reserved personality, did not drink and often eschewed social activities with teammates, preferring to privately listen to music or read. Combined with his success, he gained a reputation for cockiness. In the 1930s, Australia had been divided along sectarian lines, with those of Irish descent such as Fingleton being Catholic and Anglo-Australians such as Bradman being predominantly Protestant, leading to speculation that the tension was fuelled by religion. During the 1936–37 Ashes series in Australia, four Catholics—leading bowler Bill O'Reilly, leading batsman and vice-captain Stan McCabe, Leo O'Brien and Chuck Fleetwood-Smith—were summoned by the Board of Control to respond to allegations that they were undermining Bradman. Fingleton was not invited, speculated to be due to his journalistic background, but Bradman later alleged that he was the ringleader. After that, Bradman's relationship with O'Reilly and Fingleton never recovered. When Bradman was dismissed in his final Test innings in 1948 for a duck, Fingleton and O'Reilly were reported to have laughed hysterically in the pressbox, causing E. W. Swanton to comment, "I thought they were going to have a stroke." Bradman later wrote after both had died: "With these fellows out of the way, the loyalty of my 1948 side was a big joy and made a big contribution to the outstanding success of that tour". Test statistics Notes References 1908 births 1981 deaths Australian Army officers Australia Test cricketers Australian Army personnel of World War II Australian Roman Catholics Australian people of Irish descent Burials at Waverley Cemetery Australian cricket commentators Cricket historians and writers New South Wales cricketers Australian Officers of the Order of the British Empire Australian cricketers Australian sports journalists Cricketers from Sydney 20th-century Australian journalists D. G. Bradman's XI cricketers