Batting style Right-hand bat Role Cricket Player Name Ken Archer | National side Australian Bowling style Right-arm offbreak | |
Kenneth "Ken" Alan Archer AM (born 17 January 1928) is an Australian cricketer. He was educated at the Anglican Church Grammar School. An opening batsman, he played domestic first-class cricket for Queensland for 10 years, from 1946-7 to 1956-7. He played in five Tests for the Australian cricket team in 1950 and 1951. His younger brother Ron Archer played 19 Tests for Australia between 1953 and 1956.
Archer toured to South Africa in 1949-50, but was not selected for the Test team ( became the first cricketer to be 12th man in all 5 tests of a series). He made his Test debut in the second test (after a 6th consecutive 12th man pick) of the 1950–51 Ashes series against England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Despite moderate scores in that match, and the third test at the Sydney Cricket Ground and the fourth test at the Adelaide Oval, he was then dropped from the team. He returned for the first two tests against West Indies in 1951-2, but failed to make an impression and did not play Test cricket again.
Archer was an outstanding fielder, and was offered a contract to play professional baseball in the U.S. He played in the Lancashire League in 1954, for Accrington.
He became a media executive after his retirement from cricket.
On 26 January 1980, Archer was named a Member of the Order of Australia in recognition of services to the media. On 14 July 2000, Archer was awarded the Australian Sports Medal for his cricketing achievements.
Following the death of Len Maddocks in September 2016, Archer became Australia's oldest living Test cricketer.