‘Slasher’s’ innings over

Press, 18 June 1982, Page 15

‘Slasher’s’ innings over

By

RAY CAIRNS

He chewed gum until it was as leathery as his face; he hardlv ever played a shot.

so they called him "Slasher:" he never made a test century. yet averaged 125 in one series because he was so hard to remove. Now Ken Mackay is dead at the age of 56, nearly 14 years after his old Queensland wicketkeeper, Wally Grout, another man who played a key part in Australian cricket's recovery after it was Lakered and Locked in 1956.

Mackay was the advanced age. for an Australian, of 30 when he toured England in 1956; he led the averages, too. with more than 1100 runs at 52. But he could not fathom the Surrey spinners: a couple of thirties in his first test, were followed by a pair of twos in the next, and a pair of nothings in his third,

Laker's 19-wickets match. Thereafter, however. Ken Mackay knew little failure. He knew precious few headlines. too. because when the Harveys, the O'Neills, the Burges, the Benauds and the Davidsons were blazing away, he was gum-chew-ingly. never a stroke in anger, propping up the other end. But. as mentioned, when the rest got out. he stuck around — like scoring 375 runs in his first full series, in South Africa in 1957-58. and being dismissed only three times. Another time, early in 1961. the West Indies could not get him out at Adelaide, and that was after Lindsay Kline, an awful batsman, hail

stayed the last 110 minutes with Mackay to deprive the tourists of a win. Mackay had been dropped first ball: he ran no such chance from the final ball delivered by Wesley Hall. This doughty left-hander dropped his bat and let the ball hit him in the ribs — no risk of a catch being offered that way. Occasionally, too. he would be asked to roll his fight arm over, to .rest the regular bowlers or because the inventive Benaud had a hunch. That dribbly medium-pace should have been whacked out of the ground, but that was difficult, because it was a bit short of a length. Then, sometimes, the ball would hit a drop of moisture and devi-

ate a little, and Mackay would pick up a wicket. Sometimes he would pick up many more, 50 in his career, and there was even six for 42. from 45 wearylooking overs. against Pakistan. Ken Mackay ... no. no. he was Slasher Mackay to my generation ... was a far-from-pretty player. He had to play Sancho Panza to the many Don Quixotes of the period. 1956 to 1963, when he played test cricket. But he gum-chewed and dead-batted his way into an important place in Australia’s test cricketing history: he scored a record total of 6314 Sheffield Shield runs in 100 matches for Queensland. then became a test selector. His place in history is as secure as was. often, his tenure of the batting crease.