Like his close friend and comrade Richie Benaud, Alan Davidson suddenly translated potential into performance when Australia toured South Africa in 1957-58. A left-arm paceman with a model approach and an economical action - summed up in the title of his autobiography Fifteen Paces - he took 72 wickets and scored four centuries on the trip. For the next five years, he would be the most menacing new-ball bowler of his day, not to mention a dangerous striker in the lower-middle order, and a versatile fielder at home in all positions. A martyr to injuries real and imagined, some of his best performances were reserved for moments when he seemed down and out: he took a broken finger into the 1960 Tied Test, and a bad back into the Ridge Test at Lord's the following year, yet made telling contributions to both.
Gideon Haigh