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Australian cricketer

William Morris Lawry (born 11 February 1937) is an Australian former cricketer who played for Victoria and Australia. He captained Australia in 25 Test matches, winning nine, losing eight and drawing eight, and led Australia in the inaugural One Day International match, played in 1971. A left handed opening batsman with a reputation for resolute defence, he had the ability to spend long periods of time at the crease. As his career progressed, he wound back his strokeplay to the point where he was described by an English journalist as "the corpse with pads on". Lawry was unceremoniously dumped as captain and player for the final Test of the 1970–71 Ashes series in Australia. Lawry's sacking is regarded as one of the more distasteful incidents in Australian cricket history—he was not informed personally of the selectors' decision before the decision was first broadcast on radio and he only became aware of his fate when confronted by reporters.

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 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. Adapting quickly to English pitches, Lawry bounced back after failing to pass 30 in his first two matches to make his first century on the tour against Surrey at The Oval, which defeated Australia in the corresponding match on Australia's previous tour in 1956. This time, Lawry seized the initiative in an innings described by Wisden as "one of the most significant of the whole season" and "a flowering of technique and temperament". Lawry resisted for six hours, to register his maiden Test century of 130, while no other batsman on either side passed 66. The left handed opener was one of the few to perform against the champions, scoring 65 and 113, and 97 and 67 in the respective matches, accumulating more than a third of his team's runs.

Lawry made his Test debut on Australian soil in the First Test of the 1962–63 Ashes series at Brisbane. After making half centuries in consecutive lead in matches, At one point, he struck two fours in succession, prompting the crowd to yell "lightning does strike twice!" The unbeaten knock was part of barren run of 12 innings in which Lawry passed 20 only twice. Between Tests, the Victorian skipper continued his strong run with 73 and 130 not against Queensland and 94 against New South Wales. Lawry proceeded to make 94 in the Fifth Test at The Oval, helping to secure a 197 run first innings lead and draw the match, retaining the Ashes 1–0. He ended with series with 317 runs at 39.62. his 592 runs (84.57) were the most in an Ashes series since Don Bradman in 1946–47 and his three centuries the most since Arthur Morris in 1948. He was in fine form in the four lead up matches, hitting 160 in the opening game of the season against South Australia and 153 and 61 for the Victorians against the Englishmen. The Victorian skipper added fifties in the other two matches. Between Tests, the Victorian ran into form in a match for the Tasmania Combined XI against England. He made 47 as the hosts collapsed for 199 in their first innings and then compiled an unbeaten 126 in the second innings to help wipe out a deficit of 272 and prevent defeat. the highest opening partnership for Australia against England and still the highest opening partnership against England at home. A further 108 in a 212 run stand with Bob Cowper in the Fifth Test helped ensure the match was drawn and the Ashes retained. The Essendon team included Ian Monks (captain), John Grant, Greg Brown, Barry Davis, Daryl Foster, Keith Kirby, and John Swanson; and, apart from Lawry, the team's captain, the Northcote team included Frank Brew, Ian Cowley, and Paul Shanahan. There was nothing unusual about Bill Lawry pulling off seemingly unending rearguard actions, but his marathon innings in the Victoria Cricket Association Premiership final of 1965 66 was perhaps the most outrageously unbelievable." The match was played at the Albert Cricket Ground over four days — 2 April 9 April (Easter Saturday), 11 April (Easter Monday), and 16 April 1966 — to reach a first innings result: Essendon declared at 9/514 at tea on Day 2, and Northcote chased the total, making 5/516, with Lawry finishing 282 not out, having been at the crease for 509 minutes, faced 454 balls, and hit 32 fours.

He was less successful in 1966–67 as Australia toured South Africa and lost the five Test series 3–1. In his first trip to Africa, Lawry struggled. In five first class matches leading up to the Tests, he made starts without converting them into big scores, scoring 334 runs at 41.75 with four scores between 35 and 60. His form remained consistent, scoring 64, 45, 66 and 52 in the two remaining Tests as Australia completed a 4–0 clean sweep. He had a productive summer with 369 runs at 52.71. In all first class matches, Lawry made 805 runs at 47.35, adding a second century for the season in a vain attempt to prevent a Victorian defeat at the hands of Western Australia. Lawry returned and made 27 and 46 in county matches before the final Fifth Test at The Oval. He finished the series with 270 runs at 38.57. With the series at 2–1 leading into the Fifth Test in Sydney, Lawry struck 151 in the first innings after Australia were sent in to bat. The hosts made 619 and took a 340 run first innings lead, but their cautious captain let his team bat until they reached 8/394 to declare with a lead of 734, making 17 runs himself. The Australians still had enough time to take 382 run win and complete a 3–1 series win. His 667 runs at 83.38 was the highest series aggregate of his career.

After retiring from playing, Lawry worked as a commentator on radio and television, firstly with Channel 7 and then Channel 0 Melbourne, before joining Channel 9 television, beginning in the days of World Series Cricket in the 1977 78 season. His distinctive, enthusiastic and excitable style has often been parodied, especially in The Twelfth Man series;

During the late 1980s and early 1990s, Lawry was the cricket manager of the Victorian Cricket Association, helping to recruit players for the Victorian team. The Westgarth Street Oval in Northcote was renamed the Bill Lawry Oval. In 2010, Lawry was inducted into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame.