Ray Jordon facts for kids
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| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name |
Raymond Clarence Jordon
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| Born | 17 February 1937 Melbourne, Victoria, Australia |
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| Died | 13 August 2012 (aged 75) Melbourne, Australia |
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| Batting | Right-handed | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Role | Wicket-keeper | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Domestic team information | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 1959/60–1970/71 | Victoria | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Career statistics | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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Source: Cricinfo, 22 April 2023
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Raymond Clarence "Slug" Jordon (born February 17, 1937 – died August 13, 2012) was an Australian athlete. He was a talented first-class cricketer who played for Victoria in the Sheffield Shield. He also traveled with the Australian national cricket team. Beyond cricket, he was a very successful coach in Australian rules football. He coached younger teams and reserve teams for several clubs in the Victorian Football League (VFL).
Everyone knew him by his nickname, "Slug." He got this name during his time in National Service (military training) at a place called Puckapunyal.
Contents
Who Was Ray Jordon's Family?
Ray Jordon's father was Clarence Charles Lewis "Clarrie" Jordon (1909-1965). Clarrie was also a football player. He played VFL football for Richmond and VFA football for Prahran.
Ray Jordon's Cricket Career
Ray Jordon was a Wicket-keeper. This means he caught balls behind the batter. He was very good at it! In the Sheffield Shield, he made 230 "dismissals." This is when a batter is out. For all first-class matches, he had 283 dismissals.
His record for dismissals in Victoria stood for a long time. Later, Richie Robinson and then Darren Berry broke his record. In the 1970-71 season, he had his best game. He made ten dismissals in one match against South Australia. This game was played at the famous Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Ray Jordon's Batting Skills
Even though he was a wicket-keeper, Ray Jordon could also bat well. His only "first-class hundred" (scoring 100 runs in one game) was 134 runs. He scored this against South Australia in the 1963-64 Sheffield Shield.
In that game, the South Australian team had a famous bowler named Gary Sobers. Sobers was taking many wickets. But Jordon kept batting and scored his century. He was eventually out when Neil Hawke bowled him.
Leading the Team
Ray Jordon also got to be the captain for Victoria in five Sheffield Shield matches. Three of these games were during the 1968-69 season.
Almost a Test Cricketer
Jordon nearly played for the Australian Test team. Test cricket is the highest level of the sport. He traveled with the team to India and South Africa in 1969-70. He was a backup player for Brian Taber.
Even though he played in some warm-up matches, he never played in a Test match.
A Story About a Game
In a book by Ashley Mallett about Ian Chappell, there's a story about Jordon. The captain, Bill Lawry, thought about picking Jordon for a Test match. This was because Jordon was a better batter than Taber.
However, Ian Chappell said he wouldn't play if Jordon was picked. Chappell believed Jordon had cheated in a game in India. In that game, a player named E. A. S. Prasanna was batting. Jordon was standing close to the stumps. It looked like the ball missed the stumps, but the stumps fell over. Jordon appealed, and Prasanna was out. But Chappell thought the ball hit Jordon's pads first, not the stumps. He believed Jordon knew this.
Where Ray Jordon Played Cricket
Ray Jordon played for a few different local cricket clubs. He played one season for Richmond. He spent ten seasons with the Carlton team. He also played five seasons for Fitzroy.
In the early 1970s, he was also the captain and coach for the Dandenong Cricket Club.
Ray Jordon's Football Career
Before focusing on cricket, Ray Jordon was also an Australian rules football player. He played 96 games for the Coburg Football Club in the Victorian Football Association. He was even captain of the team for a while.
He was a very good player. Many clubs in the Victorian Football League wanted him to join their teams. But in 1962, he decided to stop playing football to focus only on cricket.
Coaching Football
Later, Jordon became a very successful football coach for younger teams. He coached under-19 and reserve teams. He worked at clubs like North Melbourne, Melbourne, Essendon, and Richmond. He also coached the TAC Cup team, Central/Prahran Dragons.
Jordon was known for his strong language and direct way of speaking. He had great success, especially with the under-19 teams at Melbourne and Richmond. People say he won thirteen championships out of sixteen grand final appearances as a minor grade coach.
In 1976, when he was coaching the reserve team at North Melbourne, he even coached the main senior team for one game. This happened because the regular coach, Ron Barassi, was not available.
Ray Jordon in Books
A character named Jay "Grub" Gordon appears in the Specky Magee series of books. This character is a funny version of Ray Jordon. These books were written by former Melbourne player Garry Lyon and author Felice Arena.
