Legendary SA cricketer Les Favell’s legacy extends far beyond the pitch
Former captain of South Australia’s top cricket squad Les Favell may have been described by Sir Donald Bradman as one of the game’s greatest sportsmen, but it’s his legacy of training the next generation that lives on to this day.
South Australian cricketer Les Favell was last week inducted into the South Australian Sport Hall of Fame, cementing his status as a legend of the sport.
The former captain who led the South Australian squad 95 times is the state’s fourth-highest all-time run-scorer. He also played for Australia in 19 Test matches between 1954 and 1961.
In total, he played 258 innings for his adopted state (he moved from New South Wales in 1951 to play for East Torrens Cricket Club), and made 9565 runs including 23 centuries. His first-class career aggregate of 12,379 runs is the highest by an Australian who did not tour England.
So respected was Favell that even the greatest of all time, Sir Donald Bradman, said he “set an example in sportsmanship that has never been bettered by anyone who had played the game”.
John Causby and Les Favell
Bradman wrote the foreword for Favell’s autobiography By Hook or by Cut in which the cricketer – considered a great friend of Favell – shone some light on his personality.
“Let me say at once that Les could certainly cut and hook,” he wrote, acknowledging the batsman’s tendencies for sweeping, powerful cracks.
“But without a wide range of shots, a sound defence and a good temperament, no batsman could have approached the wonderful record he achieved both for Australia and South Australia.”
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In fact, Favell was arguably a cricketer years before his time and might have been more at home in the modern-day T20 format with his aggressive style.
“Over the last twenty or thirty years the game of cricket has been confronted with a great challenge from the modern society and way of life. People demand more entertainment,” Bradman wrote in 1970.
“The tempo of life is quicker. As I write, one day games which would have been unthinkable 40 years ago, are popular. This is because the people want more “instant” excitement.
“To his everlasting credit Les Favell played in every match, a one day or a five day game, with the same aggressive and attractive approach. He never scorned a challenge, rather did he welcome it. The most frequent criticism heard of Les during his career was that his batting was too risky. What a pity all players didn’t have the same result.”
Bradman – a fellow Sydney-sider originally – said his friend was instrumental in developing pride in the South Australian team.
“I can remember only too well the feeling in cricket circles when I first migrated. Victoria and New South Wales were regarded with some awe; their players endowed with some special skills and this feeling of inferiority was a real psychological handicap to South Australian players,” Bradman wrote.
“Thanks to men like Les Favell, this attitude has been dissipated and today South Australians face the men of the major states with confidence.”
Favell, who was also a talented baseball player having represented Australia in the early 1950s, was awarded an MBE in 1970 after retiring from cricket.
He was a coach of junior cricketers and footballers and also a cricket commentator for the ABC post-professional cricket, and was a life member of the South Australian Cricket Association (SACA).
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Favell passed away in 1987 at the age of 57, having been ill with kidney cancer for several months prior.
A year after he died, SACA president Phil Ridings created the Les Favell Foundation, which allows young cricketers in SA to achieve their dreams of playing at the highest level.
The Foundation supports young cricketers with scholarships to give them access to top-tier training facilities and other coaching opportunities.
Favell’s son Alan – who followed in his father’s footsteps and played for South Australia too – told InDaily that the Foundation had supported 170 young players financially over the last 36 years.
Of those, five have gone on to play for Australia – including Shaun Tait who played test cricket for his country.
“Half of the cohort have played A-Grade Premier cricket here in Adelaide,” said Alan.
“We’re proud of that, and that’s been a big thing that’s ongoing.
“But we’ve got to get bigger – we need to support more families, more kids.”
The Foundation builds on the work Favell did post-retirement, which was coaching young cricket players in the summer and football players in the winter – something he did for about 20 years.
“If I had five dollars for every person that came up to me in public and said they were coached by dad at a coaching school…,” Favell said.
“We’re talking 60, 70, 80-year-old men.”
The indoor cricket centre at the Adelaide Oval is also named after Favell and fellow first-class cricketer Neil Dansie, further entrenching the late player into South Australian cricket history.
Alan said his family was “very proud of what dad’s achieved”.
“It’s nice for this to come up now, particularly in South Australia. He thoroughly deserves it.”
Les Favell joined five other inductees as the newest members of the South Australian Sport Hall of Fame.
