Gavin Stevens Q&A: Former Australian Test batsman opens up on his memories of a turbulent tour of the subcontinent

Gavin Stevens feared he was going to die on Australia’s subcontinental tour of 1959-60. On his 90th birthday, Crash Craddock recaps his amazing story.

Gavin Stevens turns 90 today.

Former Australian Test batsman Gavin Stevens celebrates his 90th birthday today but there was a time when he feared he wouldn’t reach 30.

Australia’s current tour of Pakistan has brought back some turbulent memories for Stevens who was part of Richie Benuad’s touring squad to Pakistan and India in 1959-60.

The South Australian contracted hepatitis on the Indian leg of the tour and never played first class cricket again. He was so ill that there were fears he could die on tour and a book called Near Death on the Subcontinent was penned on his story.

Below is a combination of two interviews he has given to News Corp about his incredible story.

Gavin Stevens with the book Near Death on the Subcontinent, which is written about his experiences while on tour. Picture: Tim Marsden

How do you feel about reaching 90 given what you went through on that tour?

It wasn’t just that tour but my mum and dad died in their 40s with cancer and both of my brothers died of it as well. I have had my battles with it and got it in 2000 but I am still hanging in there. I am getting by.

I am just really thankful for what life has given me. I have been really fortunate.

How much were you paid on that marathon tour of India and Pakistan?

We got 750 pounds for four months. That’s about $1500. In the Sheffield Shield in those days we got three dollars a day for playing for your state. If you were employed, your boss did not want to know you if you wanted to take time off.

The book on your journey is called Near Death on the Sub-Continent. Were you really near death?

Yes. I think I was. Let’s not forget when you are so terribly ill in a foreign country you also suffer from forms of depression. The main desire was to try and do the right thing by my family and get home. That kept me going.

What if you had not had a family — would you have made it through?

I wonder if I was single whether I would have had the same determination. Who would know? But it would have been very debatable.

When you got back to Australia you never played another first class match. Why?

I guess that is my claim to fame. The (food) companies I represented told me to forget about cricket because their sales had really suffered while I was away. They said “make your mind up — us or cricket’’, so I made the commercial decision that I did not want my wife and family to live in poverty. Neil Harvey used to quote Arthur Morris who, when asked what he got out of cricket, would say “poverty’’.

Was it a tough decision?

It was, but I had a wife, one child and another on the way and I knew I had to get my head down and work, and that is what I did.

Do you ever regret it?

That lives with you for the rest of your life. You ask yourself “could I have done it?’ In old age I can reflect back and say, apart from cricket, I was a damn good supermarket operator. I was in IGA and a director of our co-operative and, believe it or not, at one stage our business featuring the small guys had 65 per cent of the business in Adelaide and Coles and Woolworths had 35 per cent.

Gavin Stevens turns 90 today.

When did the illness hit you?

We had to go to a function in Madras the night before the Test, and I was picked to play. They were going to a picture theatre after and I said I was not feeling well and went back to the hotel and away I went with vomiting and diarrhoea. At times I was crawling to the toilet. I remember Richie Benaud seeing me and saying “you’re done, we will have to pick someone else’’.

You spent 11 nights in hospital. How big a deal was it in the media?

We had a fellow on tour from AAP called Wally Parr, who was a lovely bloke who came and saw me in hospital. I said please don’t put anything in the paper because I did not want my wife to worry so he said I had the flu. That was easier on the wife.

Were there many journalists there?

The other journalist covering the tour was Mike Charlton who used to front Four Corners. He was a lovely bloke, but he used the F-word a lot, and I asked him how he stopped the F-word from sneaking out on Four Corners. He said it was pretty bloody hard.

You were lucky you had a doctor on tour though?

Yes, Ian McDonald (brother of Test opener Colin) was a beaut bloke but he was an anaesthetist really. He was looking through this really thick book and I said “let’s be honest, you have no idea what is wrong with me. We have to get some local help’’.

Did you find any?

Somehow we found this nice old guy called Colonel Hamilton who was in India during the war, liked the place and stayed on and ran a little hospital. But there was no ambulance. I remember having my arms around Ian and someone else and they dragged me down the corridor of the team hotel and took me to hospital. My temperature was soaring by then but after a few days the rest of the team had moved on to Calcutta.

Did you join them eventually?

Yes, but when I got on the plane by myself I had never felt worse in my life.

Was it true that you early tourists to India survived on toast and bananas?

They did not put any restrictions on us apart from not eating anything that has not been cooked. Drinking water was out. Some guys who had never had a drink in their life cleaned their teeth in Foster’s beer.

Where did the beer come from?

Sam Loxton got three drops of 80 dozen cans in Pakistan and India. I have photos of Les Favell and Norm O’Neill, who didn’t really have a beer, with pints of beer in their hands. I smile every time I look at them.

Gavin Stevens playing Shield cricket.

Coming from South Australia you knew Don Bradman well. What was he like?

He coached me and I also played him once in pennants in golf and he beat me six and five. I really liked him. At functions my wife used to notice how my expression would change if someone criticised him who had never met him. It made me really angry.

What was the Bradman sense of humour like?

He has a great smile, Don. Sometimes I would go to watch a Sheffield Shield match and he would say in his squeaky voice: “Oh, Gavin you broke my heart. It took so long to get you to the top and you just retired’’. And I would say: “If I had been as rich as you were at that time I would have played on’’.

Any theories on why he was such a great player?

Because he played the percentages. He took several forms of dismissal out of the game. He reckoned that if you lofted the ball it increased your chances of getting out by 65 per cent.

India seems to have changed so much since you went there?

Oh yes. In Mumbai there are now a colony of heart surgeons who are so good that a large number of Americans are going there to get fixed up. I take a great interest in economics and everyone talks about China all the time, but India is really going ahead and there is talk because of their previous links with Britain they may even kick on further than the Chinese. Who knows? It could happen.

Were the wickets tough in your day?

They were always suited to the spinners. Grassless and really tough for the fast men which is why I so admire Mitchell Starc. He is cheeky with the bat but he has a beautiful bowling action and sounds as if he is a most charming young bloke. He is a great asset in the side.

Cricket was pretty tough on you wasn’t it?

Cricket nearly took me out twice. I was hit in the head in Perth before helmets, and the WACA doctor said another inch or two below and I would have been dead straight away.

But it also made you famous in some ways, didn’t it?

Neil Harvey jokes that I am the most famous cricketer of all time, and I say: “But I only played in four Tests, scored no runs and dropped some catches’’. And he says: “Yes, but you almost became the first man to die on tour’’.

You seemed to like Harvey?

Harv was great to me. He would come out of selection meetings and tell me that Colin McDonald did not want to bat with me. He would defend me. Dear old Harvs. He is a top fella.