Julien Wiener

Julien Mark Wiener (born 1 May 1955 in Melbourne, Victoria) is a former Australian cricketer who played in six Tests and seven one-day internationals from 1979 to 1980. A right-handed opening batsman and a very occasional off spin bowler, he is the only known Jewish Australian to represent his country at cricket. A tall man, he was known for batting bare-headed showing his blonde hair.^[1]

Biography

Wiener's mother and father, Bella and Sasha, were Polish and Austrian Jews respectively, and both escaped the concentration camps of Nazi Germany during the Holocaust. The surname Wiener came from Vienna, the home of Sasha. His parents married in 1947 in Paris, before coming to Australia as refugees on the famous Dunera ship in 1947. Wiener's father ran a successful textile business, which allowed him to send Wiener to the private Brighton Grammar School. Wiener's father had early sporting success in table tennis, which Wiener applied to his cricket, playing for Prahran in Melbourne grade cricket. He subsequently completed his university education at Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in business management, before moving to England to pursue his cricket career.^[1][2]

He made a century on his first class debut for Victoria against Queensland in 1977–78, scoring 106. Two strong seasons, including three further centuries, saw Wiener selected to make is ODI debut as an opening batsman in December 1979 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground against England and the West Indies. He struggled, scoring 7 and 27 respectively. Despite this he was selected to make his Test cricket debut against England at the WACA a few days later. He made 11 in the first innings before being run-out while batting with captain Greg Chappell, before scoring 58 in the second innings as Australia won the match.^[3] He played in four tests that summer (two each against England and the West Indies) before being omitted for the rest of the series.^[4] Wiener played in five further ODIs in the Australian season, with his best performances being a 33 and 50 against the West Indies in Sydney in the final two group matches. Averaging only twenty, he was dropped from the ODI team for the finals and ended his ODI career with a slow strike rate of only 42.^[5]

He was named to tour Pakistan in early 1980, and was recalled to the Test XI for the second Test in Faisalabad. He made his highest score of 93 in the Third Test in Lahore, and was not selected again in the national team following his return to Australia. He had scored 281 runs at an average of 25.5 in his career.^[1][4]

He, along with Jeff Moss had a partnership of 390 at the Junction Oval against Western Australia in 1981–82. This still stands as a record for the third wicket for Australians in first-class cricket. Wiener scored an unbeaten 221 in that innings, one of three centuries he produced in the season. Wiener played at the first-class level until retiring at the 1984/85 season, having scored seven centuries in 66 matches. He had also claimed 17 wickets with his off spin, although none of these came at national level.^[1][2]

Wiener is currently the National Sales Manager of [Homyped].^[2]

See also

• List of select Jewish cricketers
• List of Victoria first-class cricketers

References

Victoria squad – 1978-79 Sheffield Shield Competition
1 Ian Callen 2 P Cox 3 J R Douglas 4 Paul Hibbert 5 B Green 6 Jim Higgs 7 Alan Hurst 8 Trevor Laughlin 9 J F Leehane 10 Brendan McArdle 11 I Maddocks 12 R G Matthews 13 Paul Melville 14 Jeff Moss 15 J Ross 16 Mick Taylor 17 Dav Whatmore 18 Julien Wiener 19 Graham Yallop (c)

Victoria squad – 1979-80 Sheffield Shield Competition
1 Ray Bright 2 DJ Broad 3 Ian Callen 4 P J Cox 5 Shaun Graf 6 Paul Hibbert 7 Jim Higgs 8 Trevor Laughlin 9 J F Leehane 10 R G Matthews 11 Jeff Moss 12 Richie Robinson 13 GT Ross 14 W J Scholes 15 Mick Taylor 16 Max Walker 17 GM Watts 18 Dav Whatmore 19 Julien Wiener 20 Graham Yallop