Laurie Mayne


Lawrence Charles Mayne is a former Australian cricketer who played in six Test matches.
A strongly built right-arm fast bowler, Laurie Mayne played his first match for Western Australia in 1961–62, taking seven for 75 in the second innings against New South Wales in Perth. He established himself in the state team in 1964–65, taking 22 wickets, and was selected for the Australian team to tour the West Indies at the end of the season. He made his Test debut in the First Test at Kingston, taking four wickets in each innings, but was unsuccessful in the next two Tests and lost his place.
His next full season for Western Australia was 1968–69, when he took 41 wickets and was again selected for the subsequent tour, this time to Ceylon, India and South Africa in 1969–70. He played in the Fifth Test in India and the Third and Fourth Tests in South Africa. In the last match of the South African tour he took five for 26 in Orange Free State's second innings, including a wicket with the last ball to take the Australians to victory in what was his final first-class match, at the age of 28.
A limited batsman, he usually batted at number 10 or 11, but for the Australians against East Zone in Gauhati in 1969–70 he made 72 batting at number nine, adding 113 for the ninth wicket with John Gleeson in a match that the Australians won by 96 runs. The next-highest score in the match was only 37. It was Mayne's highest first-class score.
He played two seasons as a professional for Burnley in the Lancashire League in 1968 and 1969, taking 184 wickets.
He later coached fast bowlers, advising them to visualise their run-ups in order to shorten them and avoid no-balls and injuries.