia , scoring 4 , 244 runs at an average of 38 . 93 , with 11 centuries and 22 fifties . aside from his 52 . 75 average for bradman 's xi , south australia was to be hamence 's most successful team . of his eleven centuries , three were scored against victoria , against whom he had an average of 41 . 75 , however he scored the most runs , and his highest score , against new south wales . in 2001 , hamence was awarded the centenary medal for services to australian society through the sport of cricket . he died in an adelaide nursing home , aged 94 , in 2010 . test match performance