Terry Alderman

Alderman had a superb Ashes series.

He was picked in the first test and took 4/68 and 5/62, helping bowl Australia to victory.[4] He found things harder going in the second, with 1-79 and 1-42, a game that ended in a draw.[5] In the third test Alderman took 3/59 in the first innings; England followed on, and Alderman helped reduce England to 7-135 with 4 wickets and two catches. Ian Botham counter-attacked and Alderman's final figures were 6/135 - Australia collapsed chasing and lost the game.[6]

In the fourth test Alderman bowled beautifully for figures of 5/42 and 3/65 but Australia's batsman collapsed again and lost the game.[7] Australia lost the fifth test, Alderman taking 4/88 and 5/109.[8] In the sixth drawn test Alderman took 3/84 and 2/60.[9] He had taken 42 wickets in the test series at 51 first class wickets on tour at 20.86.

Alderman was picked as one of Wisden's five cricketers of the year.[10][11]

Alderman kept in the Australian side the following summer. In the first test against Pakistan he took 4/36 and 2/43, helping Australia win.[12] The going was harder in the second test, with 2/74 and 0/37.[13] In the third test Alderman went for 0/62.[14]

Alderman played in two tests against the West Indies. He took 2/54 and 2/23 in the first match, but is probably best remembered for his batting in the first innings - he joined Kim Hughes when the score was 9/155 and stuck around for 43 more runs which proved crucial (Alderman made 10).[15] He suffered in the second test, taking 0/73 and 1/46.[16] Alderman did not play in the third test, which the West Indies won.

He took 37 first class wickets that summer at 16.94.

Alderman toured New Zealand in 1982 taking 12 wickets at 30 and was picked for the 1982 tour of Pakistan. Australia went with a two-spin attack for the first two tests and Alderman was left out. He returned for the third test despite barely bowling during the tour,[17] taking 2/144 in an Australian defeat.[18] He only took four first class wickets on tour at 65.

Alderman was injured in the first test of the 1982/83 Ashes. He had taken 1/84 in the first innings when there was a pitch invasion.[19] Alderman was hit in the back of the head by a member of the crowd, Gary Donnison. Alderman recalled, "he ran off, and I could see that there were no police in the vicinity so I attempted to apprehend him." Alderman charged at Donnison and tackled him to the ground but fell on his shoulder and injured himself. "I can't remember a lot of how I fell ... but I was immediately aware I was injured ... it was very painful indeed," Alderman said. "At the time I thought it would just pop back in - little did I know that it would be a year before I could bowl in a competitive match again," he said. "I had to learn to swim a mile a day for eight months. What is tough in sport, is that if you have a physical injury or problem, no one wants to know you. In a way, when I came back, it was like starting another career."[20]

He took 18 first class wickets that summer at 19.61.

Alderman was unable to force his way back into the Australian side over the 1983/84 summer. However 30 first class wickets at 25.26 saw him picked for the West Indies.

Alderman was selected for the tour of the West Indies in 1984. He took 1/64 and 0/43 in the first test.[21] In the second test he took 2/91 but had some success with the bat, scoring 21 in Australia's second innings and taking part in a 61-run partnership with Alan Border.[22] In the third test Alderman took 1/152 and 0/18.[23] He was dropped for the final two tests. Alderman took 15 first class wickets on tour at 43.6. After the tour he played his first season of county cricket in England with Kent County Cricket Club.

Alderman made his way back into the Australian side for the first test against the West Indies during 1984/85. He took 6/128[24] but the West Indies won by an innings.[25] He took 3/107 in the second test, which ended with Kim Hughes' resignation as Australian captain.[26] After going wicketless in the third Test he was dropped for the final two Tests of the series.

Alderman took 44 wickets at 28.34 that summer. He was picked to tour England in 1985 but lost his spot when it was revealed he had signed to play in South Africa.[27] Alderman says he was motivated by financial conditions after being left off the contract list of Australian players in 1984. "The board was; not thinking of me for the future.! I was 28 and I had a family to think of, The opportunity to go to South Africa and to get a nest egg came up. It pointed out to me the lack of security you have when you play this, game. 'It's so fickle: one minute you are up,'the next you are down."[28]

In South Africa Alderman took 23 wickets at 21.21 in 1985/86. He played for Kent again in 1986 and took 98 wickets at 19.20. In 1986/87 he took 18 wickets at 32.77. Alderman later admitted his trips to South Africa had been disappointing bowling-wise and he set himself the goal of getting back in the Australian team by the 1989 Ashes.[28]

Alderman returned to domestic cricket in Australia in 1987/88, taking 39 wickets at 24.20. He played for Gloucestershire County Cricket Club in England in 1988, taking 75 wickets at 22.81.

Alderman was available for international selection from the 1988/89 season onwards. He was overlooked for the first two Tests but back for the third, taking 4/68 and 3/78.[29] Alderman took 48 first class wickets in 1988/89 at 20.93 and was selected for the 1989 Ashes in England.

Alderman toured for Australia in 1989. In the first test he took 5/107 and 5/44, helping Australia to a big win.[30] In the second he took 3/60 and 6/128.[31] In the third he went for 3/61;[32] the fourth, 0/49 and 5/66;[33] the fifth 5/69 and 2/32;[34] the sixth 5-66 and 2-30.[35]

He took 70 first class wickets on tour at 15.64.

In Australia, Alderman took 3/73 and 1/59 against New Zealand in November 1989[36] and 3/81 against Sri Lanka in the first Test in December.[37] He took 2/71 and 0/38 in the second Test.[38] Against Pakistan In January 1990 he took 3/30 and 5/105 in the first Test.[39] He took 34 first class wickets over the 1989/90 summer at 23.05.

He toured New Zealand in 1990 taking 4/46 and 0/27 in the only Test played on the tour.[40] Alderman kept his place in the Australian side to play England in the 1990/91 Ashes. He took 2/44 and 6/47 in the first Test;[41] 2/86 and 0/19 in the second;[42] 3/62 and 0/29 in the third;[43] he did not play in the fourth but took 0/66 and 3/75 in the fifth.[44] He took 31 first class wickets at 28.38 that summer and was picked to tour the West Indies.

Alderman's final Test was on the tour of the West Indies in 1991 when he took nine wickets at 38.44 on the tour, playing in just one of the Test matches, taking one wicket in the match.[45]

In 1991/92 Alderman took 29 wickets at 31.82 but was overlooked for national selection.[46] His last first-class season was in 1992/93. He took 20 wickets at 36.35.[47]