that season St. George Dragons qualified for the grand final against the Balmain Tigers. Lindwall's goalkicking abilities were not on display that day, as Balmain won the game 13–12, scoring three tries to St George's four, with Lindwall missing every kick at goal. He retired from competitive rugby on the advice of O`Reilly to concentrate on cricket. Lindwall played 31 first-grade rugby league games for St George, scoring seven tries (then worth three points) and kicking 123 goals for a total of 267 career points. The narrow losses in the 1942 and 1946 grand finals prevented him from emulating Herbie Collins' unique feat of following a New South Wales Rugby League premiership victory with captaining the Australian cricket team. Lindwall's brother Jack was, at the time of his retirement, the club's leading try-scorer with 110. Test career Having retired from rugby league, Lindwall was selected to make his Ashes and home soil debut in the First Test against England in Brisbane. It was his first Test under the captaincy of Don Bradman, universally regarded as the best batsman in history. Bradman had just returned from a break. Lindwall was a fan of Bradman's leadership, recalling that "he put me at ease straight away" and that "his presence was inspiring for all the team". Lindwall waited for over two days to see action, coming to bat after Australia had reached 7/599. He scored his first runs with 31 as Australia reached 645. He bowled only briefly in the first innings, with 0/23 before being forced from the field with chickenpox, which prevented him from bowling in the second innings as Australia secured a heavy innings victory. The illness prevented Lindwall from playing in the Second Test in Sydney in what would have been his first Test in his home town. Lindwall returned for the Third Test at Melbourne which saw 343,675 spectators – second only to the 350,534 at the Third Test on the same ground in 1936–37 – with record receipts of £44,063. Lindwall was dismissed for only nine in Australia's first innings, bowled by Alec Bedser. He set up a successful fast bowling partnership with Keith Miller, known for giving the English batsmen an "opening blitz", especially Len Hutton. One English pressman wrote that this was Bodyline, to the anger of Vic Richardson, Alan Kippax and Clarrie Grimmett who had seen the real thing. Lindwall took his first Ashes