John Inverarity

Robert John Inverarity (born 31 January 1944) is a former Australian cricketer who played six Test matches for Australia.^[1] A right-handed batsman and left-arm orthodox spin bowler in his playing career, Inverarity was also one of the enduring captains in the Australian Sheffield Shield during the late 1970s and early 1980s, captaining both Western Australia and South Australia.

Inverarity was chairman of selectors for Cricket Australia from 2011 to 2014.^[2]

Cricket career

He played in six Tests between 1968 and 1972 and played first class cricket for Western Australia, South Australia and Australia over a period of twenty-three years between 1962 and 1985.^[3] As a state player, he captained Western Australia to Sheffield Shield glory four times in five years. When his teaching career took him to Adelaide his new team of South Australia went on to win the Shield in 1981–82. Batting at the Adelaide Oval he was involved in one of the most unusual "dismissals" in cricket history. After being clean-bowled for a duck by Greg Chappell - the ball deviating in mid-air - he was recalled to bat by umpire Colin Egar who signalled dead-ball, literally; the ball had deflected off a now-deceased unlucky local sparrow. After retiring from cricket in 1985 (aged 41) he continued teaching, before going into coaching on the English county scene with Kent and Warwickshire.

The Inverarity Stand (centre-left) at the WACA Ground

To recognise his contribution to the state team, the Western Australian Cricket Association named a stand at the WACA cricket ground in his honour. The stand, built in 1970 for the WACA's inaugural Test and initially named the "Test Stand", was later renamed to the "Inverarity-Western Underwriters Stand".

In 2011, Inverarity was named as the new full-time chairman of selectors for Cricket Australia, beating a high-profile field including Geoff Lawson, Tom Moody, Rod Marsh and chairman Trevor Hohns.

Teaching

Inverarity began his career as a teacher during the twilight years of his cricketing career. He taught at various prestigious independent schools (including stints at Tonbridge School and King's College School in the United Kingdom^[4]) and also served as Vice-Principal at Pembroke School (1981–1988) in Adelaide and Headmaster of Hale School (1989–2003) in Perth.^[5] In testament to his outstanding leadership during a time of extensive facilities expansion, the new music and drama centre at Hale was named in his honour - The John Inverarity Music and Drama Centre. In 2006, he appointed warden of St George's College, a residential college of the University of Western Australia.^[5] He was also appointed as a member of the University Senate by the Governor Ken Michael.

Family

His father was Merv Inverarity, a Western Australian first-class cricketer during the 1930s and '40s and later senior administrator within the Western Australian Cricket Association.

Inverarity's daughter Alison Inverarity was an Olympic high jumper, representing Australia at the 1992, 1996 and 2000 Summer Olympics.

Teams

International

• Australia

Australian state

• South Australia
• Western Australia

Career highlights

Tests

• Test Debut: vs England, Leeds, 1968
• Last Test: vs England, The Oval, 1972
• Inverarity's best Test batting score of 56 was made against England, The Oval, 1968
• His best Test bowling figures of 3 for 26 came against England, Leeds, 1972

References

Western Australia squad – 1977-78 Sheffield Shield Competition
1 Terry Alderman 2 Ian Brayshaw 3 Ric Charlesworth 4 Wayne Clark 5 G Colgan 6 Wally Edwards 7 Sam Gannon 8 K Hagdorn 9 Kim Hughes 10 John Inverarity 11 Tony Mann 12 Geoff Marsh 13 PA Nicholls 14 PA O'Meara 15 Graeme Porter 16 Craig Serjeant 17 Greg Shipperd 18 Graeme Wood 19 Kevin Wright 20 Bruce Yardley

South Australia squad – 1981-82 Sheffield Shield Competition
1 Jeff Crowe 2 Rick Darling 3 John Davey 4 Malcolm Dolman 5 Robert Dugan 6 Kim Harris 7 David Hookes (c) 8 John Inverarity 9 Kevin Lewis 10 Ian McLean 11 Ross McLellan 12 Sam Parkinson 13 Wayne Phillips 14 Wayne Prior 15 Dean Sayers 16 Andrew Sincock 17 Peter Sleep 18 Brian Vincent 19 Kevin Wright