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Australian cricketer

John Charles Hill (25 June 1923 – 11 August 1974) was an Australian cricketer who played in three Test matches from 1953 to 1955.

The son of a Stipendiary Magistrate, Mr. Alec Hill, S. M., Hill received his secondary education at St Patrick's College, Ballarat.

He moved to Melbourne in 1941 and took up a position under the Naval Board; and he went on to see active service in the Royal Australian Air Force from 1942 to 1946.

A star half forward with St Patrick's College, he trained with Richmond Football Club in the 1943 pre season, and was placed on their supplementary list at the start of the 1943 season. He played intermittently for Richmond's Second Eighteen; and, in 1946, he was released by Richmond to the Belgrave Football Club in the Mountain District Football Association. In 1949, in a semi finals match on 17 September 1949, in which he kicked nine goals for Belgrave, he was knocked out during the match. He thought nothing of the injury and, thinking it was just concussion, he sought no additional medical treatment. On 4 October, he collapsed at work, and was hospitalised. At the hospital, it was discovered that he had fractured his skull (the second time that he had fractured his skull in his football career). He immediately retired from football, having set the goal kicking record of 152 goals in a single season. He was not fit enough to resume cricket until 29 October 1949; and the consequences of this severe head injury were such that he suffered from severe headaches from time to time for the rest of his life; and, very often, he had to take special headache powders in order for him to be able to play cricket.

On the way to England, Hill played with an Australian XI against a Tasmanian team, in Hobart, in March 1953. On the first day, the Australian XI were 9/505 at stumps. By the end of the second day the Tasmanian team were 2/21 in their second innings, having been forced to follow on after being all out for 202. Hill bowled eleven overs, had three maidens and took none for 24. The Tasmanian team went on to score 234 in its second innings; Hill taking 2 for 28 off 11 overs (with three maidens). The team squad then travelled to Launceston, and played a match against a combined Northern Tasmanian side. The Australian XI, made up of Lindsay Hassett (captain), Arthur Morris (vice captain), Ron Archer, Richie Benaud, Alan Davidson, Jim de Courcy, Jack Hill, Graeme Hole, Bill Johnston, Gil Langley, (cricketer), and Colin McDonald. Hill had been selected as twelfth man; however, he replaced Ray Lindwall in the team, who was indisposed from having a tooth extracted the day before. The remainder of the squad were used to strengthen the opposition, and Ian Craig, Keith Miller, Neil Harvey, Doug Ring and Don Tallon all played for the combined Northern Tasmanian side. At the end of the first day's play, the Combined side were all out for 262 (hill's figures were 0/27), and the Australian XI were 93 without loss. At the end of the second day, the Australian XI had scored 469 (Hill scored 20) and the combined team were 2/19 in its second innings (Hill did not bowl on the second day). On the last day, the combined team scored a total of 245 in its second innings (with Hill taking 3/58) and the Australian XI, scoring 41 without loss, won the match.

In 1953, the entire tour of England involved 34 matches in all: five Test cricket matches, and an additional 29 matches that were played before, during, and after the Test series. Of the Five Tests, he played two for Australia against England during the 1953 Ashes Series. His first Test match appearance was in the rain affected First Test from 11 to 16 June 1953 at Trent Bridge (both he and Alan Davidson made their Australian Test debut in the same match). In a drawn match, he scored a duck and four runs; and took 3/35 and 1/26. His second Test match appearance was the Third Test, from 9–14 July 1953 at Old Trafford. In a drawn match, he scored 8 runs (n. o.) and a duck, and took 3/97 in England's only innings. He was twelfth man for the Fourth Test at Headingley). The first four matches of the series were drawn; and the last match of the series (for which Hill was not selected) was won by the M. C. C. by eight wickets. Of the 29 additional matches that the squad contested during the tour, he played in 20 of them.

In 1955, the entire tour of the West Indies involved 12 matches in all: five Test cricket matches, and an additional 7 matches that were played before and during the Test series; one of the additional matches, a two day match between an Australian XI and, G. A. Headley's XI, a team selected by the eminent West Indian cricketer G. A. Headley, that was scheduled to take place on 6 and 7 June 1955, at Jarrett Park, in Montego Bay, was abandoned when play could not commence on either day due to heavy rain. He played a single Test match for Australia against the West Indies:the drawn Fourth Test match, at Kensington Oval, Bridgetown from 14 to 20 May 1955, in which he scored 8 runs (n. o.) and 1 run, and took 0/71 and 1/44. Of the 6 additional matches that the squad contested, he played in 5 of them.

After the West Indies, Hill was never considered for Test selection again; the general view was that he had been tried and found wanting at Test level. In his three match Test career he had taken 8 wickets — Trevor Bailey (twice), Don Kenyon (twice), Peter May, Tom Graveney, Bill Edrich, and the West Indian John Holt — had taken two catches, and had scored 21 runs.

In 1956, whilst still in the Victorian State Squad, he was associated with a move by Lindsay Hassett to open up a Cricket coaching school, the Lindsay Hassett School of Cricket, and was expected, along with Doug Ring, Ernie McCormick, John Edwards, to provide expert coaching, under the supervision of the former Fitzroy off spinner Joe Plant. In 1958, the St Kilda team set a record that still stands today: in the match against Northcote, at the rain affected St Kilda Cricket Ground, on Saturday 15 November 1958, St Kilda dismissed Northcote in its first innings for just 33 runs. With such a collapse, only the two fast bowlers John Edwards (1928–2002) and Peter Hosking (1932–) were used in the first innings. Let loose in the second innings, Hill took 5/21 (including Bill Lawry, l. b. w. for 14 runs). In November 1961, Jack Hill and John Edwards, both playing for St Kilda Cricket Club were both chasing 500 wickets in District Cricket; at that stage they had each taken 497 and 496 wickets, respectively. On the following Saturday (4 November), Hill took four wickets for 6 runs; whilst Edwards failed to take a wicket. Hill played his last game for the St Kilda Cricket Club in the 1963/1964 District Cricket semi final against Essendon in March 1964. St Kilda lost the match, with Hill scoring 7 runs in his only innings, and failing to take a wicket. In a 1950 interview, the Prahran Cricket Club Captain, Ivan Porter, said that of all the bowlers that he had ever faced in his long career, that he was the most impressed with Jack Hill: "He is one of the most difficult to score runs off". At the end of the 2009/2010 District Cricket season, Jack Hill still shared the St Kilda Cricket Club record for 68 wickets in a season with Harry Zachariah (1911–2009), who had played with Northcote and University (which he captained), before playing 72 games for the St Kilda club from 1940/1941 to 1943/1944, and then moving to the Richmond Cricket Club for the 1944/1945 season. Zachariah took 68 wickets for the St Kilda twice in a single season: in the 1941/1942 and 1943/1944 seasons. Across his whole career, Hill took 612 wickets at an average of 12.99.

At the time of his death (at 51) he was a high level civil servant in the Age and Invalid Pension division of the Victorian Office of the Commonwealth Department of Social Security. He was also responsible for the management and oversight of the casual ticket selling staff at the St. Kilda Cricket Ground and the South Melbourne Cricket Ground for the home matches of the Fitzroy Football Club and the South Melbourne Football Club, respectively.

He is a member of the Ballarat Sports Museum's Hall of Fame.