Neil Hawke
Encyclopedia
Neil James Napier Hawke was an Australian Test cricketer
Australian cricket team
The Australian cricket team is the national cricket team of Australia. It is the joint oldest team in Test cricket, having played in the first Test match in 1877...

 and leading Australian rules football
Australian rules football
Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...

er.

Born in Cheltenham, South Australia
Cheltenham, South Australia
Cheltenham is a suburb of Adelaide, South Australia. It is located in the City of Charles Sturt.-Geography:The suburb lies between Port Road and Cheltenham Parade, which form its southwest and eastern boundaries respectively...

, Hawke quickly developed as a natural all-round sportsman who excelled in cricket, football and golf and made his senior Australian rules football debut for South Australian National Football League
South Australian National Football League
The South Australian National Football League is an Australian rules football league based in the Australian state of South Australia. It is also the governing body for the sport of Australian rules football in South Australia....

 (SANFL) club Port Adelaide
Port Adelaide Football Club
The Port Adelaide Football Club is an Australian rules football club based in Alberton, South Australia, which plays in the Australian Football League and the South Australian National Football League...

 in August 1957. Hawke stamped himself as a future champion when in his third game he kicked 15 goals for Port against South Adelaide
South Adelaide Football Club
South Adelaide Football Club competes in the South Australian National Football League . Known as the Panthers, their home ground is Hickinbotham Oval , located in Noarlunga Downs in the southern suburbs of Adelaide....

 before being surprisingly dropped two weeks later.

Hawke quit Port at the end of 1957 to try his hand in Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...

 and made his West Australian National Football League
West Australian Football League
The West Australian Football League is an Australian rules football league based in Perth, Western Australia. The WAFL is the second-most popular in the state, behind the nation-wide Australian Football League...

 (WANFL) debut in 1958 for East Perth Football Club
East Perth Football Club
The East Perth Football Club, nicknamed the Royals, is an Australian rules football club that is a member of the West Australian Football League...

, playing 42 matches and kicking 157 goals in two seasons with the Royals, including East Perth's 1958 and 1959 premierships. Hawke topped the WANFL's goalkicking list in 1959 with 114 goals, represented Western Australia against South Australia
South Australia
South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...

 and gained local fame for apparently being the first footballer to perfect the drop punt over a long distance. Previously, the drop punt was only used over short distances on wet days but Hawke's innovation was said to have revolutionised the game in Western Australia.

Fresh from his success on the football field, Hawke also made an impact on the cricket field as a medium-fast swing bowler with an unusual "crab-like'" action, a capable lower-order batsman and a sound fieldsman. He made his first-class cricket debut for Western Australia
Western Warriors
The Western Australia cricket team are an Australian first class cricket team representing the state of Western Australia...

 in November 1959, scoring 89 and returning the figures of 0/49. However, Hawke failed to capitalise on this initial success and returned to South Australia at the end of the 1959/60 cricket season.

Playing for West Torrens Football Club
West Torrens Football Club
West Torrens Football Club was an Australian rules football club that competed in the South Australian National Football League from 1897 to 1990...

 in the SANFL and South Australia
Southern Redbacks
The South Australia cricket team, nicknamed the Southern Redbacks and known as the West End Redbacks due to their sponsorship agreement with local brewers West End, are an Australian first class cricket team based in Adelaide, South Australia, and represent the state of South Australia...

 in the Sheffield Shield, Hawke continued to star in both football and cricket. Hawke was part of the 1963 South Australian football team that defeated Victoria at the Melbourne Cricket Ground
Melbourne Cricket Ground
The Melbourne Cricket Ground is an Australian sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne and is home to the Melbourne Cricket Club. It is the tenth largest stadium in the world, the largest in Australia, the largest stadium for playing cricket, and holds the world record for the highest light...

; the first time South Australia had won at the MCG since 1926, and in so doing became the first (and still the only) person to have represented both South Australia and Western Australia in Australian Rules football and cricket. His cricket also developed enough for him to make his Test debut on 15 February 1963 in the Fifth Ashes Test against England at the Sydney Cricket Ground
Sydney Cricket Ground
The Sydney Cricket Ground is a sports stadium in Sydney in Australia. It is used for Australian football, Test cricket, One Day International cricket, some rugby league and rugby union matches and is the home ground for the New South Wales Blues cricket team and the Sydney Swans of the Australian...

, scoring 14 and recording match figures of 2/89.

Hawke was a member of the 1963/64 Sheffield Shield winning South Australian team, and toured England (where he qualified for the British amateur golf championship and became Fred Trueman
Fred Trueman
Frederick Sewards Trueman OBE was an English cricketer, generally acknowledged as one of the greatest fast bowlers in history. A bowler of genuinely fast pace who was widely known as Fiery Fred, Trueman played first-class cricket for Yorkshire County Cricket Club from 1949 until he retired in 1968...

's 300th Test victim), India
Indian cricket team
The Indian cricket team is the national cricket team of India. Governed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India , it is a full member of the International Cricket Council with Test and One Day International status....

 and Pakistan in 1964 and the West Indies in 1965. The West Indies tour found Hawke in top form as he took 24 wickets at 21.83 in the Test series, including match figures of 10–115 in the third Test at Bourda Cricket Ground, Georgetown, Guyana
Georgetown, Guyana
Georgetown, estimated population 239,227 , is the capital and largest city of Guyana, located in the Demerara-Mahaica region. It is situated on the Atlantic Ocean coast at the mouth of the Demerara River and it was nicknamed 'Garden City of the Caribbean.' Georgetown is located at . The city serves...

, as well as making his highest score, an unbeaten 45 at Sabina Park
Sabina Park
Sabina Park is the home of the Kingston Cricket Club, and is the only Test cricket ground in Kingston, Jamaica and is often referred to as "The Holiday Home of Cricket"....

, Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...

.

Back in Australia Hawke was the top wicket taker in the 1965-66 Ashes series, taking 16 wickets (26.18) with Garth McKenzie also taking 16, but at the higher average of 29.18. In the Third Test at Sydney England reached 308/2 before Hawke had Colin Cowdrey
Colin Cowdrey
Michael Colin Cowdrey, Baron Cowdrey of Tonbridge, CBE , better known as Colin Cowdrey, was the Captain of Oxford University, Kent County Cricket Club and the England cricket team in a career that lasted from 1950 to 1976...

, M.J.K. Smith, Dave Brown and Jim Parks all caught behind by Wally Grout
Wally Grout
Arthur Theodore Wallace Grout was a Test cricketer who kept wicket for Australia and Queensland.Grout played in 51 Test matches between 1957 and 1966...

 in succession, and his 7/105 was his best bowling in Tests, but Australia still lost by an innings. In the second innings of the Fourth Test at Adelaide Hawke took 5/54, reducing England to 32/3 and 266 all out as Australia won by an innings to draw the series.

Hawke's football career ended in 1966 when he dislocated his right shoulder. A screw was inserted in the point of the shoulder, which not only forced him to retire from football but also greatly affected his bowling. Nonetheless, he played home series against South Africa, Pakistan and India and toured South Africa
South African cricket team
The South African national cricket team represent South Africa in international cricket. They are administrated by Cricket South Africa.South Africa is a full member of the International Cricket Council, also known as ICC, with Test and One Day International, or ODI, status...

 in 1966–67 and England in 1968, where he played his final Test at Lord's
Lord's Cricket Ground
Lord's Cricket Ground is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and Wales Cricket Board , the European Cricket Council and, until August 2005, the...

. He finished his career after 27 Tests, 365 runs at 16.59, 91 wickets at 29.41 and a statement by his former Test captain, Richie Benaud
Richie Benaud
Richard "Richie" Benaud OBE is a former Australian cricketer who, since his retirement from international cricket in 1964, has become a highly regarded commentator on the game....

, declaring Hawke as one of the finest medium-pace bowlers he had seen.

Hawke began playing in the Lancashire League, first for Nelson
Nelson Cricket Club
Nelson Cricket Club, based at Seedhill in Nelson, Lancashire, are a cricket club in the Lancashire League. They play at the Seedhill ground in Nelson. Their captain for the 2011 season is Thomas Lord and their professional is New Zealand international player Luke Woodcock.Nelson Cricket Club was...

 and then East Lancashire
East Lancashire Cricket Club
East Lancashire Cricket Club is a cricket club in the Lancashire League, which plays its home games at Alexandra Meadows in Blackburn. For the 2011 season its captain will be Mark Bolton and its professional will be Ockert Erasmus...

 and moved to Launceston, Tasmania
Launceston, Tasmania
Launceston is a city in the north of the state of Tasmania, Australia at the junction of the North Esk and South Esk rivers where they become the Tamar River. Launceston is the second largest city in Tasmania after the state capital Hobart...

 to become coach of the Northern Tasmanian Cricket Association. He continued to play in the Lancashire Leagues until 1974 before returning to Adelaide where he worked as a sports journalist and cricket commentator.

In July 1980, Hawke ate some peanut
Peanut
The peanut, or groundnut , is a species in the legume or "bean" family , so it is not a nut. The peanut was probably first cultivated in the valleys of Peru. It is an annual herbaceous plant growing tall...

s which precipitated a total blocking of his bowel, requiring surgery. During surgery, infection set in and spread rapidly through his body, leading to multiple organ failure. Over the next two years Hawke suffered twelve cardiac arrest
Cardiac arrest
Cardiac arrest, is the cessation of normal circulation of the blood due to failure of the heart to contract effectively...

s, gangrene
Gangrene
Gangrene is a serious and potentially life-threatening condition that arises when a considerable mass of body tissue dies . This may occur after an injury or infection, or in people suffering from any chronic health problem affecting blood circulation. The primary cause of gangrene is reduced blood...

, had a further thirty operations and was drip fed over that period. His survival was considered a medical marvel by doctors and he was the subject of study by researchers on how long a patient could be drip fed. In 1990, Hawke suffered heart failure and then blood poisoning, central nervous system damage, cirrhosis of the liver and later contracted Hepatitis B and C
Hepatitis C
Hepatitis C is an infectious disease primarily affecting the liver, caused by the hepatitis C virus . The infection is often asymptomatic, but chronic infection can lead to scarring of the liver and ultimately to cirrhosis, which is generally apparent after many years...

 before a brain dysfunction in 1996 severely impaired his speech and led to severe bouts of depression.

Due to his mounting medical expenses, Hawke sought to sell some of his cricket memorabilia in England. Unfortunately, the man to whom he entrusted the memorabilia, a fellow cricket writer, was later found to have pocketed the profits of the sale while informing Hawke the items had been damaged in transit.

In his final years the former hellraiser Hawke became a born again Christian and joined the evangelical Assemblies of God
Assemblies of God
The Assemblies of God , officially the World Assemblies of God Fellowship, is a group of over 140 autonomous but loosely-associated national groupings of churches which together form the world's largest Pentecostal denomination...

 church.

He died in Adelaide
Adelaide
Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...

on Christmas Day, 2000, aged 61, survived by his third wife Beverley and a daughter, Janet, from his first marriage. Tributes poured in from throughout the sporting world: on day two of the 2000 Boxing Day Test, the Australian players wore black armbands as a mark of respect; the South Australian Government created the Neil Hawke Scholarship for young sportspeople and obituaries claimed that he was the finest all-round sportsman South Australia had produced.

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