Ben Barnett
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| Batting style | Left-hand bat | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Source: Cricinfo | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Benjamin Arthur Barnett (23 March 1908, Auburn, Victoria – 29 June 1979, Newcastle, New South Wales) was an Australian cricketer who played in four Tests in 1938.
Barnett was educated at Scotch College in Melbourne. One of six siblings, he played cricket for Hawthorn/East Melbourne and Victoria during the 1920s and 1930s. He toured England as reserve wicket-keeper for the 1934 Australian Test team and his subsequent selection as wicket-keeper for the 1938 team attracted some controversy, other contenders being the aging Bert Oldfield and the contemporary Don Tallon.
Barnett's cricket career was interrupted by World War II, during which he volunteered for the army and served with 8th Divisional Signals in Singapore. When Singapore fell to the Japanese in 1942, Barnett was incarcerated first in Changi Gaol and subsequently in Thailand on the railway. Acting as adjutant for 8th Div Sigs, Barnett maintained records which are now held in the Australian War Memorial (Canberra) and also the Signal's Museum in Wantirna, Melbourne.
After the war, Barnett settled in England with his wife Mollie and sons Ian and Ross. Working at the time for the Australian firm Aspro-Nicholas, he played minor-counties cricket for Buckinghamshire. He represented Australia in the UK for both cricket and tennis and was voted President of the International Lawn Tennis Federation in 1964, a position he held for a number of years. He retired in 1974, at which time he returned to Australia.