Eddie Gilbert finally gets his due
ESPNcricinfo staff
25-Feb-2013
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Few may have heard of Eddie Gilbert, an Aboriginal cricketer who once knocked the bat out of Don Bradman's hands. Thirty years after his death, Gilbert is finally getting recognition, with a life-size bronze statue at the Queensland Cricket Academy in Brisbane, to be unveiled next month. Kathy Marks writes in the Independent:
Gilbert developed a unique style of fast bowling, based on a whip-like wrist action, and stories about his prowess abounded. His blistering deliveries were said to raise smoke on a concrete pitch; one of his balls reportedly crashed through a picket fence and killed a small dog. Another struck a box of matches in the wicket-keeper's pocket and set them alight.
While such tales are probably apocryphal, Gilbert was a cricketer of remarkable ability - yet he was never selected to represent Australia. Few doubt that racism was to blame. This was an era when the movements of Aboriginal Queenslanders were controlled by white superintendents, whose permission had to be sought to move around, work, or even spend money. Gilbert, a quietly-spoken man, was not permitted to stay in the same hotels as his team-mates.
Mathew Varghese is sub-editor (stats) at Cricinfo