Alan Kippax

Alan Falconer Kippax was a cricketer for New South Wales and Australia. Regarded as one of the great stylists of Australian cricket during the era between the two World Wars, Kippax overcame a late start to Test cricket to become a regular in the Australian team between the 192829 and 193233 seasons. A middleorder batsman, he toured England twice, and at domestic level was a prolific scorer and a highly considered leader of NSW for eight years. To an extent, his Test figures did not correspond with his great success for NSW and he is best remembered for a performance in domestic cricketa world record last wicket partnership, set during a Sheffield Shield match in 192829. His career was curtailed by the controversial Bodyline tactics employed by England on their 193233 tour of Australia Kippax wrote a book denouncing the tactics after the series concluded.

The third son of Arthur Percival Howell Kippax and his wife Sophie Estelle , Alan Kippax was born in the innercity Sydney suburb of Paddington. He attended both Bondi and Cleveland Street Public schools. At 14, Kippax joined Waverley and was a regular in the firstgrade team within three years. At this stage, firstclass cricket was suspended because of World War I, but when competition resumed in the 191819 season he made his debut for New South Wales . However, the state possessed a lot of batting talent, which was supplemented by the return to Australia of the Australian Imperial Forces cricket team that played in England after the armistice. Therefore, Kippaxs opportunities were restricted for a number of seasons. He also played a lot of baseball with the Waverley Baseball Club and represented Australia against touring teams from American universities.

Source: Wikipedia