Bill Lawry
Lawry was born in the Melbourne suburb of Thornbury. He was given the names William Morris after the early Prime Minister of Australia, William Morris Hughes. His father Alfred played amateur cricket until the age of 51. Bill never saw his father play, who was aged 47 when Bill was born. Aged nine, he played competitive cricket for the first time with the Thornbury Presbyterian Church team. He spent three years there, as well as playing for Preston Technical School. When he was twelve, he entered Melbourne's district competition playing for Northcote's fourth team, working his way up to the First XI by the age of sixteen. At the time, he was apprenticed as a plumber and attending Preston Technical College. Lawry was selected for Victoria's Second XI at the age of seventeen. He made a duck against the South Australians and did not see any further action for the Seconds for the rest of the summer of 1954–55. The following season, Lawry was recalled to the Seconds and scored 183 against South Australia.
Graham Dilley
A fortnight later, Dilley appeared in his first Test match, making him the youngest cricketer to play for England in thirty years when he entered the field during the Perth Test at the WACA on 14 December 1979. England captain Mike Brearley showed confidence in Dilley and gave him the new ball at the start of the Australian first innings. Dilley did well during his initial bowling spell, but had to wait until Australia lost their fifth wicket on 127 runs to claim his first Test wicket. The batsman was Peter Toohey, caught by Derek Underwood for 19. Dilley then claimed his second wicket when Rod Marsh was caught behind by Bob Taylor. Marsh had scored 42 runs and Australia were 219 for 7 at that point. Australia finished 244 all out, and Dilley took figures of 18–1–47–2 with an economy rate of 2.61. However, his debut bowling performance was overshadowed by Botham taking 6 for 78.