VALE - Sam Loxton

[Lord's Taverners Australia - VIC]

It is with much sadness that we farewell one of our Legends of Victorian Cricket in Sam Loxton who passed away in Queensland at the age of 90.  Much has been written about Sam Loxton and this article from Jim Morton at The Sydney Morning Herald says much about Sam Loxton, the man, and the enormous contribution to Australian Cricket. 

 

The Lord’s Taverners in Victoria pass on our deepest sympathy and condolences to Sam’s family.  Sam will be sadly missed but fondly remembered always by us as a true Legend of Victorian Cricket.  

Entertaining to the end, Invincible Loxton dies at 90

Jim Morton – The Sydney Morning Herald

December 4, 2011

AUSTRALIAN cricket has lost its oldest former player and one of its greatest characters. Sam Loxton's entertaining innings has ended on 90.

The 1948 ''Invincible'', former Test selector, Victorian member of parliament, World War II veteran, Victorian Football League forward and great raconteur passed away early yesterday on the Gold Coast. Loxton's death leaves just his great mate Neil Harvey and fellow great Arthur Morris as the only two remaining survivors from Australia's undefeated post-war Ashes tour squad.

The raw-boned all-rounder played 12 Tests, including three as the Invincibles completely dominated England in 1948. He made his name with a withering 93 in the fourth Test at Headingley, batting alongside the youthful Harvey who greeted him at the crease with ''Slox, they can't bowl''.

Loxton took up the invitation with glee and belted six sixes, including one that went back 20 rows, which Sir Donald Bradman described as the best he ever saw.

A treasured friend, Bradman described Loxton's play as ''the very essence of belligerence''.

''His whole attitude suggests defiance and when he hits the ball it is the music of a sledgehammer,'' Bradman wrote in his book Farewell to Cricket.

A medium-pace bowler himself, Loxton loved facing fast bowlers who dug the ball in short in the hope of taking off his head.

''If they do, I'll hit 'em over the fence,'' he'd say.

Although many teammates found it awkward in the presence of the captain, Loxton was always at ease with ''Braddles''.

When a 19-year-old Harvey asked Loxton to ask Bradman what he was doing wrong during a bad patch at the start of the Invincibles tour, Bradman's famous reply to Loxton was: ''Tell your little mate that if he hits the ball along the ground he can't get out caught!''

While he was a 1940s footballer of note for St Kilda, Loxton loved cricket so much he continued to umpire lower-grade games on the Gold Coast well into his 70s despite his failing eyesight.

And even when he couldn't see the pitch from the boundary at the Sam Loxton Oval, he was still a regular and popular spectator at his local Runaway Bay club until his last days.

A Liberal-Country member of parliament for 24 years and Test selector for 10, Loxton's later years were marred by a double family tragedy.

His wife, Jo, drowned in a pool on the same day his son Michael was taken by a shark in Fiji in December 2000.

Morris, selected as an opener in Australia's team of the 20th century, now stands as the nation's oldest former Test player at 89.

 

For more, please go to this Cricket Australia link - http://www.cricket.com.au/news-display/Sam-Loxton-obituary/24663