IT’S 60 YEARS THIS month since Bill Lawry made his Test debut but the sights and sounds of a sun-drenched summer have never left him.

From first class boat travel from Perth to England to life back home in Melbourne, where his first baggy green cap later got covered with pigeon poo, Lawry saw every layer of the game and the society that shaped it.

Very much his own man and clearly a man apart, Lawry was the Test cricketer whose proudest innings was a district knock, the plumber who captained his country, the 67-Test batsman who considered pigeon racing his supreme sporting passion.

Lawry’s memory is sharp and, while his life has changed significantly since he retired from commentary when Channel Nine lost the cricket rights three years ago, he still spins a good yarn.

His stories often finish with a whip crack that takes the mickey out of a colleague like Ian Chappell or Richie Benaud – no-one is safe – or, very frequently, himself.

“I watch very little cricket these days,’’ Lawry says with the easy nonchalance of a man thankful for what the game gave him.

“I am a full time carer for my wife (Joy). She is 82 and I am 84. I am doing all the things I have never done for 60 odd years of marriage. I am doing the cooking and the shopping and all that sort of jazz.

“I watch it occasionally but I think when you have played from 12 and commentated for 40 years you have probably had enough. I am still interested in the scores. There is so much going on with the Big Bash it is so confusing.

“But the great players of today are just as good. I think they are a bit confused at playing the white and red ball. Apart from Steve Smith I feel the rest of the batsmen have trouble adjusting when they get to Test cricket.’’

THE BIG ENTRANCE

WHEN LAWRY LEFT FOR his first Australian tour in 1961 to England he was leading a bizarre double life.

He was a plumber about to lose his job because his boss said he could not afford to support him during his lengthy stints away.

Yet dripping taps and clogged sinks seemed like part of another world on the boat to England.

The travelling timeline (“21 days there and 21 days back”) to England is etched in his mind, as was the unusual but strangely pleasurable vibe of having to don a black tie for dinner in first class travel on the boat.

“Boat travel was good fun. I was rooming with Graham McKenzie. He was 19-years-old and had taken only about five first class wickets. I had not played a Test. It was an interesting pairing.

“Strangely enough we both dropped out of Test cricket after the same Test a decade later in 1971 so we had a long association which was great. He was a wonderful bowler.’’

Much to the delight of both men, McKenzie and Lawry were inducted into the Cricket Australia Hall of Fame together 49 years after they were first thrown together as roommates on the boat.

Lawry looked a Test player from the moment he walked to the wicket for his debut at Birmingham, the first Test of the Ashes.

He progressed to 57 not out at lunch on day two after England batted first – then something cracked his focus.

“That was interesting. Neil Harvey and I had a really good partnership and at lunchtime as we were walking off he completely surprised me. He said ‘you are going to do what I did and make a hundred on debut in England’,” Lawry says.

“I got out first over after lunch. I think if he hadn’t said anything I might have made a hundred but I spent the break thinking ‘I am going to make a hundred on debut’. ’’

But he had only two weeks to wait for his first Test century – one of the greatest innings of his career – when he made 130 against England at Lord’s on a wicket which had ridge so pronounced it became a notorious part of cricket folklore.

“You could actually see the ridge in the pitch. If the ball bounced the full side of the ridge that was fine but if it bounced the other side it took off. That was the problem. Brian Statham in particular was quite sharp and it was difficult,” he says.

“I got hit on the body a few times but many missed me because when they took off they really took off. I have seen photos of me in some books where my feet are up in the air like a ballet dancer and going all over the place. You sort of dodged a few.

“You can imagine how Lord’s looked. It was perfect for batting. It was a beautiful country to tour.’’

If Lawry is still in solid shape 60 years on from his debut tour the same could not be said of his first baggy green cap.

“My first baggy green got covered in pigeon shit because I used to wear it down the pigeon loft,” he says.

“We were lucky in that the modern day players get one cap. We got caps all the time. They are in a trunk somewhere. My family will have them when I’m gone.

“It was interesting because my father idolised Bill Ponsford who he thought was a better player than Bradman, which was a bit silly. If there had been no Bradman, Ponsford would have been the big gun. Bill was quiet and so humble. I asked him once whether I could talk to him and we got talking and he said his first Australian blazer ended up in the dog kennel to keep the dog warm.

“I said ‘I can’t equal that Mr Ponsford but my first Australian cap is covered in pigeon poop. Does that count?’.’’

HIS GREATEST MOMENT

LAWRY MADE 13 TEST centuries and 17 in Sheffield Shield cricket yet, in a sign of how deep his love runs for the grass roots of the game, he claims his greatest moment came in a famous premiership victory for his Melbourne club Northcote, when they chased down a victory target of 514 in the Melbourne district final of 1965-66.

It is part of cricket lore that Lawry allegedly told hot favourites Essendon “you haven’t got enough’’ when they declared at tea on day two at 9-514 and minutes later in the dressing room declared to his teammates ‘I’ll get half, you get the rest’.

Lawry more than kept his word in making an eight-hour-23-minute 282 not out as his side cruised to victory before 5000 fans, including Prime Minister Robert Menzies in an open-necked shirt.

“That was my greatest achievement. I went to Northcote as a 12-year-old. I only played in one finals series at any level. I think that was my proudest moment in cricket. Northcote were very good to me. Playing for Australia and Victoria was fantastic but I was with Northcote for 20 years,” he says.

“We were 1-98 at stumps. Doug Ring interviewed me for Channel 7 and when I said ‘we have only 400 to go’ he started laughing.’’

ONE FOR THE BIRDS

LAWRY IS NOT THE FIRST cricketer who admits to loving the birds – his though have feathers.

“That (pigeon racing) has been my number one passion. I have always said I would have been just as happy playing cricket for Thornberry Presbyterians and racing my pigeons. It just happens I was lucky enough to play for Australia and have some great trips with some great players,” he says.

“The main thrill in pigeon racing is winning but that is very hard in a race where you have 20 birds in a race of 5000. My brother was a top pigeon fancier and he was 16 years older than me. I was the baby of the family and brought up in the back yard with pigeons.

“Just the fact that pigeons can fly 400 miles in a day with a headwind despite only weighing a pound. You are not always going to win but to see them coming home flying their hearts out. It’s inspirational.

“Unfortunately because of modern times it is a dying hobby. Backyards are smaller. When I was brought up there was about four pigeon followers within a mile of my place.’’

THINKING INSIDE THE BOX

LAWRY VIEWED HIS long-lasting broadcasting career almost as a hobby rather than a job and enjoyed it more as a consequence.

“I never envisaged getting a job at Channel Nine. That was an adventure for me. I never saw it as a living. Richie saw himself as a professional but I didn’t and I just wanted to have fun and enjoy it,” he says.

“Richie and I were complete opposites. He was smooth and suave. He took half an hour to get dressed. The rest of us took five minutes. Richie had his own pace. I never really knew whether it was put on or not. We just got along well.

Benaud was Lawry’s first Test captain key mentor but his spicy on air rivalry and off-air friendship with Tony Greig became an equally influential force in his life.

“It was very interesting with Greigy because when he first came in the box he and Ian Chappell were not talking which made it interesting, then Ian Botham and Ian Chappell were not talking which made it even more so.

“So when David Hill did the pairings he thought ‘shit, who am I going to put with Greigy?’ I got on famously with him. I thought he was fantastic,.

“Look I was well aware he was doing alright with Kerry (Packer) financially but he was prepared to gamble and at times make himself look silly to entertain the people back home.

“He was an entertainer. He would come up with a lot of rubbish at times but you just go on with it. I found him very sincere and loyal. We got along very well.’’

THE BEST ADVICE

LAWRY CAME FROM A different world from the heavy manicured life of the modern player.

He generally worked the game out by himself with the occasional piece of shrewd guidance.

“We had no coach. The best advice I ever got was from (former Test opener) Colin McDonald when he was a class above the rest. You used to see him face the fast bowlers off 18 yards with new balls in the nets and he was outstanding,” Lawry says.

“At the time I was a 16-year-old playing first grade. He told me to go home and get in front of a mirror so I did. So I got a stocking in front of the mirror and put a ball in it and turned myself into a side-on player. The funny thing was the great Garry Sobers once said to me later ‘Bill, cricket is a square on game’ so there you go but side-on was best for me.

“I found I could adjust to the swinging ball better than if you were square on.’’

THE GREATEST IN THE GAME

LAWRY DOES NOT EVEN have to draw breath to identify the best cricketer he saw. West Indian legend Sir Garfield Sobers wins in a canter.

“He was the complete cricketer, a tremendous batsman who got wickets with the new ball and with wrist and finger spin. And was a brilliant fielder,” he says.

“And he was so good to watch. Sobers and Rohan Kanhai when they were 20 years old were sensational. Fearless. Sobers today? Honestly you wouldn’t have the money to pay him what he was worth.’’

THE ONLY REGRET

LAWRY IS HARD PRESSED to name a regret from his cricket career but he does have one.

“I only got to play one Test with Dennis Lillee – his first Test was my last,’’ he says.

“I got dropped and Ian Chappell takes over and gets Dennis Lillee, Jeff Thomson and Max Walker. How lucky can you be? It’s a big difference.

“I must remind Ian of that which I haven’t done … not for a while anyway.’’