Sidney George Barnes (5 June 1916 – 16 December 1973) was an Australian cricketer and cricket writer, who played 13 Test matches between 1938 and 1948. Able to open the innings or bat down the order, Barnes was regarded as one of Australia's finest batsmen in the period immediately following World War II. He helped create an enduring record when scoring 234 in the second Test against England at Sydney in December 1946; exactly the same score as his captain, Don Bradman, in the process setting a world-record 405-run fifth wicket partnership. Barnes averaged 63.05 over 19 innings in a career that, like those of most of his contemporaries, was interrupted by World War II.
He made his first-class debut at the end of the 1936–37 season when selected for New South Wales, and he was later included in the team for the 1938 Australian tour of England, making his Test debut in the final international of the series. On the resumption of Test cricket after the war, he was picked as the opening partner to Arthur Morris. Barnes was a member of The Invincibles, the 1948 Australian team that toured England without losing a single match. Retiring from cricket at the end of that tour, Barnes attempted a comeback to Test cricket in the 1951–52 season that was ultimately and controversially unsuccessful.
Barnes had a reputation as an eccentric and was frequently the subject of controversy. This included a celebrated libel case, following his exclusion from the national team in 1951–52 for "reasons other than cricket ability". He was later involved in an incident where, acting as twelfth man, he performed his duties on the ground in a suit and tie (rather than 'whites'), carrying a bizarre range of superfluous items. Despite this reputation, Barnes was a shrewd businessman who used the opportunities afforded by cricket to supplement his income through trading, journalism and property development. Increasing paranoia brought about by bipolar disorder saw Barnes lose many of the friends he had made through the game as he sought treatment for his depression. On 16 December 1973, he was found dead at his home in the Sydney suburb of Collaroy; he had ingested barbiturates and bromide in a probable suicide.
Early years
Barnes was born in 1916 in Annandale, an inner suburb of Sydney. However, in his autobiography, he claims to have been born in 1918 or 1919 in Queensland, and his military service record has his date of birth as 5 June 1917. He was the third child of Alfred Percival Barnes and Hilda May Barnes (née Jeffery), both from farming families near Tamworth in northern New South Wales. After marrying, the couple left Tamworth to take up a lease on a remote sheep station near Hughenden in North Queensland. Before Sid was born, Alfred died from typhoid fever, caused by drinking contaminated water on the family property. After his death, Hilda, widowed and pregnant with her latest child, moved to Sydney with her children and stayed with her sister, where Sid was born. From her husband's estate, Hilda Barnes mother was able to purchase and renovate real estate in Stanmore and Leichhardt, New South Wales, to let or sell. Later in life, Barnes would recount how, as a child, he used to collect the rents for his mother.
Childhood and club cricket
Barnes attended Stanmore Public School and, although not a scholar, was a keen participant in sporting activities. His introduction to cricket came via his older brother, Horrie; Horrie was a useful batsman who played in the local Western Suburbs Churches league and paid Sid sixpence to bowl to him after he finished work. Taking an interest in the game, Sid had trials for the school team and was eventually selected in the first XI. An early controversy saw Barnes suspended for three weeks for disputing an umpire's decision. Successes for both his school team and his local club team, St. Augustine, saw him acquire the nickname The Governor-General—the nickname of Australian Test player, Charlie Macartney, and he was selected for New South Wales Schoolboys to play teams from Victoria and Queensland.
In 1932–33, Barnes joined the Petersham club, and began playing in the third XI. Former Test batsman Tommy Andrews became his mentor at the club and in 1933–34, Barnes made his first-grade cricket debut as a batsman/wicket-keeper against Paddington, facing the bowling of Hunter Hendry and Alan McGilvray. He was soon successful, scoring a century against Manly in February. Even as a young and inexperienced cricketer, he showed a "brash confidence in his own ability." When praised for his batting by the great Test bowler Bill O'Reilly, Barnes responded "Thanks very much, you didn't bowl too badly yourself", leaving O'Reilly speechless.