John Henry Webb Fingleton, OBE (28 April 1908 – 22 November 1981) was an Australian Test cricketer, journalist and commentator. He was the son of Australian politician James Fingleton, and he was known for his dour defensive approach as a batsman, scoring five Test match centuries, representing Australia in 18 Tests between 1932 and 1938.
He made his first-grade debut in Sydney district cricket at the age of 16 and proceeded to his first-class debut for New South Wales at the age of 20 in 1928–29. In 1931–32, Fingleton gained a regular position for New South Wales. He then made his debut in the Fifth and final Test of the season against South Africa, making 40 in an innings victory. The following season, Fingleton won praise for an unbeaten century against the bodyline attack in a tour match despite suffering multiple bruises and being accused of leaking the infamous verbal exchange between Australian captain Bill Woodfull and English manager Plum Warner during the acrimonious Ashes.
Fingleton scored four centuries and was the leading run-scorer during the 1934–35 domestic season, earning a recall to the Australian team for the 1935–36 tour of South Africa. From that point onwards until the outbreak of World War II, he opened the batting with Bill Brown. At his height, Fingleton was scoring centuries in three consecutive innings as Australia won each of the last three Tests by an innings. In the Fourth Test, he and Brown put on the first double century opening partnership for Australia in a Test. In 1936–37, Fingleton made a century in the First Test to become the first player to score consecutive centuries in four Test innings.
Fingleton enlisted in the military during World War II and was eventually sent to work on media matters for Prime Minister John Curtin and one of his predecessors, Billy Hughes. After the war, Fingleton worked as a political correspondent in Canberra and commentated on cricket during the summer months in Australia and England. He was a prolific author, regarded as one of the finest and most stylish cricket writers of his time, producing many books. Fingleton was known for his forthright opinions and willingness to criticise, especially regarding his colleague Don Bradman, and his cricket reports were published by newspapers in several countries.
A right-hand opening batsman, Fingleton was noted primarily for his obdurate defense rather than for his strokeplay. Like most successful opening batsmen, he had a small back-lift and was rarely surprised by the quicker half-volley or yorker. Fingleton was often described as "courageous", in particular for his defiant batting against Bodyline. Fingleton often made self-deprecating comments about his batting, telling English cricket writer Alan Gibson that he "missed nothing" by not seeing him bat. He was also an athletic and gifted fieldsman, who built his reputation in the covers.
Later he became noted along with Vic Richardson and Bill Brown in South Africa in 1935–36 as part of Bill O'Reilly's leg-trap. Neville Cardus, once described the Fingleton-Brown combination as "crouching low and acquisitively, each with as many arms as an Indian god". His partnership with Brown was regarded as one of the great opening pairings in the history of Australian Test cricket. In ten Tests together as an opening partnership, the pair averaged 63.75 for the first wicket, higher than any other Australian pair with more than 1,000 runs.
Born at Waverley in the inner eastern suburbs of Sydney, Fingleton was the third of six children. His parents were James, a tram driver and union organiser who became a member of the New South Wales Parliament, and Belinda May Webb. The family was Irish Catholic—Fingleton's paternal grandfather had immigrated to Australia in the 1870s.
In 1913, at the age of five, Fingleton's father was elected into state parliament as a representative of the centre left, labour-union oriented Australian Labor Party, and the family moved into a larger house. It was here that Fingleton learned to play street cricket. Fingleton was educated at the Roman Catholic St Francis's School, in the inner city suburb of Paddington before moving to Waverley College. There he began a lifelong association with prose.
In 1917, the family fell upon hard times when the elder Fingleton lost his seat and resumed his job as a tram driver, but in 1918 contracted tuberculosis. The father succumbed in 1920 when Jack was twelve, and the funeral director was Australian Test wicket-keeper Sammy Carter.
Without their breadwinner, the Fingleton family were in further trouble and Belinda opened a seafood shop and withdrew her eldest son Les to support her. However, the business failed and the family home was at risk, so Jack was forced to quit school at the age of 12. He did a variety of jobs such as selling food at cinemas, washing bottles and sweeping floors.
At the age of fifteen, Fingleton took the first steps in his journalism career, when his cousin helped him to become a copy boy with the now defunct Sydney Daily Guardian. Encouraged by his former headmaster, who had prompted his interest in writing, Fingleton quickly eased into his new career. Fingleton started as a sports reporter, and had a narrow escape when he was sacked by Robert Clyde Packer for breaking a pot, but then reinstated. Fingleton then risked being fired by removing cricket articles written by the famed Neville Cardus from the newspaper's archive against policy for his personal use.
Fingleton was unable to distinguish himself on the field while at school, but after joining Waverley, he made quick progress. Fingleton trained early in the morning, before heading to the office and working in the afternoon so that the articles would be printed in the evening. He was unable to afford the club membership so a patron sponsored him. At the age of 16, he broke into the First XI of a grade team which included Test players Alan Kippax, Hanson Carter and Arthur Mailey. Australian Test captain Herbie Collins missed a match due to his work as a bookmaker, and Fingleton stood in at late notice. Under the leadership of Carter, Fingleton batted last and made 11 not out. Forced to follow on, he made 52 not out and cemented his position for the remainder of the season. Within a year, Fingleton's grade performances were being reported in Sydney newspapers. Playing on a Waverley pitch notorious for uneven bounce, Fingleton developed a style of play centred on solid defence.
In the same year, his journalistic mentor Pedlar Palmer moved to the Sydney Morning Herald and Fingleton became disenchanted. He was coaxed by a cricketer-journalist to move to his publication, the Telegraph Pictorial, where he worked for several years before the outbreak of the Second World War. However, Fingleton's initiation into his new workplace was difficult as the Telegraph Pictorial had just merged with the Daily Telegraph and around half the workforce were to be made redundant. Fingleton was demoted from the main staff to a freelance correspondent covering events in the inner-city suburbs of Redfern and Newtown. In such crime-ridden and turbulent working-class area, Fingleton was productive in break stories and was soon restored to the regular staff.
Having scored a century for Waverley against Petersham the week before, Fingleton made his first-class debut in 1928–29, playing in two matches and having two innings. On debut against Victoria, Fingleton was allowed to bat no higher than No. 8 by captain Tommy Andrews, despite being a specialist batsman. More than 600 runs had been scored by the time the sixth wicket had fallen, bringing him to the wicket to join Don Bradman, who had already brought up his double century. The pair put on an unbroken stand of 111 before Andrews declared at 7/613, of which Fingleton made 25 not out. During the partnership, Bradman farmed most of the strike, much to Fingleton's chagrin. The pair's first meeting had been prickly and Bradman glared angrily at Fingleton after a mix-up almost ended in a run out. The match was drawn, and Fingleton then made a duck against Tasmania in an innings victory. The following summer, with no Test matches, New South Wales' international representatives were available for the entire season, and Fingleton missed selection for every match.