Wisden overview
An unassuming rural bank officer, born at Inverell in northern New South Wales, Rick McCosker was 28 before a sudden flush of form swept him into the Australian side in 1974-75. His subsequent tour of England was a pageant of success, culminating in an accomplished 127 at The Oval in August 1975, after narrowly missing out (95 not out) when George Davis's supporters ended the Headingley Test a day early. Runs flowed more intermittently thereafter, though he gained a folk-hero status in the Melbourne Centenary Test when, with a broken jaw wired and bandaged, he hung around for 85 minutes in the second innings to consolidate Australia's advantage. In later years, he was an astute captain of NSW, and a prolific scorer in domestic one-day cricket. Gideon Haigh

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