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.
Bob Simpson (cricketer)
He was still 11 days shy of his seventeenth birthday when he was selected to make his Sheffield Shield debut as a middle order batsman for New South Wales against Victoria in the 1952–53 season. He had played only 12 first grade matches prior to this. When he arrived to meet his teammates, Australian vice-captain Arthur Morris asked him where his nappies were. At the age of 16 years and 354 days, this made him the second youngest cricketer to be capped for New South Wales, just three months older than teammate Ian Craig when he made his debut. He scored 44 and 8, without being dismissed in either innings. According to Haigh, "Great protectiveness was felt towards such a boy among men." From the last ball of a drawn match, Simpson attempted to run two, but his misjudgment saw him caught short by half the pitch. Nevertheless, umpire Hugh McKinnon turned down the appeal, and after Victorian captain Sam Loxton reacted angrily, the arbiter said "it's the last ball of the game and his first match". Simpson took his maiden wicket during the match, catching Test player Ian Johnson from his own bowling.