Laurence John Nash (2 May 1910 – 24 July 1986) was a Test cricketer and Australian rules footballer. An inductee into the Australian Football Hall of Fame, Nash was a member of South Melbourne's 1933 premiership team, captained South Melbourne in 1937 and was the team's leading goal kicker in 1937 and 1945. In cricket, Nash was a fast bowler and hard hitting lower order batsman who played two Test matches for Australia, taking 10 wickets at 12.80 runs per wicket, and scoring 30 runs at a batting average of 15.
The son of a leading Australian rules footballer of the early twentieth century who had also played cricket against the touring Marylebone Cricket Club in 1921, Nash was a star sportsman as a boy. Following the family's relocation from Victoria to Tasmania, he began to make a name for himself as both a footballer and a cricketer, and became both one of the earliest professional club cricketers in Australia and one of the first fully professional Australian rules footballers. Nash made his Test cricket debut in 1932, against South Africa and his Victorian Football League (VFL) debut in 1933.
While Nash had great success in football, he faced opposition from the cricket establishment for his supposedly poor attitude towards authority. This led fellow cricketer Keith Miller to write that his non-selection as a regular Test player was "the greatest waste of talent in Australian cricket history".Miller, Keith in Foreword, Wallish, p. iv.
During World War II Nash rejected offers of a home posting and instead served as a trooper in New Guinea, stating that he wished to be treated no differently from any other soldier. Following the end of the war, Nash returned to South Melbourne and won the team goal kicking award, although his age and injuries inhibited any return of his previous successes. Nash retired from VFL football at the end of the 1945 season to play and coach in the country before returning to coach South Melbourne in 1953. After retiring, Nash wrote columns for newspapers, was a panellist on football television shows and was a publican before his death in Melbourne, aged 76.
Early life
Nash was born in Fitzroy, Victoria, on 2 May 1910, the youngest of three children of Irish Catholics Robert and Mary Nash.Wallish, p. 10. He had a brother, Robert Junior, and one sister, Mary, known as Maizie.Wallish, p. 11.
Nash belonged to a sporting family; his grandfather Michael Nash and great-uncle Thomas Nash were leading players for Carlton Football Club in the 1880s, his father Robert captained Collingwood Football Club and coached Footscray Football Club, and played cricket, opening the bowling for Hamilton in a match against the 1920–1921 touring English side, while Robert Junior also became a leading footballer in Tasmania and country Victoria. Nash's mother was an orphan who was probably adopted several times, allowing historians no opportunity to determine any sporting links on her side of the family.Wallish, pp. 11–12. Nash's biographer also claims that former Prime Minister of New Zealand Sir Walter Nash and pianist Eileen Joyce were related to the family.Wallish, p. 12.
Nash's father, who had initially worked as a gas stoker, joined the police force in 1913 and served in a number of postings, including Hamilton in western Victoria, taking his family with him.Wallish, p. 14. In Hamilton, Nash attended Loreto Convent and began his interest in sport, practising kicking a football made of newspapers and tied together with string.Wallish, p. 20.
When Nash Senior was transferred back to Melbourne in 1922, the Nash brothers attended St Ignatius School in the Melbourne working-class suburb of Richmond, where Nash became best friends with fellow student Tommy Lahiff, who would also become a leading Australian rules footballer.
Although short and stocky, Nash and his brother Robert Junior developed into star junior sportsmen,Shaw, p. 124. excelling at football and cricket, although Nash Senior preferred Laurie to become a cricketer, considering it a better and longer career optionDunstan, p. 156. and forbade his sons from playing senior football until age 20.
Nash's performance in junior cricket led Victorian district cricket club Fitzroy to sign him for the 1927/28 season. Nash made his first grade debut for Fitzroy as a seventeen-year-old and spent two and a half seasons at Fitzroy, earning plaudits for his performances and, until he broke his wrist in a fielding mishap,"Cricket", The Argus, 11 February 1929, p. 11. there were suggestions that he was close to Victorian selection.Wallish, pp. 23–24.
Nash Senior was a member of a group of 600 police who went on strike in 1923 for better wages but was dismissed from the force and required to find another livelihood. Nash Senior went into the hotel business, firstly in Melbourne before eventually moving his family to Tasmania in 1929 to run the hotel at Parattah.
Tasmania
In Tasmania, Nash gained work in a Launceston sport store and made his Tasmanian district cricket debut for the Tamar Cricket Club on 7 December 1929, taking 7 wickets for 29 (7/29) and 1/16.Wallish, p. 26. After one more match for Tamar, in which he took 5/41, Nash was chosen in the Northern Tasmania side in the annual match against Southern Tasmania, where he took match figures of 7/40 and top scored in both innings.
These performances led Nash to make his first-class cricket debut for Tasmania against Victoria in Launceston on 31 December 1929, taking 2/97, with future Test player Leo O'Brien his maiden first-class wicket, and scoring 1 and 48 (Tasmania's top score in their second innings).
Four months later, he made his senior football debut for the Roy Cazaly coached City side in the Northern Tasmanian Football Association (NTFA),Tasmanian Sporting Hall of Fame, p. 80. immediately standing out on account of his skills, blond hair and confidence in his abilities. Nash made the Tasmanian side for the national carnival in Adelaide where he won the medal for the most outstanding Tasmanian player of the carnival.Wallish, p. 359. Nash played in defence for City while Robert Junior played in the forward line and both were considered sensational.Piesse (1993), p. 33.
Between 1930 and 1932 Nash played 45 games for City (including premierships in 1930 and 1932), kicking 14 goals, and winning the Tasman Shields Trophy, awarded to the Best and Fairest player in the NTFA, in 1931 and 1932. Additionally, Nash played 10 games for Northern Tasmania (12 goals) and 5 games for Tasmania at the national carnival.
Nash played for Tasmania against the West Indies national cricket team in December 1930. Batting at number three, Nash made 41 and 0 and took 2/87, including bowling Learie Constantine, who had scored 100 in 65 minutes.Findley, R. "Pickett's death marks a record innings", Sunday Tasmanian, 8 February 2009, p. 73. Journalists noted that during Constantine's innings, Nash was the only Tasmanian bowler to watch the West Indian closely and take note of his strengths and weaknesses, which led to his eventual success against the batsman.Page, p. 107.
In September 1932 Nash married Irene Roles in Launceston, with City and Tasmania teammate Ted Pickett acting as best man.Wallish, p. 68. Due to the strict sectarianism of the 1930s, there was some controversy as Irene was a Protestant from one of Launceston's establishment families, and the wedding was held in a Protestant church. For years afterwards, Nash was subjected to a campaign by Catholic clergy to hold a Catholic wedding ceremony to legitimise his marriage but refused.Wallish, p. 322.
Laurie and Irene had one child, Noelene, in January 1940.Wallish, p. 214. Wallish states that it was thought that Laurie sought to have additional children but Irene was opposed.
Called for throwing On 26 January 1931 Nash was called for throwing in a match for Tasmania against Victoria at Launceston. He later claimed that the throw was deliberate and came out of frustration with his fielders. The call for throwing was early in the innings but Nash was able to recover from the incident to take 5/76 out of Victoria's total of 524.Whimpress, p. 42. Earlier in the same match Nash opened the batting and made 110, his highest first-class score. It has been speculated by cricket historian Bernard Whimpress that Nash's decision to throw the ball may have been regarded by selectors as "part of a parcel of anti-social behaviours which told against regular selection" for either Australia or Victoria.
Test debut
Nash was picked for Tasmania in two matches against the touring South Africans in January 1932. He failed to perform in the first match in Launceston, taking 1/68 and 2/45 and scoring 17 and 9. However, Nash had a lively bowling performance in the Hobart match, making the ball come off the wicket at a great pace"South Africans in Tasmania", The Times, 16 January 1932, p. 4. and gaining match figures of 9/137, including two wickets in consecutive balls and breaking batsman Eric Dalton's jaw with a vicious bouncer on the hat-trick ball. South African captain Jock Cameron praised Nash for his performancePage, p. 108. as his bowling in the match was thought to be as quick and dangerous as any bowler in the world.Page, p. 101.
Following the Hobart match Nash was included in the Australian side to make his Test debut, aged 21 years and 286 days, against South Africa at the Melbourne Cricket Ground beginning 12 February 1932. Nash was the first Tasmanian based player chosen to play for Australia since Charles Eady in 1902 and would be the last until Roger Woolley debuted in 1983.Smith, p. 187. Also making his Test debut for Australia was batsman Jack Fingleton while spin bowler Bert Ironmonger was recalled to the side."Changes in the Australian Team", The Times, 4 February 1932, p. 4.
Nash's inclusion raised eyebrows, as The Argus wrote "The inclusion of Nash will occasion most surprise","Ironmonger Chosen. Nash and Fingleton Included", The Argus, 4 February 1932, p. 7. particularly as Nash was the only fast bowler chosen in the Australian team. However Nash soon silenced any critics with a dangerous opening spell, capturing three of the first four South African wickets to fallPerry (1995), p. 253. and 4 in the first innings for just 18 runs, followed by 1/4 in the second as South Africa were routed for 36 and 45. The match was the first to finish in under six hours' play.Piesse (2003), p. 126.
Following the match, The Times commented favourably on Nash, reporting "Nash is a short, powerfully built man, … made the ball kick awkwardly, several balls getting up head-high, and in one spell before luncheon took three wickets for four runs. Nash has plenty of stamina for a fast bowler and is considered by some to be the man for whom the selectors are searching to fill the place of Gregory.""CRICKET: Low Scoring at Melbourne", The Times, No.46056, (Saturday 13 February 1932), p.5, col.F.
Nash's performance also drew the interest of VFL clubs, as he was "said to be a better footballer than he is a cricketer." Victorian Football League clubs Richmond and Footscray sought to recruit Nash but the VFL considered Nash a Fitzroy player due to his time at Fitzroy Cricket Club.Old Boy, "Position of L. Nash", The Argus, 16 February 1932, p. 11.
Bodyline
The 1932–1933 cricket season saw the Douglas Jardine-led England side tour Australia, with Nash expected to open the bowling.Wallish, pp. 76–77. English newspaper the News Chronicle stated that the emergence of Nash was "a grim prospect for England in its attempts to recover the Ashes."Wallish, p. 53. Despite this, he was left out of what became known as the Bodyline series.