Stan McCabe

Stan McCabe scored his 2748 Test runs at an average of 48.21, and also picked up 36 Test wickets in the 39 Test matches he played. However, that was only a small part of the story. The other part consisted of the fact, that he was never dropped from the Australian Test squad, and as with a lot of other cricketers of that era, his career was cut short by the Second World War and chronic foot injuries.

Yet, he had the skills to be described by Don Bradman as one of the greats of the game. In fact, in what was to be his last tour, he played a masterful inning of 232, which was universally acclaimed then, as the best ever played by any batsman. It enthralled Bradman so much that he told his players to watch every ball of it. He is also probably the only batsman to have caused the abandonment of a match due to poor light, when opposing South African captain Herbie Wade appealed against the light due to fear for fieldsmen safety. McCabe had scored an unbeaten 189 out of a team total of 274/2.

It was the sore feet that also caused him to retire from the Australian Defense Forces, and then start his own sports store. However, tragically, McCabe lost his life when he fell from a cliff, in 1968.