Anthony Ross Dell (born 6 August 1945) is a former Australian

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er who played in two

Test matches Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Indoor cricket, Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (associa ...

in the 1970s.

Cricket career

Dell was a fast-medium

seam bowler Seam bowling is a bowling technique in cricket, in which the ball is deliberately bowled to hit the ground on its seam, to cause a random deviation when it bounces. A bowler who uses this technique is called a seam bowler or seamer. Seam bowlin ...

who played for

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

and made his debut against England for the vital Seventh Test at

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

in the

1970–71 Ashes series The 1970–71 Ashes series was the 45th edition of the long-standing cricket rivalry between England and Australia. Starting on 27 November 1970, the two sides ended up playing seven Tests; six were originally scheduled, but one extra Test was a ...

. With Australia needing to win he opened the bowling with

Dennis Lillee Dennis Keith Lillee, (born 18 July 1949) is a retired Australian cricketer rated as the "outstanding fast bowler of his generation".

and took 2–32 in the first innings –

John Edrich John Hugh Edrich, (21 June 1937 – 23 December 2020) was an English first-class cricketer who, during a career that ran from 1956 to 1978, was considered one of the best batsmen of his generation. Born in Blofield, Norfolk, Edrich came from ...

caught by

Greg Chappell Gregory Stephen Chappell (born 7 August 1948) is a former cricketer who represented Australia at international level in both Tests and One-Day Internationals (ODI). The second of three brothers to play Test cricket, Chappell was the pre-eminent ...

for 30 and

Basil d'Oliveira Basil Lewis D'Oliveira CBE OIS (4 October 1931 – 19 November 2011) was an England international cricketer of South African Cape Coloured background, whose potential selection by England for the scheduled 1968–69 tour of apartheid-era Sout ...

bowled for 1 – as England collapsed to 98–5 and 184 all out. In the second innings he was the best bowler with 3–65, but England made 302 and 223 was too much for Australia to make for victory. Dell batted last and made 3 not out in each innings and so was present at the crease when

The Ashes The Ashes is a Test cricket series played biennially between England and Australia. The term originated in a satirical obituary published in a British newspaper, '' The Sporting Times'', immediately after Australia's 1882 victory at The Oval, ...

were lost. His five wickets (19.40) put him ahead of

Dennis Lillee Dennis Keith Lillee, (born 18 July 1949) is a retired Australian cricketer rated as the "outstanding fast bowler of his generation".

(8 wickets at 24.87) at the top of the series averages, if you exclude

Ian Chappell Ian Michael Chappell (born 26 September 1943) is a former cricketer who played for South Australia and Australia. Known as "Chappelli", he is considered as one of the greatest captains the game has seen.

's one wicket for 10.00. His only other test was the First test against New Zealand at

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

in 1973–74 where he did not bat, but took 1–54 and 0–9 in Australia's innings victory.

Life

Anthony H Ross Dell was born on 6 Aug 1945 in

New Milton New Milton is a market town and civil parish in the New Forest District, New Forest district, in southwest Hampshire, England. To the north is in the New Forest and to the south the coast at Barton-on-Sea. The town is equidistant between Lymi ...

, Hampshire, England. He lived for some of his childhood in Wales, where he attended

Howardian High School Howardian High School was a secondary school that was established in Cardiff from 1885 to 1990. Howardian originated in 1885 as the ''Cardiff Higher Grade School'', which was founded by the Cardiff School Board at Howard Gardens, Adamsdown (), t ...

in Penylan, Cardiff. He migrated to Australia at the age of 14 when his father was transferred to

, where he attended the

Anglican Church Grammar School The Anglican Church Grammar School (ACGS), formerly the Church of England Grammar School and commonly referred to as Churchie, is an independent, Anglican Church of Australia, Anglican, Day school, day and boarding school for boys, located in ...

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

. Dell's second initial 'H' stood for the middle name "Hiroshima", although only the 'H' was recorded on his birth certificate. His parents gave him the name to commemorate the

bombing of Hiroshima On 6 and 9 August 1945, the United States detonated two atomic bombs over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, respectively, during World War II. The aerial bombings killed between 150,000 and 246,000 people, most of whom were civili ...

, which occurred on the day of his birth. Dell officially had 'H' omitted from his name while at school. https://www.cricketbooks.com.au/the-man-who-put-back-his-age/ Dell's year of birth was officially listed as 1947 throughout his career and long into his retirement; he revealed in 2021 that he had lied about his age to improve his chances of selection for test matches. Dell served in the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

as a national serviceman in the

2nd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment The 2nd Battalion (Amphibious), The Royal Australian Regiment (2 RAR (Amphib)) is an amphibious reconnaissance battalion of the Australian Army part of the 1st Division Amphibious Task Group based at Lavarack Barracks in Townsville. 2 RAR was ...

from May 1967 until March 1968. He took part in several battles around the Australian base at

Nui Dat Nui Dat (Núi Đất) is the former military base of the 1st Australian Task Force (1 ATF) now part of Ba Ria city in Ba Ria–Vung Tau province, Vietnam. It is not the name of an official ward, it just means "land hill" or "soil hill" (:wikt:nú ...

Greg Growden Greg Growden (1959/1960 – 14 November 2020) was an Australian sports journalist, author and biographer. Life Growden was born in Adelaide, the son of Port Adelaide Football Club player Kevin Growden. The family moved to a rice farm at Coleamba ...

, ''Cricketers at War'', ABC Books, Sydney, 2019, pp. 293–303. He worked in an advertising agency in Brisbane until the 1990s, when the company collapsed. As a result of his military service, Dell had

posttraumatic stress disorder Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental disorder that develops from experiencing a Psychological trauma, traumatic event, such as sexual assault, domestic violence, child abuse, warfare and its associated traumas, natural disaster ...

(PTSD), undiagnosed until 2008. He founded the PTSD support group Stand Tall for PTS. Stand Tall For PTS was the official charity partner of the

Prime Minister's XI The Prime Minister's XI or PM's XI (formerly Australian Prime Minister's Invitation XI) is an invitational cricket team picked by the Prime Minister of Australia (assisted by the Australian national selectors) for an annual warm up match befor ...

match at

Manuka Oval Manuka Oval is a sporting venue in Canberra, the capital of Australia. It is located in Griffith, Australian Capital Territory, Griffith, in the area of that suburb known as Manuka, Australian Capital Territory, Manuka. Manuka Oval has a seating ...

on 14 January 2015 versus the

English cricket team The England men's cricket team represents cricket in England, England and cricket in Wales, Wales in international cricket. Since 1997, it has been governed by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), having been previously governed by Maryleb ...

. Dell is the subject of the biography ''And Bring the Darkness Home'' written with the journalist Greg Milam and published by Pitch Publishing in 2021.

References

External links

Stand Tall For PTS
the support group founded by Dell {{DEFAULTSORT:Dell, Tony 1947 births Living people Australia Test cricketers Queensland cricketers Australian cricketers English emigrants to Australia People from New Milton People educated at Anglican Church Grammar School Australian Army soldiers Australian military personnel of the Vietnam War People with post-traumatic stress disorder Cricketers from Hampshire Australian National Servicemen 20th-century Australian sportsmen