Australian Services Keith Johnson (cricket administrator)

during world war ii, johnson served in royal australian air force (raaf). enlisted in raaf on 13 april 1942 in sydney. johnson rose rank of flight lieutenant , deployed london, did public relations work @ raaf s overseas headquarters. in june 1945, appointed manager of australian services cricket team on tour of britain victory tests, india , australia mid-1945 early-1946. officially military unit, team s commanding officer squadron leader stan sismey of raaf, although on-field captain warrant officer lindsay hassett of second australian imperial force.

wisden cricketers almanack praised johnson s organisational work in arranging services tour: stranger country, found programme in skeleton form; , tour proved such success every point of view due hard work , courtesy. almanack reprinted johnson s message of english cricket community in full before team sailed india.

the victory tests started in may 1945 between australian services , england in celebration of allied victory in europe. in previous seasons, english cricket administrator , former captain pelham warner had organised matches between raaf , various english military teams expression of defiance against nazi air raids, , victory tests continuation of this, although matches 3 days long , did not have test status.

in first victory test, australian servicemen scraped home 6 wickets 2 balls , minutes spare. last pre-war series between england , australia in 1938 had been attritional , hard-nosed contest, in afterglow of war victory, cricketers played flamboyantly abandon in front of packed crowds. attractive, attacking style of play praised commentators , match raised £1,935 war relief charities. england levelled series winning second victory test @ bramall lane, sheffield hard-fought battle, 41 runs. australia won third victory test 4 wickets late on final day , drew fourth victory test @ lord s. have been end of series, because of record attendance of 93,000 @ lord s, match appended. england drew series winning fifth victory test in front of capacity crowd. victory tests regarded outstanding success, total attendance of 367,000 , bright , attacking play.

due unexpectedly strong success of victory tests, government of australia, acting on impetus of foreign minister h.v. doc evatt, ordered australian services delay demobilisation. team raising money war charities, government directed them travel home via india , ceylon play further matches, in order raise more funds red cross.

hassett (left) , sismey, captain , commanding officer of team respectively

johnson found himself in difficult situation during indian leg of tour. team—mostly made of raaf personnel—had been ill food poisoning , dysentery, , travelled across indian subcontinent long train journeys. airmen wanted travel air, , threatened abandon tour or replace hassett, aif member, either keith carmody or keith miller, raaf fighter pilots. however, standoff ended when sismey arranged raaf plane transport team. on playing arena, not happy tour johnson , men. lost three-match series against india 1–0 , recorded 1 victory, against south zone, in 9 matches.

johnson s team arrived in australia towards end of 1945, armed services , australian board of control ordered them play series against various australian states. johnson had sought fixtures team in australia, before evatt had added matches in subcontinent. implored administrators recognise players overworked, ignored. services performed poorly; after playing out consecutive draws against western australia , south australia, crushed innings both victoria , new south wales, before drawing against queensland , tasmania, smallest state in country.

johnson involved in administrative dispute during australian leg of campaign. cec pepper—whom teammates miller , dick whitington regarded 1 of best rounders in world , certainty australian test selection—appealed leg before wicket against australian captain don bradman in match against south australia. appeal turned down , pepper complained umpire jack scott, prompting bradman—who member of australian board of control , board of south australian cricket association—to ask scott whether pepper s behaviour acceptable. employee of saca, scott answered bradman, , lodged complaint pepper australian board of control. pepper never selected australia. cricket historian gideon haigh said johnson upset affair, , failure of [national] selection panel [bradman among them] ... send pepper, second miller cricketer in services xi, new zealand . johnson tried intercede on pepper s behalf, no avail, although other board members claimed no pressure had been placed on selectors exclude pepper.

the home leg of tour poor end long , taxing australian services campaign. military men played poorly in australia, national selectors concluded achievements against england must have been against weak opposition, , hassett , miller selected australian tour of new zealand. johnson helped arrange england s first post-war tour of australia, in 1946–47.