Australia - 1927-1988.
Cricket - Alan Davidson.


A description about the great Australian fast bowler Alan Davidson and many details about his life and career are provided elsewhere in Wikipedia.

Alan Davidson from NSW (1929 - 2021) was one of the great fast bowlers in Austraian cricket history. Even after he stopped palying Test cricket, he continued to contribute to the development of the game nationally and internationally in various ways. He played 44 Test Matches accumulating 1328 runs at an average of 24.6 and took 186 wickets at an average cost of 20.53 runs. He played for Australia in the famous tied Test against the West Indies - unfortunately breaking his little finger on his bowling hand during catching practice on the eve of the match. He refused to withdraw after a motivational speech to the team by Don Bradman. Despite his bad finger, "Davo"

Parts of Alan Davidson's life are recordeded in telegrams:

    1. Marriage to Betty - 1952.

    2. Birth of 1st son - 1953 (UK Tour).

    3. Birth of 2nd son - 1955 (WI Tour).

    4. Selection for West Indies tour - 1956.


1. His marriage to Betty McKinley in 1952.

Although no telegrams are known for that occasion, there is one telegram sent by Betty to Alan for their third wedding anniversary in May 1955
while the Australian team was playing an away Test Series against the West Indies.


Telegram from Betty to Alan for their third Wedding Anniversary.
Sent through Cable and Wireless from Concord South to Bridgetown, Barbados where it arrived on 16 May 1955 -
on the second day of the drawn 4th Test.


2. The birth of his first son in 1953.

At the time of the birth, Alan was touring England with the Australian Team.
He had made his Test debut on 11 June in the First Test of the Tour against England (wearing cap 195).
That test was played at Nottingham.
The 4th Test started at Headingly, Leeds on 23 July. Alan scored 4 and 6 in the two innings and had bowling figures of 2 for 22 and 0 for 7.

23 July 1953 - Telegram to Alan and Betty from the Drivers of the cars provided to the Touring Australian cricketers.
Message recorded on a special QE2 GPO Greetings form (about 7 weeks after the Queen's Coronation).

25 July 1953 - Greetings Telegram to Alan with hopes for "another cricketer" from Keith Dwyer, Barbara and June.

23 July 1953 - Greetings Telegram to Alan from Ian both for the birth and for the team. Has an excellent Harrogate/Yorkshire dare stamp on the reverse.
It is almost certain the sender was Ian Johnson. Ian had been a good member of Bradman's Invincibles in 1948. He then went into a form slump ultimately resulting in him not being selected for the 1952/53 West Indies Series in Australia and again missing out for the 1953 tour of England. Even so, Johnson sent the above telegram to Alan Davidson and the team.

Johnson spent 1953 as a commentator for Australian Rules football and as a newspaper reporter. In the 1953-54 season, he was selected to Captain the Victorian Sheffield Shield team. On New Years Eve for 1954, Lindsay Hassett - a friend - told Johnson to "take the game seriously - you could be the Australian Captain soon." Johnson was appointed ahead of Keith Miller later that year for the Ashes series against England in Australia.

23 July 1953 - Telegram to Alan assuring him "Betty and Baby Excellent" from Chris. Harrogate date stamp.

24 July 1953 - Telegram to Alan "Congratulations Daddy ..." from Pat and family.
Leeds date stamp and addressed to the Headingly Cricket Ground.

23 July 1953 - Telegram to Alan "Congratulations ..." from British European Airways (BEA).
Has a Leeds 19 date stamp.

23 July 1953 - Telegram to Alan "Congratulations Daddy ..." from Louise.
Excellent Harrogate/Yorkshire date stamp.

3. The birth of his second son in 1955.

At the time, Alan was touring the West Indies with the Australian Team.

Telegram from Ron (?) to Alan informing him of the birth of his 2nd son on 25 March.
Sent through Cable and Wireless from Parramatta to Kingston, Jamaica where it arrived on 24 March 1955.
Interesting juxtaposition of dates solely attributable to the time difference with Kingston - and not premature birth.

Telegram from Overseas Department (maybe at the Commonwealth Bank?) 26 March 1955 to Alan
congratulating him on the birth of his second son - with a humorous message.

4. Selection for the 1956 Australian team to tour West Indies.



Telegram from Mum (Hilda) - and probably also Dad (Leslie) - on 9 February 1956 to Alan
congratulating him on his selection to the Australian team to tour the West Indies.
As was usual, Australian cricketers had to work normal jobs because cricket did not pay in those days.
Hence the delivery address to the Commonwealth Bank in Martin Place. In 2013, Alan appeared in a TV advertisement for the bank.

Telegram from Alan Barnes to Alan congratulating him on his selection.
9 February 1956 on an Ornamental Congratulations form AW-GC-54B.
Alan Barnes was an important cricket administrator in Australia and served as Chief Executive of the Australian Board of Control for International Cricket (ABC) from 1960 to 1980. The organisation changed name to the Australian Cricket Board (ACB) between 1973 and 2003 and then changed name again to Cricket Australia.

A Greetings Telegram (AW-GS-F-54B) sent to Alan at the Commonwealth Bank from the Gosford Cricket Association.

Alan grew up a relatively short distance from Gosford in New South Wales. When he was 9 years old, he played at the Second Division level in the Gosford grade competition. He represented the Northern High Schools in the state Combined High Schools cricket competition where he sometimes played against the City High Schools - the team being captained by a student by the name of Richie Benaud. Alan later moved to Sydney and played for Northern Districts.
Good associations never forget their young stars.

A Greetings Telegram (AW-GC-F-54B) sent to Alan at the Commonwealth Bank from Trevor Chapman in Gosford.