Editing Brian Close (section)

===Tour to Australia in 1950===
[[File:1950-51MCC.jpg|thumb|right|Brian Close ''(pictured middle row, third from the right)'' with the England team which toured Australia in {{nobr|1950–51}}]]
Close began his National Service on 6 October 1949, in the [[Royal Corps of Signals]] at [[Catterick Garrison|Catterick Army Training Depot]].{{sfn|Close|Mosey|1979|p=12}} Another football injury, picked up during training, meant that he spent his first month of military service excused from duties. Once he was fit again, he was given weekend passes from the army to play football for Leeds.{{sfn|Close|Mosey|1979|p=15}} During one of these games he was badly injured again: playing against [[Newcastle United F. C.|Newcastle United]] he hurt his thigh in a collision with [[Ted Robledo]]. Showing the stubbornness that he later became famous for, Close played the rest of the game,{{sfn|Hill|2003|pp=23–24}} but by the time he reported back for duty the next day, it was badly swollen and painful. He was excused from duties again, but not offered any treatment by the army. After around six weeks, he travelled home on leave and got some heat treatment from the Leeds United physiotherapist, but there was little progress until just before Christmas, when another examination by the army revealed [[ossification]] of the thigh.{{sfn|Close|Mosey|1979|p=16}} Two months of treatment and bed rest followed, which Close thinks saved his career, he said that otherwise: "the injury would have finished me. I would never had bent my leg again."{{sfn|Hill|2003|p=24}}

Close returned to fitness in time for the [[1950 English cricket season]],{{sfn|Hill|2003|p=24}} though little of it was first-class: he appeared for Yorkshire once, and made three first-class appearances for the [[Combined Services cricket team]].<ref name="fcmatches">{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Yorkshire/Players/0/858/First-Class_Matches.html |title=First-class matches played by Brian Close (786) |website=CricketArchive |access-date=5 April 2020 |via=Yorkshire CCC}}</ref> He was playing plenty of other cricket; he played in inter-services matches during the week, and obtained weekend passes to play league cricket for Leeds on Saturdays and charity matches on Sundays. Between playing football and cricket, he had little time for anything else, so much so according to Close, he was never given a job in the army, as he would have no time in which to do it.{{sfn|Hill|2003|pp=24–25}} His performances attracted the attention of the England cricket captain, Brown, who wanted Close to be included in the English party to tour [[Australia national cricket team|Australia]] for the [[1950–51 Ashes series]]. Brown consulted Close's county coach, former England bowler [[Bill Bowes]], who pleaded with Brown not to select Close, arguing that such early promotion would damage him as a player.{{sfn|Hill|2003|p=1}} Brown ignored Bowes and selected Close.

Close's call-up to the Australian touring party attracted considerable press interest, and a press conference was called at Catterick to give the press a chance to question him. However, his moment of glory also gave rise to controversy, when one pressman found out that Close was "confined to barracks" for disciplinary reasons at the time his call-up was announced: he had absented himself from an army cricket match.{{sfn|Hill|2003|p=28}} The pressman promised to stay silent, but a week later a clerk on the camp newspaper telephoned the ''Daily Express'' with the news. However, Close still toured; his National Service was suspended so that he could do so,<ref name="CA Profile">{{cite web |url-access=subscription  |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Articles/0/344.html|title=A profile of Brian Close|last=Ward|first=John|publisher=Cricket Archive|year=2003|access-date=21 August 2009}}</ref> as touring sportsmen were considered to be ambassadors for the United Kingdom.<ref name="coty"/>

Close was the youngest player on the tour, and had little in common with the rest of the party; by the end, he was not even on talking terms with most of them.{{Citation needed|date=May 2008}} After a reasonable start, making a century on his First Class debut in Australia, Close faltered, and then became injured, with a badly pulled groin muscle. He was selected to play in the second Test, which England lost by 28&nbsp;runs. After Australia were dismissed for 194, England had collapsed to 54 for 4 when Close came in to bat, with only eight deliveries to go before the lunch interval on the second day. Misjudging the bounce on the [[Melbourne]] [[wicket#One end of the pitch|wicket]], which was somewhat different from the bounce of English wickets, he swept a ball from [[Jack Iverson]] only to get a top edge to [[Sam Loxton]], fielding behind square leg. [[E. W. Swanton]] called it the worst shot he had seen played by a first-class batsman.<ref>Swanton, E.W. (1975) ''Swanton in Australia with MCC 1946–1975''. Fontana/Collins. p. 80. {{ISBN|0002162369}}.</ref> The dressing room was silent when he returned. Brown, when advised that Close was a bit down and needed consolation, replied "Let the blighter stew. He deserves it."{{sfn|Hill|2003|p=38}}

Later in [[Tasmania]], Close was ordered to play despite doctor's advice to rest, and as he tried to nurse his injury he acquired a reputation for malingering and insubordination. He was made to play in six of the next seven games. When England won a Test match in Australia for the first time in 13&nbsp;years in the final Test, Close was not present. Nowadays, someone in Close's position would be carefully man-managed, and looked after by captain and team manager. But times were different then, and the Yorkshire stalwarts were proved right: he had been picked too early, and would never be a regular Test player.<ref name="Hill">{{cite web|last=Hill|first=Alan|title=Life of Brian|url=http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/417532.html |website=ESPNcricinfo|access-date=17 February 2011|date=4 August 2009}}</ref>