Prolific: Bill Brown (left) and Jack Fingleton enjoyed one of the great summers in South Africa in 1935–36, sharing opening stands of 12, 93 unfinished, 105, 17, 233, 99 and 162 in the five Tests.

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‘When he wasn’t playing cricket, he’d be charming the members at Ascot in top hat and tails. He was the classiest of all wild colonial boys…’

POST-WAR DYNAMOES

For reasons other than cricket, their union was to last just 10 Tests, but in the pantheon of Australia’s finest openers, Sid Barnes and Arthur Morris rate among the most dynamic.

Both were wonderfully gifted: Morris, polished and poised, as good a left-hander as Australia has produced – Neil Harvey included; and Barnes, a right-hander with flair, flamboyance and attitude. They combined in three century stands in eight Ashes Tests, including 117 at Kennington Oval in 1948 after England had been shot out for just 52.

‘Sid was my all-time favourite opening partner,’ said Morris. ‘We were able to get our singles, especially on the on-side, and being different types of batsmen made it more difficult for bowlers. Sid was the finest opening batsman I ever saw – and the most affected by the wartime.’

As a 22-year-old, early on his first Ashes tour in 1938, Barnes broke his wrist and returned only in time for the final pre-war Ashes Test at The Oval, where he made 41 and 33. He was 30 by the time Ashes cricket resumed in 1946.

Ambitious to make an immediate mark and wanting to be an integral part of the post-war Australian teams, which included his hero Don Bradman, he agreed to open the innings alongside Morris, who had made twin centuries on debut for New South Wales in one of the final representative games before the war.

‘Much better to get in before him [the Don] than to come later,’ Barnes explained, ‘like flat beer after champagne.’

Morris admired his mate’s skill and loved his sense of humour. After Barnes, just beginning to settle, had been athletically caught by Alec Bedser in the first innings in Brisbane, he joined a disconsolate Morris, already back in the rooms. He took one look at his mate and said: ‘We’ll go back to our room, lock the door and sulk!’

 

Left: Beneficiary: Jack Moroney cashed in on Sid Barnes’ self-imposed exit from Test cricket and opened with Arthur Morris regularly during the 1949–50 tour of South Africa. Together they averaged almost 40 per innings before Jack went back to his schoolteaching in Orange.

Right: Arthur Morris’ most noted opening partner was Sid Barnes but the Morris-Colin McDonald combine was more consistent and prolific. They are pictured during the opening first-class game of the 1953 tour, in Worcester.

Morris conceded that often one would get out before the other prospered. He would have loved to have opened more often with Barnes, but Sid withdrew from the 1949–50 tour of South Africa saying he couldn’t afford the time away from his business interests. He never played Test cricket again.

Morris’ other favourite partner was Don Bradman, the pair responsible for Australia’s famous win at Leeds in 1948 when they chased 400 in less than a day and won with just three wickets down.

‘No doubt that was Don and my most important partnership, because it was the most difficult and certainly the most unexpected given our expectations,’ Morris said. Morris made 182 and Bradman 173 not out, the pair adding 301 for the second wicket in three hours and 35 minutes on a worn fifth-day wicket. It was the highlight win of Bradman’s career.

A fortnight later Morris made another big century, this time 196, but few remembered it as Bradman, in his last major innings, was out for a second ball duck.

With Barnes retiring prematurely, Morris had eight different opening partners in the next six years.

The most successful was the Victorian Colin McDonald, who considered it one of his lifetime thrills to bat with such an acknowledged master. Together they averaged 63.

‘Jimmy Burke and I often opened but I always felt most comfortable going in with Arthur,’ McDonald said. ‘Arthur was a magnificent player. No-one is impregnable, but you knew you were batting with a great batsman.’

MORRIS AND BARNES IN TESTS
Opponent	Tests	Innings	Not Out	Best	Runs	Average	100s
England	8	12	0	126	661	55	3
India	2	3	0	29	68	23	0
Total	10	15	0	126	729	49	3
Figures include their partnerships down the order

MORRIS’S OPENING PARTNERS
Innings	Partner	Runs	Average	100s
15	Colin McDonald	949	63	3
13	Sid Barnes	706	54	3
11	Jack Moroney	425	38	1
11	Lindsay Hassett	303	27	0
9	Ken Archer	182	20	0
5	Les Favell	134	26	0
3	Jim Burke	32	10	0
2	Graeme Hole	30	15	0
2	Ian Johnson	13	6	0
2	Merv Harvey	134	67	1
2	Bill Brown	63	31	0
1	Len Maddocks	6	6	0

PRIDE OF THE NORTH-WEST

They were the pride of the Tasmanian north-west coast, buddies since starting school and openers of distinction for virtually a decade.

From the early 1990s and into the 2000s, Jamie Cox and Dene Hills went from being neighbours in the tiny rural town of Wynard to being Australia’s outstanding domestic opening combination. No pair at state level opened more often – or were more prolific. In amassing almost 6500 runs at an average of 45-plus in a decade of domination, the pair shared 20 century stands, at an average of one three-figure score every seven first-class innings.

Cox is one of the most prolific Sheffield Shield batting ‘specialists’ not to gain Australian selection. A right-hander, he enjoyed a golden period in his late 20s and found a willing ally in Hills, a high-quality, very-focused leftie. They were forever coaching and encouraging each other.

‘We grew up together,’ said Cox. ‘Dene lived literally 30 seconds away over the back fence and across the street. We played backyard Test matches growing up and they could be pretty extreme. It didn’t do much for Dad’s front lawn.’

Family photo albums show the pair together at birthday parties from the age of seven and eight. They were virtually inseparable and got to know each other’s games backwards. As a kid, Hills wore big thick-rimmed glasses.

‘Coke-bottle glasses they were,’ said Cox. ‘His eyes were always giving him grief. He was colour blind and half blind. It makes me wonder what a player he could have been!’

Cox said their lives followed ‘ridiculously silly paths’.

‘We were born a year apart. We started university a year apart. We both worked for the same bank a year apart. We got married three weeks apart. We had children six months apart. Everything followed each other.’

The pair roomed together on tour and often would run between wickets even without a call or any eye contact. They just knew that the other was coming. Cox says the intimate knowledge of each other was the core reason for their consistency and success.

‘It wasn’t often said in words,’ he said. ‘It was often a look or a raised eyebrow, a stare to say: “Mate, what the hell are you doing?” It wasn’t telepathic or anything, but we didn’t call a lot. We just knew if runs were on offer. When we started batting together [Cox having originally been in the Tasmanian middle order], we bloomed. It felt comfortable… it was instinctive.’ Years after they retired from playing, Hills still regards Cox as another brother.

Highest of their stands together was a record 297 against Victoria in 1997–98, when Tasmania chased 400 in the fourth innings at Bellerive Oval and won by seven wickets, the catalyst in the team’s barnstorming season finish which saw them make the Sheffield Shield final. Victoria’s attack included Testmen Shane Warne and Damien Fleming, yet they took just one wicket between them. In one over from Warne, Hills hit four 4s.

The previous season Cox and Hills had five century starts, including 215 against the Victorians. No set of Tasmanian openers had enjoyed such success. Yet such was the strength of Australia’s top-order, with competition from the likes of Michael Slater, Matthew Elliott, Justin Langer and Matthew Hayden, that they were never seriously considered for higher honours.

Cox did receive an offer to cross the Strait and play with Victoria, but he remained loyal to Tasmanian cricket, not wanting to play against his closest mates.

‘The ultimate would have been if we’d both got to play for Australia,’ said Cox. ‘We often discussed how nice it would be to play a Test match but we also conceded that it would not have been quite the same unless we were doing it together. Changing both Test openers at the time was unlikely to happen.’

Tasmania’s coach Greg Shipperd said the pair were central in Tasmania gaining new respect from the mainland states.

‘They were a big part of the journey and made fantastic contributions,’ he said. ‘It helped that they’d come from the same town, were a similar age and were left- and right-handers. They were also very hungry [to achieve] and could bat for long periods. It was tough bowling against them as they were both good drivers and cutters. At a different time, Jamie in particular would have been a fine international cricketer. He made some big scores against some excellent attacks, especially New South Wales. But he was competing with Michael Slater. “Slatts” got the nod and so he had to bide his time again. That happens in cricket. Timing is everything.’

Cox and Hills’ record of opening together in 144 Shield innings, including 70 times in a row from 1995–96 to 1998–99, is unlikely to be surpassed.

The next most prolific pairing at domestic level were the Queenslanders Matthew Hayden and Trevor Barsby with 87 innings together, followed by the West Australians Geoff Marsh and Mike Veletta with 81.

They had one peculiarity as a pair: Hills always ran onto the ground first and took the first ball.

‘He thought he was the tough guy for doing it,’ said Cox.

OPENING PAIRS IN SHEFFIELD SHIELD
	Number of innings opened
Jamie Cox and Dene Hills (Tasmania)	144
Trevor Barsby and Matthew Hayden (Queensland)	87
Geoff Marsh and Mike Veletta (Western Australia)	81
Andrew Hilditch and Glenn Bishop (South Australia)	77
Mark Taylor and Steve Small (New South Wales)	66
Robbie Kerr and Andrew Courtice (Queensland)	64
Sam Trimble and Des Bull (Queensland)	54
Rick McCosker and John Dyson (New South Wales)	52
Bill Lawry and Ian Redpath (Victoria)	51

JAMIE COX AND DENE HILLS IN SHEFFIELD SHIELD CRICKET
Season	Innings	Not Out	Highest Score	Total	Average	100s
1993–94	12	0	213	772	64	3
1994–95	19	0	89	597	31	0
1995–96	17	1	125	751	46	3
1996–97	20	1	215	1086	57	5
1997–98	21	1	297	1199	59	3
1998–99	15	0	112	503	33	1
1999–2000	17	1	205	610	38	2
2000–01	16	0	106	445	27	1
2001–02	7	0	205	329	47	1
Innings: 144
Highest stand: 297 v Victoria, Bellerive, 1997–98
Runs: 6292
Average: 44
Century partnerships: 19