Montague Alfred Noble (28 January 1873 – 22 June 1940) was an Australian cricketer who played for New South Wales and Australia. A right-hand batsman, right-handed bowler who could deliver both medium pace and off-break bowling, capable fieldsman and tactically sound captain, Noble is considered one of the great Australian all-rounders. He scored 13,975 first class runs between 1893 and 1920 and took 624 wickets. He made 37 centuries – including a best of 284 in 1902 – and set several partnership and individual high-score records for his State team. In June 2021, he was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame as one of the special inductees to mark the inaugural edition of the ICC World Test Championship final.
Career
Noble was born in Sydney on 28 January 1873. He was the youngest of eight sons of Joseph and Maria Noble, who emigrated from Egham, Surrey, England. He "made a name" for himself in grade cricket with the Paddington club and first played for New South Wales (NSW) as a teenager. He ended the series with the best bowling averages for both teams. and took 13 wickets at 31.23. At Manchester he scored 60 and 89, withstanding English bowling for eight and a half hours.
Noble returned to State cricket, where in 1908 a testimonial match at the Sydney Cricket Ground had earned him £2,000. He continued at New South Wales until 1920, however with seasonal returns of 23, 54, 201, 80 and 13 runs and wicket totals that surpassed two per season only twice in the years either side of World War I, Noble was past his prime. He retired in 1920 and moved into banking, and then dentistry. He wrote and published several works on cricket: Gilligan's Men (1925), The Game's the Thing (1926), Those Ashes (1927), and The Fight for the Ashes (1929) and also became a noted commentator and broadcaster. He continued his association with Paddington Cricket Club, and worked for a time coaching junior cricket teams. He died in Sydney on 22 June 1940, survived by his brother who died a year later. He was also a church bell ringer, and reportedly visited many towers in England while on cricket tours.
center|thumb|300px|Graph of Noble's Test batting performance.