Monty Noble

Monty Noble Biography

Monty Noble was one of the greatest all-rounders in the history of Australia — a country that, despite producing several giants of the game, has been graced by very few world-class all-rounders.

Noble was the second cricketer (after George Giffen) to the 1,000 runs-100 wickets double, reaching the landmark in a mere 27 Tests. A tall man, he reached the pitch of the ball easily, could bat at any position, and had the ability to adapt to any situation.

He also bowled both seam and spin, and was one of the finest ‘swerve’ (swing) bowlers of his era. He modelled his swerve on baseball pitchers, gripping the ball between his strong thumb and forefinger, making the ball swerve away. He also bowled a dangerous ‘break-back’ (off-cutter). He was a remarkable fielder too.

His First-Class numbers — 13,975 runs at 41 and 624 wicket at 23 — speak for themselves, as do his Test averages (30 with bat, 25 with ball).

As if that was not enough, he became an astute leader towards the end of his career. He pioneered several aspects of the sport, the most important being the introduction of short spells for bowlers. He effectively ended the concept of two bowlers operating for hours unchanged.

Despite their success in as a team, Noble’s Australians rarely deviated from the spirit of the game — something that may surprise later-day fans of Australian cricket. He did not appeal when he knew the batsman was not out, and even admonished his teammates from doing the same.

His first outstanding approach consisted of two stonewalling marathons (60* in 190 minutes, 89 in 320 minutes) to save the 1899 Ashes Test of Old Trafford. He also took 3 first-innings wickets in the Test. With 367 runs at 52 he led the Australian batting charts for the series, and took 13 wickets to boot.

On a sticky wicket at Melbourne in 1901-02 (where 25 wickets fell on the first day) Noble took 7 for 17 to skittle out England for 61, and added another 6 for 60 in the second innings.

Noble had to face chucking allegations from Jack Worrall after the eventless England tour. This was so outrageous that Jack Saunders and Warwick Armstrong refused to play for Victoria as long as Worrall led. This led to the end of Worrall’s career.

The next season Noble scored his only Test hundred, at Sydney.

As captain Noble had to handle internal skirmishes, but had a fantastic tour of England in 1909, where he led Australia to an Ashes win. He put England in on an innocuous-looking flat Lord’s wicket and led Australia to a 9-wicket win. And at Headingley he used — unexpectedly — the left-arm spin of Charlie Macartney to win the Test.

The tour was financially successful. Unfortunately, when the accounts were presented to the board, the authorities challenged the numbers, questioning the integrity of Noble and tour manager Frank Laver. Noble quit cricket in protest with immediate effect.

Having started his career as a banker, Noble later became a dentist, a profession that gave him liberty to play more cricket. He became a journalist and a broadcaster, and penned down the famous The Game’s the Thing.

Monty Noble served as volunteer dentist during World War II, and suffered a heart attack while playing cricket during this phase. He succumbed to the attack. He was 67.

Two years before that, he became the first cricketer to have a grandstand at SCG named after him.

Abhishek Mukherjee

Monty Noble Batting & Fielding Averages

Career

Avg

100s

50s

Test

ODIs

T20s

World Cup

Monty Noble Bowling Averages

Career	M	B	R	W	Avg	EC	SR	5WI	10WM	BBI	BBM
Test	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
ODIs	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
T20s	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
World Cup	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--		--