In this extract from a piece written in 1989 for Wisden Cricket Monthly, John Arlott recalls the innings of Peter Burge's life

It was one of those evenings – people were throwing questions, statements, and vague ideas about the room. Then suddenly someone asked: `What was the finest batting performance since the war?' There were some thoughtful and some thoughtless answers, when all at once, quite out of the blue, and unconnected with anything that had gone before, someone said: "Peter Burge, at Headingley, in 1964."

There was a hush as the idea and all its implications sank in. Peter Burge looked an Australian countryman and batsman; with a reddish, weatherbeaten face and a firm jaw, he was tall, deep-chested, and strong-armed. He had, indeed, had a good season in England in 1961, but he had never held a completely regular Test place for Australia. In 1963–64, during the series with South Africa, he was not truly fit; he needed hospital treatment, and at the start of the 1964 tour in England, he had difficulty in running.

Nevertheless, here he was on that 1964 tour, and the fact is that in the only Test finished, at The Oval, Peter Burge, taking over in a most uncompromising position, played the innings that won the match and retained the Ashes for Australia.

The spin of Norman Gifford and Fred Titmus had reduced Australia to 178 for 7 [in their first innings, still 90 behind England] when Neil Hawke came in to join Peter Burge.

Burge could look belligerent and soon he batted in that character. He took more than a quarter of an hour to get off the mark against the accuracy and subtlety of the two spinners while Hawke simply put his head down and plodded away. They were 187 for 7 when the second new ball became due. The two spinners were containing them completely; Burge, though, had contrived 38. Perhaps that fact persuaded Ted Dexter to take the new ball and give it to Fred Trueman and Jack Flavell. Whatever the reason, the move proved fatal to England's chances. Burge was not a man to be cowed by short-pitched pace.

It was quite ironic that Trueman eventually had Peter Burge caught pulling at another short ball – taken by the substitute, Alan Rees, at midwicket. By then he had made 160 – by far the highest score of the match. It was to prove decisive.

John Arlott, best known for his lyrical commentary on the BBC's Test Match Special, was a founder member of Wisden Cricket Monthly's Editorial Board. He died, aged 77, in 1991. This is an edited excerpt from an article that first appeared in the January 1989 edition of WCM.

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