Jack Daniel

Education

Having attended Hampton High School, he made his first-grade debut for the Melbourne Cricket Club in the VCA district competition during the 1940-1941 season, aged 16.

Career

Born in Leeds, England, Daniel emigrated to Melbourne at an early age with his family. After his return to Australia, he continued to play for Melbourne at grade cricket level, and good form saw him selected to play for Victoria at state level against Tasmania during the 1947-1948 season. Although Daniel went wicketless during the match, he was again selected to play against Tasmania in two first-class matches the following season.

In the first match, a rain-ruined game held at the Telecommunications Carriers Association Ground in Hobart, he recorded first-innings figures of 6/37, dismissing Tasmania"s first four batsman, and then hit 44 runs in Victoria"s only innings.

In the next match, held at the NTCA Ground in Launceston, he took figures of 6/20 in Tasmania"s first innings, helping to dismiss the side for only 65 runs. During the same season, Daniel played a match for the Victorian Second XI against the equivalent New South Wales team, and hit future Australian captain Richie Benaud over the eye with a bouncer, causing him to miss several matches with a fractured skull.

He made his Sheffield Shield debut in the 1949-1950 season, but failed to take a wicket in his two matches. Daniel would play two further first-class matches, both against Tasmania during the 1950-1951 season, but did not play at state level after that season.

Daniel worked at a shoe company in later life, and was also a noted baseball player, playing first grade for the Melbourne Baseball Club.

In retirement, he lived on the Gold Coast, dying there at the age of 78.

Achievements

• Daniel enlisted in the Australian Army in September 1942, and served overseas, attaining the rank of corporal before his discharge in 1946.