Ken Mackay

Better known as “Slasher”, Kenneth Donald Mackay was a former Australian test cricketer who hailed from Queensland. He has played a total of 37 tests for his country from 1956 till 1963. Mackay was a left-handed batsman and a right armed medium fast bowler. Prior to playing for Australia, Mackay played first-class cricket with Queensland.

He made his debut at cricket in 1946-47 when Queensland picked him up for the team. He ended up playing 201 matches for his team with a batting average of 43.64. He scored 10,823 runs off the 201 matches. His bowling average for the same remains at 33.31 with best bowling figures at 6 wickets for 42 runs. Mackay scored 5 wickets for an innings on 7 occasions.

He was picked up in 1956 for the Australian team to tour England and in his very first test at Lord’s, he stood guarding the wickets for 4 hours in each innings. His unmatched concentration wore down the English bowlers and Mackay earned the reputation of a matured test player. Mackay grew with the team as an all-rounder and often proved worthy to pull out his team of a tense situation.

Mackay played for 37 test matches scoring 1,507 runs from them with an average of 33.48. His bowling averages remains at 34.42 having taken 5 wickets for an innings on 2 occasions. Mackay has scored 13 half centuries on test matches most of which came off critical situations. Soon enough, Mackay grew as a local favorite amongst his fans back home and also within the cricket fraternity. He was nicknamed “Slasher” for his batting style in reference to his backs-to-the-wall hits.

When Mackay passed away in 1982, Jack Pollard grieved over the loss and said, “while cricket is played in Australia, he will be fondly remembered.”

Career Highlights

Mackay was awarded an MBE (Order of the British Empire) in 1962.

An Oval and a street were named in his honor in Australia.