Ray Harvey

Raymond Harvey (3 January 1926 – 6 January 2011) was an Australian former first-class cricketer who played for Victoria in the 1940s and 1950s. He was the brother of Australian Test batsmen Merv and Neil and first-class cricketer and umpire Mick Harvey. Ray Harvey was an attacking and talented batsman but failed to reach international standards and only managed to hold down a regular position in the Victorian team in two seasons in the 1950s. This failure to match the standards set by his Test-capped brothers was often attributed to a lack of single-mindedness and hunger.

Harvey was born into a working-class, devoutly Methodist family. His father was a keen amateur cricketer and an instilled a love of the game in his six sons, all of whom played for Fitzroy in Victorian Premier Cricket. Harvey made his first class debut in the middle of the 1947–48 season, and played his first two matches for Victoria alongside his more decorated brothers Merv and Neil. However, he performed poorly and did not play a match in the following summer and for the two subsequent seasons, he played in only three games but contributed little to his team's cause. In 1951–52 he made five appearances, gaining selection only when Victoria's Test players were busy representing Australia. The following season, he gained selection for the last three matches and broke through for his maiden first-class century, having never previously passed 50.

Having broken through at the end of the preceding summer, Harvey played his first full season for Victoria in 1953–54, despite the availability of the Test players for the whole campaign. He scored two centuries and five half centuries against full strength teams from other states and was rewarded with selection in Lindsay Hassett's testimonial match, which was effectively a Test trial match. Harvey ended the season with 699 runs at a batting average of 49.92. At the start of the following season, Harvey was included in an Australian XI for a match against the touring England cricket team for a Test trial match. However, rain curtailed the match and turned the playing surface into a sticky wicket hostile to batting. Harvey made only seven in his only innings. He played in all of Victoria's matches for the season, despite a form slump—he scored only 206 runs at 18.72. He was then overlooked for state selection until 1958–59, when he regained his position late in the season and made 97 and 86 in consecutive innings. However, the following season, he made only sporadic appearances despite the absence of the Test players overseas and aggregated only 133 runs at 16.62 in four matches and he was never selected for Victoria again. He shone mainly for Fitzroy in Victorian Premier Cricket, scoring 19 centuries and 9,146 runs in first-grade competition, both of which are still club records.