Alan Turner (born 23 July 1950) is a former Australian cricketer. He was a left-handed batsman who played for New South Wales from 1968 until retirement in 1978. He scored over 5,700 runs as a stocky opener with a practised cut shot, though he was not able to prove his abilities at best at international level. He played in fourteen Test matches and six One Day Internationals from 1975 to 1977. On the back of his several good Sheffield Shield seasons he was selected for Australian tours of England and New Zealand. He scored a single Test century against the touring West Indian side in 1975–76. The cricket writer Peter Hanlon described Turner as "an ordinary man in the company of Gods." He was a part of the Australian squad which finished as runners-up at the 1975 Cricket World Cup.
His nickname was "Fitter-an'", as in "fitter and turner".
After leaving school, Turner went to work for British American Tobacco. He stayed there for 43 years, working in management in finance and accounting, sales, marketing, and supply chain.
Turner made his first-class debut in 1968–69. He was a solid performer for New South Wales, scoring eight fifties in 1969–70. He made his first first-class century in 1971–72.
1975 Tour of England and Canada
Turner was selected for the 1975 tour of Canada and England after a 1974–75 season where he scored 578 runs at 32.11 with a top score of 88. Captain Ian Chappell admitted "some might consider" Turner's selection "a surprise, but he is a hard, tough, experienced player with a strong season behind him. Turner has opened the innings for NSW and has batted in a variety of positions. For this reason he must have been given the nod over Ashley Woodcock, who was most unfortunate to have broken down in the last Shield game."
Turner made his first appearance for Australia in the 1975 Cricket World Cup, scoring 46 against Pakistan.
then in a match against Sri Lanka, became the first Australian to score a century in a One Day International. He scored 101 runs from 113 balls, all in the morning session prior to his dismissal, in a partnership of 182 with fellow opening bat Rick McCosker. His blistering innings included 9 fours and a six.
He followed this with 7 against the West Indies, 7 in the semi-final against England and 40 in the final against the West Indies.
Turner made his Test debut against England in 1975. "No one said much to me before my first Test," he recalled. "You were an Australian, you'd got there because you could play, and you were expected to man up."
He scored 37, taking part in an opening stand of 80 with Rick McCosker, helping Australia win by an innings. Australia had struggled to find a consistent opening combination under Ian Chappell and so Turner's debut was considered promising.
However Turner performed less well in the next match, making 9 and 21. 105 runs in eight first class innings saw him dropped for the third test in favour of Gary Gilmour. A score of 118 against Essex saw him back for the 4th test, making 2 and 8.
"I underestimated the toughness of an Ashes battle," said Turner. "It was a lot more intense than I imagined, and I failed to distinguish myself with the bat."
Turner began the 1975-76 summer well, making 106 and 66 for NSW against the West Indies. He was picked in the Australian side for the first test and made 81 and 26.
Turner then scored 23 and 0, 21 and 7 and 53 and 15. In the fifth test Turner made 26 and 136, his debut century. "I wasn't nervous after I reach ed 80 and just put my head down
to make sure of the century," he said. "It was a bit of a relief to get the ... 100 because I could then get back to scoring more runs".
In the 6th test Turner made 30 and 21.
"That Australian team was very committed to each other and to the cause," he recalled. "There were no divisions."