Name:

Richardson, Victor Y

Nickname:

Vic

Date of Birth:

07 Sep 1894

Gender:

Men

Place of Birth:

Parkside, Adelaide

Date Died:

30 Oct 1969

Career:

Test: 1924 - 1936
First Class: 1918 - 1938

Teams:

SA (Regional)
Australia (Country)

Victor Richardson leads Aus to 4-0 series win (1936)

Vic Richardson: Started a family dynasty, feuded with Bradman

Victor Richardson was a right handed batsman who captained Australia. He was also the grandfather of Ian and Greg Chappell who both captained Australia.

He was a good allround sportsman who played in 19 Test matches between 1924 and 1935. He represented Australia at baseball and played for South Australia at cricket, baseball and golf. He also won a State tennis title, was prominent at lacrosse and basketball and was a first-rate swimmer.

During his first class career, Richardson scored 10,714 runs, average 37.59. He hit 27 centuries.

Richardson played in all five Test matches of the body-line tour of Douglas Jardine's England team in 1932-33, he (83) and Bill Woodfull (67) sharing an opening stand of 133 in the fourth Test at Brisbane. He was vice-captain to Woodfull in England in 1930 and led the unbeaten Australian team in South Africa in 1935-36.

He had a long standing feud with Don Bradman. The roots for this problem was the issue of captaincy after Bradman stood down from the South Africa tour in 1935/36 which Richardson led. Bradman said that Richardson "resented that like nobody's business", and also that a clique in the Australian team based around its "strong Catholic element" resented his appointment as Australian captain for the Ashes series on November 30, 1936.

After retiring from active participation in cricket, Rchardsin became a radio commentator on the game. His partnership on the air with Arthur Gilligan on the occasions of England visits proved immensely popular in Australia. He also dabbled in local politics. He was awarded an MBE in 1954.

Richardson died aged 75 on October 30, 1969 at Fullarton Park, Adelaide.

Source: CricketCrowd Staff Reporter