Former Australian Test captain, Barry Jarman, is no more. Aged 84, he passed away with an illness. The mighty wicketkeeper played 19 Test matches for the country between 1959 and 1969 and was a crucial support of the South Australian side, for whom he played as many as 191 matches across 13 seasons.
Barry Jarman made his Test debut in Kanpur during the tour of India in 1959. However, his appearance in he playing XI was fitful, given the selectors preferred Queensland wicketkeeper Wally Grout over him. Jarman toured regularly as Grout’s fill-in and was an important voice in the dressing room.
He became a regular in 1967-68 season on the winter Ashes tour of England, where he was even named as the captain for the Headingley Test, filling in Bill Lawry’s position after the latter was injured.
Bill Jarman played his 19th and last Test match at his home ground in Adelaide against West Indies before calling time on his international career. He then went ahead to join the ICC as a referee and oversaw 25 Tests and 28 ODIs until 2001. It was the right-handed batsman to take the call to abandon the 1998 Jamaica Test match between England and West Indies due to a dangerous pitch.
He also presided in the Centurion Test between England and South Africa that saw two declarations at 0 for 0 with Hansie Cronje later confirming that he had been influenced by the match-fixers to get a result from the rain-affected game. Jarman, however, said he wasn’t aware of any devious undertones to that game.
Our heart-felt condolences to the Jarman family. May his soul rest in peace. Leave your best wishes in the comments below.
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