EARLIER AUSTRALIAN CRICKET
By the EARL OF DARNLEY
The rivalry between English and Australian cricketers, which has been
productive in recent times of so many splendid matches, can now look
back to its starting-point through quite a respectably large number of
years.
In the year 1861 H. H. Stephenson captained the first English team
of cricketers which visited Australia, and it was seventeen years
later before the seeds then sown had sufficiently matured to allow
the Australians to feel full confidence in their powers to return the
compliment, and to try conclusions with English players on their own
grounds.
Between these dates, 1861 and 1878, three other English elevens
visited Australia—G. Parr’s in 1863, W. G. Grace’s in 1873, and J.
Lillywhite’s in 1876. Of these four elevens, three were almost wholly
made up of professional players, and the fourth, that captained by
“W. G.,” included five amateurs. Amongst their numbers, however, they
included most of the great players of the day, and the first and
second elevens in point of date each left behind in Australia one of
its members, whose coaching was invaluable to the rising generation of
Colonial players: these two instructors were C. Lawrence, who remained
from the first English eleven, and W. Caffyn, about the best all-round
man of his time, from the second. Many times has the writer heard
striking testimony offered in Australia to the invaluable help given by
these two cricketers in those early days, and certainly they might well
have felt proud of the aptitude of such of their pupils as have come to
us from 1878 onwards.
The matches in these first four English visits have no very special
points of interest, as they were almost invariably played against
considerable odds. It was, however, plain to all that the standard
of cricket in Australia was greatly improving year by year, and no
one was surprised when it was announced in 1878 that our friends felt
themselves strong enough to send their first eleven to England, to try
their fortunes on level terms. So many Australian elevens have come
and gone since then, that it is difficult now to imagine the intense
interest and excitement which was felt in English cricket circles at
this epoch-making event. The arrival of an eleven which might hold its
own against our best men was up to this time so wildly improbable an
eventuality, that the majority of the English cricketing public could
hardly be brought to believe in its possibility.
A very short time sufficed to show that there was no mistake about
the capacity of our visitors for holding their own with our best men
on even terms. After a moderate start at Nottingham, where the county
won by one innings and a few runs, came perhaps the most startlingly
dramatic match ever played by an Australian eleven in England, against
a strong selection of the Marylebone Club, including such well-known
performers as W. G. Grace, Hornby, Ridley, A. J. Webbe, A. Shaw, and
Morley. To dispose of such a side for 33 and 19, and win the match by
nine wickets in one day, was a feat that even the warmest admirers of
the Australians had hardly imagined, and from that memorable day may be
said to have begun that intensely keen and interesting rivalry that has
lasted right up to the present day.
It may be worth while to attempt some slight personal sketch of this
remarkable 1878 Australian eleven, which included several players who
were to be the backbone of future elevens, and which achieved its
successes in some measure by methods to which we in England were as yet
strangers.
On looking through their batting list, there are names which suggest
plentiful run-getting capabilities. As a matter of fact, however, at
that time the batting was, with one exception, C. Bannerman, of the
most rugged and unfinished description. The above-named exception,
Bannerman, might well have been given a high place among contemporary
batsmen as a fierce-hitting, powerful player, worthy of any eleven for
batting alone, but Blackham, Midwinter, Horan, Murdoch, A. Bannerman,
and Garrett had none of them yet acquired the powers which in after
years were to be theirs in such abundant measure, and the batting of
the whole side, after C. Bannerman, was distinctly of the rough, useful
order. In this connection it may be noticed, however, that although
finish was to be looked for in vain, even at this early stage was
evident that fearless and dogged resistance to adverse circumstances
which has since then successfully extricated many an Australian side
from a tight place, and has always given their adversaries that
uncomfortable feeling of never being quite certain that they have
really got them safely beaten. What an invaluable asset is a reputation
of this sort, and how well and consistently have our Australian friends
sustained this hardly-earned character!
Emphatically this was a bowling and fielding eleven. In nineteen
eleven-a-side matches, only twice was the 250 exceeded by their
opponents, a convincing record that speaks for itself. Of the four
bowlers, one great name stands out supreme, and who is there that
remembers that year and the ten or twelve that succeeded it, but
must confess that his whole ideas of bowling were revolutionised
by what he saw of Spofforth in the prime of his powers? With
physical qualifications admirably adapted to fast bowling, very
tall, long-limbed, active, wiry, and impossible to tire, Spofforth
had scientifically studied the art of bowling to a most unusual
degree. The hard, true wickets in Australia had even then begun to
exercise a decisive influence on the characteristics of bowling in
that country, and unless a bowler could develop quite exceptional
powers of deception, spin, and break, he was soon reduced to absolute
helplessness. This difference in climate may be said to be the one
element which makes a distinction between cricket as played in the
Colonies and cricket as played in England, and, while its influence
has been decisive in keeping up the standard of Australian bowling to
a very high pitch of excellence, it has been at the same time hardly
less favourable to the formation of a free and good style of batting, a
style far more difficult to acquire when the ground is unreliable and
the climate variable.
At that time Spofforth’s methods varied considerably from those which
he afterwards employed. He was then as a rule a fast, sometimes
terrifically fast, bowler, with occasional slow ones, the change of
pace being most admirably masked in the delivery. In after years his
average pace was rather over medium, with an unusually big break back
for that pace, while the very fast or very slow ones were the exception
and not the rule. In addition to these types of ball, no man ever
bowled a more dangerous fast yorker than Spofforth, and his armoury
may well be said to have contained as damaging a collection of weapons
as ever taxed the powers of an opposing batsman. Boyle, Allan, and
Garrett made up the bowling strength. Of these Allan, partly probably
through being the possessor of a constitution which suffered greatly
from the severities of our summer climate, never came out in his true
form; his bowling had a fine natural break, and swerved considerably
in the air, and, although not on the whole very successful, he
occasionally showed quite enough of his powers to warrant the great
reputation enjoyed by him in the Colonies. Both Boyle and Garrett
were extremely useful bowlers of the good-length-lasting style, which
carried them through many subsequent years of good performance.
In wicket-keeping again did English cricketers find that there was
something new to be learnt. Both Blackham and Murdoch showed for the
first time how perfectly possible it was to stand up to the fastest
bowling without a long-stop; and Blackham especially gave promise of
powers that were to make him for some years perhaps the most brilliant
wicket-keeper ever seen.
The fielding all round and throwing were unusually good, and climate
again may probably be answerable for the fact that Australian elevens,
taken all through, could almost invariably out-throw any English eleven
man for man.
[Illustration: _THOMAS BOX._]
From this short description it will easily be seen that they were a
team to be seriously reckoned with, whoever their opponents might
be, and when we look to the completed records of their matches, the
result must be held to be decidedly creditable. By comparison with the
programmes of after years, the relative test of their powers can hardly
be said to be so severe. No really representative English eleven was
encountered, although the full strength of both the amateurs and the
professionals was played separately. At the hands of the Gentlemen they
met with one of their heaviest reverses, but the professionals were
narrowly defeated once, while the other game ended in a fairly even
draw.
Nineteen matches played, of which the Australians won ten and lost
four, made up a highly satisfactory total, and, in addition, only three
out of twenty-one matches against odds were lost by them.
It was not a batsman’s year, 1878, but even taking that fact into
consideration, only one innings of over 100 hit against Australian
bowling shows unmistakably wherein lay the chief strength of the
eleven. Mention has already been made of the remarkable wicket-keeping
of Murdoch and Blackham, who for the first time in English cricket
performed their duties without the aid of a long-stop. We think we are
right in saying that Murdoch was at first looked upon as the regular
wicket-keeper of the team, but from that time onward the wonderful
talent of Blackham gained for him the superior position, and his
wicket-keeping for several years was at least the equal of that of any
other competitor that could be brought against him. Standing very close
to the wicket, and of marvellous quickness, he had the happy knack of
invariably showing at his best on great occasions; a batsman too of
a resolute, fearless description, and a very quick runner between
wickets, his play in Australian elevens for many years was no small
factor in their success.
The composition of this eleven is of especial interest, not merely
because it was the first of the series to come to us, but by reason of
its including some prominent names of men who were to be the nucleus
and backbone of those that were to follow. Blackham, Murdoch, A.
Bannerman, Garrett, Boyle, and Spofforth are names that will frequently
recur in following years, and we shall see how, with their help, the
standard of success rose consistently through the tours of 1880 and
1882, and then, after a slight falling-off in 1884, for reasons which
will afterwards be alluded to, fell gradually away until a revival set
in about the time of Stoddart’s first tour in Australia in 1894.
The next event of any prominence to be noticed is the visit of Lord
Harris’s eleven to Australia in the winter of this same year 1878. A
fine batting and fielding eleven, but hardly strong enough in bowling
to be really representative of English cricket at its best. Emmett and
Ulyett were the only two professionals included, and for a side so weak
in bowling, they may be said to have made an excellent appearance. One
match only was played against the returned Australian eleven, who were
successful by ten wickets. Four new names appear amongst those chosen
to represent the various Australian sides, all more or less successful,
Palmer, Macdonnell, Massie, and Evans. The last-named cricketer was
about that time at his best, and many and outspoken have been the
regrets that this fine cricketer could never spare the time to appear
much in English _v._ Australian cricket until he was well past his
prime. In both appearance and performance he was thoroughly typical of
the highest class of colonial cricketer. His tall, unusually active,
well-built figure, bearded, bronzed bushman’s face, presented the most
perfect example of the Australian athlete, while his overhand accurate
bowling and really splendid fielding and steady batting made him a
worthy addition to any eleven.
Against the representatives of the individual colonies the Englishmen
more than held their own, and six matches won to three lost make up a
highly creditable record.
In the summer of 1880 appeared the second Australian eleven, and
amongst their number several additional names to those who were with us
in 1878.
Palmer, whose performance against Lord Harris’s eleven made his
inclusion a certainty, appears for the first time, and he has more than
justified his selection by coming out top of the bowling averages in
eleven-a-side matches, according to number of wickets taken, although
Spofforth, who was unable to play in several matches, has the lesser
average of runs per wicket. No prettier bowler to look at than Palmer
ever bowled a ball; a style of delivery that apparently cost its owner
no effort whatever, and, as usual with great Australian bowlers, a much
greater break than the pace of the ball would lead you to suspect.
Strong and sturdily built, his power of bowling a very fast yorker was
unusually great, and was frequently used early in a batsman’s innings
with deadly effect. With such an easy delivery, it is not easy to see
why Palmer’s successes did not continue for much longer than they
actually did, but we may probably look for the explanation in a too
great fondness which he subsequently developed for the fast leg breaks,
which first destroyed the excellent length for which he was famous,
and finally lowered the standard of his bowling altogether. The great
improvement in his batting powers may possibly also in his case, as in
that of many other bowlers, have had something to do with it. His style
in batting was almost as attractively graceful as that of his bowling,
but lacked something of that tenacity which must be added to style to
bring about the real power over the bowlers characteristic of a great
batsman.
The name of Macdonnell recalls many a dashing, vigorous innings,
perhaps some of the most fascinating displays of hard, but not usually
high, hitting ever seen. This season of 1880 saw him already among
the leading batsmen, with an average in eleven-a-side matches second
only to Murdoch, whose immense improvement as a bat deserves separate
mention. Macdonnell belongs to that small circle of Australian players
who were able by the fierceness of their hitting to practically win
a match by their own unaided efforts when their companions were
comparatively helpless, and this type of batsman, which was one of
the chief features of every Australian eleven up to 1893, seems,
curiously enough, to have almost disappeared. We may not improbably
be able to trace this to the great predominant influence which has
altered the whole character of modern cricket, and, in the judgment
of many, brought about a dull level of too easily performed feats
of run-getting, that only drastic legislation can alter, viz. the
increasing excellence of the artificially prepared wickets. The value
of an exceptional hitter, such as any member of the little band above
alluded to, is far greater when the conditions are difficult. He alone
perhaps can offer any effective resistance when the bowler is revelling
in favourable conditions; but, if the ball comes along easily and well,
it pays far better to determine at all costs to keep up the wicket, to
abandon the more attractive methods of the hitter, and let the runs
come, as they almost inevitably will come under such circumstances.
A great feature of the cricket of this year was the immense improvement
noticeable in Murdoch’s play; from this time forward he took rank as
one of the greatest batsmen of the time, and perhaps the best of all
the Australian players that have come to us. It is gratifying to see
that, as in the case of our own champion, the ever-vigorous “W. G.,”
Murdoch’s perfect upright style has enabled him to keep up a more than
respectable proportion of his best form through at least twenty-five
years of first-class cricket. This very day in April 1903, the morning
paper tells us that, snow-showers and north winds notwithstanding,
these two grand old cricketers are once more making an excellent
appearance, going in first together at Kennington Oval. Long may they
flourish! Another name that strikes us as appearing for the first
time in these matches is that of G. Bonnor. We have already noticed
the athletic and powerful frames that help our Australian friends so
frequently to distinction in cricket, but how can we sufficiently
admire the really magnificent physique of this giant among cricketers!
6 feet 6 inches in height and between 16 and 17 stones in weight, a
very fast runner and prodigious thrower, we might well search the
country through before we find his match as a splendid specimen of
humanity. Let the reader think over all the men of at all similar
proportions that he has ever met with, and see which of them could
run at full speed and pick up a ball in the long field as he could.
In so big a man this great activity implies a perfection of muscular
development and proportion that is very rarely met with, and to see
Bonnor hit and field at cricket may without exaggeration be described
as the realisation of an almost ideal athletic experience.
There have been endless discussions as to who has been actually the
biggest hitter at cricket within living memory, but in the writer’s
mind there is no doubt that Bonnor’s extra power gave him the first
place for distance, although C. I. Thornton’s much more perfect swing
made the competition a closer race than their relative physical powers
would lead one to expect. Bonnor, Macdonnell, Massie, Lyons—what
prodigious smacks to the unfortunate ball do these names bring to our
recollection! It will be indeed a bad day for the old game when the
conditions do not give reasonable encouragement to this heroic type of
batsman, and, at all events while Jessop continues to play, we may well
hope that there is no immediate danger of the race becoming extinct.
[Illustration:
_From a Painting by_ _A. S. Wortley._
_DR. W. G. GRACE._]
Taken as a whole, the team showed a decided advance on their
predecessors, and Murdoch and Macdonnell in particular gave many fine
displays of batting. The bowling suffered from the absence of Garrett,
and the failure of any adequate substitute to take his place, and also
from Spofforth’s absence in half the eleven-a-side matches. When he was
able to play, however, his bowling was as irresistible as ever, while
Palmer at once worked his way into the front rank of bowlers.
A new departure in the programme was made in the match against a picked
England eleven played rather too late in the year, on 6th September.
The weather, however, was all that could be wished at that time, and
a great match resulted in a well-deserved win for England by five
wickets. Murdoch and W. G. Grace were fittingly the batting heroes of
the match, and the time was evidently at hand when the best English
eleven would find its equal in our rapidly improving Australian
friends. Only four matches lost out of thirty-seven played was the
final result, although only eleven of these were eleven-a-side matches,
and the programme did not provide the sterner test of later tours.
In the winter of 1881 a very strong professional eleven under the
captaincy of Alfred Shaw played a short round of first-class matches in
Australia, and amongst these were two matches against Australia and two
against the Australian eleven which was to come to England in 1882. The
two Australian sides consisted of practically the same players, except
that Evans was not included in the team to visit England. So strong,
however, was that team that it is difficult to say who could have been
advisedly left out to make a place for him.
The results of these four matches clearly indicated the great strength
of Australian cricket at this time. Two wins and two drawn games
against a side which had Barlow, Ulyett, Selby, Bates, Shrewsbury,
Midwinter, and Scotton to bat, and Peate, A. Shaw, Barlow, Bates,
Ulyett, and Emmett to bowl, was a thoroughly unmistakable performance,
and added immensely to the interest with which the arrival of the 1882
Australian eleven was anticipated. No absolutely new names had appeared
on the colonial side, but the standard of play had everywhere made
a distinct upward movement, and almost every man of the eleven had
reached the prime of his powers. An opportune alteration of the match
list for that year provided eleven-a-side matches throughout the tour,
a better test, and one likely to keep up the interest and play of the
men more efficiently than a number of matches against odds, which are
no particular honour to win or disgrace to lose.
A glance at the composition of this famous eleven shows a collection
of very well distributed powers. For batting, Murdoch, now at his
best—and that means no small praise; Horan, a talented, correct
player, who, although not very successful with the first eleven, was
now one of the best in Australia; Massie, Bannerman, Bonnor, Giffen,
greatly improved, and soon to be one of the best all-round players of
the day; Macdonnell, Blackham, and S. Jones. In bowling, Spofforth,
Palmer, Boyle, Garrett, and Giffen—probably as good a company as ever
bowled together in one eleven. Blackham to keep wicket. No wonder that
the cricket critics, whose numbers were rapidly increasing, have never
ceased to dispute whether this eleven or one of those that have come to
us since 1896 was the stronger.
Unquestionably from 1884 to 1894 the Australian form steadily declined,
but whether the improvement that has since set in has reached or passed
the level of 1882 and 1884, is a question of considerable difficulty to
tackle, and has moreover this recommendation, so thoroughly favourable
to the pronouncement of varied and strongly-laid-down opinions, that
from the conditions of the problem it is impossible that the issue can
ever be really conclusive. Whatever may be the reader’s verdict on this
vexed point, no one can deny that few elevens have ever contained so
many brilliant performers in their own departments of the game.
The days of a series of test matches had not yet arrived, although
efforts were even then made by those arranging matters to fix dates
for them. Some more years of hammering against the gates of cricket
conservatism were necessary before this most palpably necessary
improvement was instituted.
The one England match was as usual fixed very late in the season, 28th
August, and for the first time an ever-memorable contest resulted
in a narrow win for Australia by 7 runs. Two very fine elevens
fought it out on difficult wickets, and in the end England failed to
score the 84 that was required of them by the above-mentioned small
margin. Spofforth’s bowling fourteen wickets for 90 runs stands out
conspicuously, but, for so important a trial of strength, what a pity
that wicket conditions should have rendered such figures possible!
It was curious that, out of four matches lost during the whole tour,
two were against Cambridge University and Cambridge Past and Present.
The other two defeats were at the hands of the Players and the North
of England, and these four defeats make a very small total when placed
against twenty-three victories out of a long series of thirty-eight
matches, while the average strength of the opposing elevens was far in
excess of anything previously met with.
The winter of 1882 saw a mixed team of amateurs and professionals,
under captaincy of the present writer, start for a tour in Australia.
The all-round strength of the side was very considerable, but only
four of their number had been chosen to represent England in the
previous summer. However, as the remainder included Morley, Bates, W.
W. Read, and Tylecote, the paper form was undoubtedly strong, and
had not illness and accident, especially the unfortunate mishap which
more or less crippled Morley, their only first-class fast bowler, been
unfortunately frequent, an even better record than the respectable
results achieved might have been realised. A rubber of three matches
was played with the victorious 1882 Australian eleven, and after each
had easily won a match, the decisive game ended at Sydney in the
victory of England by 69 runs.
Cricket enthusiasm was at a very high pitch in Australia at this time,
the first victory of Australia over England having greatly excited
the public mind, and the attendance at the test matches exceeded all
previous records.
The rubber having now been won by England, a suggestion was made that
another match should be arranged, and one or two players included in
the Australian side who had not been to England with Murdoch. Evans
and Midwinter were accordingly chosen to take the places of Garrett
and Macdonnell, and, although it seemed highly doubtful if this change
was calculated to be for the better, its advocates would doubtless
claim the justification of their choice in the Australian victory which
resulted by four wickets. Fifty-five thousand people were supposed to
have witnessed the play during the four days that the match occupied,
and a new plan was adopted of having a fresh wicket for each of the
four innings. This was necessitated by the peculiar nature of the
Sydney turf, a thick-bladed, flat-growing grass, which looked perfectly
smooth, but wore very badly.
These four matches showed the Australians hardly perhaps in their best
form, but Bonnor, Bannerman, and, in the last match, Blackham, did some
excellent service in batting, especially the first-named. His hitting
in three out of the four matches was terrific, and most difficult to
deal with, as our English eyes were not so well able, in the very clear
atmosphere of these latitudes, to judge the many high twisting catches
which he impartially presented to various fieldsmen. In an innings of
87 in the fourth match he was supposed to have been missed eight or ten
times, and several of these misses were to be laid to the charge of a
usually very safe fieldsman who shall be nameless. The demoralising
effect of such a succession of disasters on our bowlers and fieldsmen
may be well imagined, and the problem of how long a bowler should
be kept on who is having a chance missed off him nearly every over
presented itself in its most perplexing form to our captain.
The Australian bowling as usual found itself in safe and capable hands,
in the persons of Spofforth, Palmer, Boyle, etc., while the Australian
summer supplied us with an unusual number of wet wickets, much to the
delight of the sheep-farmers who came from all parts of Australia to
see the games.
On the English side Steel proved a tower of strength in both bowling
and batting, and Leslie, Barlow, Bates, and Read all well upheld their
batting reputations. Of the bowlers, Barlow and Bates did about the
best work, and the latter performed one or two notable feats in this
line. The want of a reliable fast bowler was many a time sorely felt,
poor Morley, who attempted to play several matches with a broken rib,
breaking down time after time.
For the first time Queensland was visited by an English eleven, but the
experience, in spite of the extraordinary hospitality and kindness of
the Queenslanders, was not altogether encouraging. The semi-tropical
heat caused several slight cases of sun effects amongst our players,
and the drenching thundershowers necessitated, in one case, small
drains being dug quite near the pitch to allow the water to subside
quickly after the storms.
Cricket touring in Australia in those days differed from more modern
experiences in several respects. The railways between Adelaide and
Melbourne and Melbourne and Queensland had not yet been completed, so
that most disturbing little sea journeys, lasting about thirty-six
hours, on small and not overclean steamers, had to be undertaken on
several occasions. Nothing more calculated to temporarily disarrange
the health and form of a travelling cricket eleven could be well
imagined, and the railway journeys which have now been substituted must
be far preferable, from the player’s point of view.
The cricket grounds in the chief capitals were already very good, but
in Adelaide the turf had been too recently laid to have nearly reached
the perfection to which it afterwards attained. In Sydney, the species
of grass which has been before alluded to has now, we believe, been
altered to English grass, then supposed to be quite unsuited to the
climate, with the best possible results.
No new players of any prominence appeared among the Australians, unless
we make an exception in the case of W. H. Cooper, the Victorian. He had
already played in first-class cricket for some years, and had made a
considerable reputation by his wonderful leg breaks. The usual penalty
attaching to this great power of twist, viz. loss of pitch, always
made him a very doubtful quantity, and he was liable to be ruinously
expensive in the matter of runs.
The arrival of an Australian eleven in England every second year had
now become quite an established custom, and 1884 saw a strong selection
of players once more with us. The changes in the personnel proved to be
the substitution of Scott, Midwinter, Alexander, and Cooper for Horan,
Massie, S. Jones, and Garrett, and there can hardly be a contrary
opinion that this change was slightly for the worse. Scott certainly
sustained his own part with considerable success, but the displaced
four names proved in the long run to be very difficult to replace
adequately.
Three matches with England produced the not very satisfactory result
of two drawn games and one win for England, a foretaste of the
indecisive sequences which have stirred up the attempts at legislative
interference in later times. Although unable to win one of the three
matches, the Australians had certainly rather the best of the two that
were undecided. In the first match, at Manchester, England was only
93 runs on with one wicket to fall, after a first innings of 182; and
in the third match, at the Oval, they gave us a very fine display
of batting, winning the toss and making 551, the largest total yet
recorded in these matches.
[Illustration: _YOUTH WITH A CRICKET BAT_
(_Supposed to have been Painted about 1780_).]
Murdoch, true to his character of leading batsman, headed the list
with 211, Macdonnell 103, and Scott 102, while the English bowling was
reduced to such straits that Alfred Lyttelton’s lobs were afforded the
chance of a lifetime, and actually captured the last four wickets for
19 runs!
When in the first innings eight English wickets had fallen for 181 runs
on a good wicket, the match looked almost over, but with W. W. Read’s
appearance began a notable partnership, which was not broken before 151
runs had been added to the score. Read’s 117 ranks very high indeed
among the great innings of great matches, and his mastery of the varied
and excellent bowling brought against him was complete. Two wickets
down for 85 runs represented England’s second innings, and Australia
could claim an immense advantage on the match as far as it went.
The third match, at Lord’s, ended in quite another fashion with a
one-innings defeat for Australia, principally due to a very fine 148
by A. G. Steel for England, and some excellent bowling by the two
Yorkshiremen, Peate and Ulyett.
The English representative eleven of the day showed a very high
standard of play, especially in batting. When one finds A. Lyttelton
going in ninth on the list of batsmen, and W. W. Read tenth, the side
may be safely estimated to be as strong in batting as any that has ever
played together. The bowling, on the other hand, did not stand out in
quite such overwhelming strength, although Peate, Ulyett, A. G. Steel,
Barnes, and Barlow are a by no means contemptible selection. On the
whole year’s performances in batting, Murdoch once more emphasised his
superiority, with an average of 30 per innings, 1.7 in advance of his
next competitor, while most of the older hands, in addition to Scott,
came out on the list with good figures.
Spofforth’s bowling was if possible even more successful than
before—216 wickets, with an average of 12 runs per wicket; with Palmer
second, with 132 wickets for an average of 16 runs. These two, with
Boyle and Giffen, made up an attack strong at all points.
Eighteen matches won and seven lost does not compare too favourably
with the figures of the 1882 eleven, and this difference was, we think,
exactly to be accounted for by the slight change for the worse in the
alteration made in the old eleven by the substitution of the four new
men before alluded to.
Although their successes had possibly not quite equalled those of 1882,
the four players who had not been able to come to England were still
in as good form as ever, and Australian cricket at this time was still
at about its highest point. No real symptoms of that gradual decline
which lasted up to 1894 had commenced to show themselves before about
1885-86.
In the winter of 1884 another strong lot of professionals under
Alfred Shaw visited Australia, and an unfortunate dispute with the
lately-returned Australian eleven deprived most of the chief matches of
their representative character, as the members of the Australian eleven
refused to play in them. However, towards the end of the tour matters
were smoothed over, and three matches were played against Australia’s
full strength. The first, a very fine struggle, was won by Australia by
7 runs, the second by the same side by eight wickets, and the third by
the Englishmen by an innings and 98 runs. The professionals were a very
strong side at all points of the game, and Barnes greatly distinguished
himself by heading both batting and bowling averages, sharing the
batting honours with Shrewsbury and Bates, while the bowling was very
equally distributed among six well-known names, Barnes, Bates, Flowers,
Attewell, Ulyett, and Peel.
The 1886 Australian eleven in England furnished some names new to
English grounds, and for the first time Evans was able to find the
time for the journey. As it turned out, however, his great reputation
would have been better cared for if he had not been brought over for
the first time when his powers were decidedly on the wane, and both
in batting and bowling he was practically a failure. Jarvis appears
as a wicket-keeper, and a very able colleague to Blackham he has
always proved himself, besides being at times useful with the bat.
J. Trumble, W. Bruce, and M’Ilwraith are the other new names, and
of these, Bruce alone has made much mark in first-class cricket,—a
beautiful fieldsman and thrower, and a pretty, hard-hitting,
left-handed batsman, but one who has never quite succeeded in doing
himself full justice on English grounds.
The same signs of deterioration that were observable in the 1884
eleven, as compared with that of 1882, were now more strongly
pronounced. The new men were quite unable to adequately replace
Murdoch, Macdonnell, Bannerman, Massie, Horan, and Boyle, while, to
add to their misfortunes, Spofforth met with a severe accident which
crippled him for some time, and never allowed him to again reach his
proper form during the tour. On the other hand, their English opponents
could command a very strong side, and in place of the dearth of fine
new players which the Australians were experiencing, found ready to
hand several younger players of great promise. The days of Lohmann,
Briggs, and Stoddart were commencing, names that were destined to
furnish a difficult nut for Australians to crack for many a day.
The older men too on the English side were all at the best period
of their play, and Grace, Shrewsbury, Read, and Steel could hardly
fail to put up a big score among them on any given occasion. The only
cheerful feature of a dismal record, in which the nine victories could
only claim a narrow lead of one over the eight defeats, was the fine
all-round form of Giffen. This great player, now at the top of his
game, headed both batting and bowling averages, and was to be from this
time a tower of strength to Australian cricket. Spofforth’s unfortunate
accident came at a time when there seemed every likelihood of his being
quite as successful as ever, but from that time to the end of the tour
his bowling powers seemed to have temporarily deserted him, and that
alone was a disaster to the side of the very first magnitude. Garrett
and Palmer still continued to do yeoman service in bowling, although
rather more expensive than formerly, and both S. Jones and Scott gave
some fine batting displays.
Of the three matches against England, the first was won by England by
the small margin of four wickets, and each of the other two in one
innings. Fortune had indeed deserted our Australian friends for the
moment, and, worst of all, the absence of promising young players gave
no hope for the immediate future. Yet, if we consider for a moment how
comparatively small had been the amount of first-class cricket hitherto
played in Australia, we may well rather wonder at the remarkable
brilliancy of the players sent to us up to this time, than that they
should now find some difficulty in replacing them.
Without making invidious distinctions, it may be safely asserted that
in these last two Australian elevens of 1884 and 1886, the loss of
Murdoch’s captaincy was severely felt, as he always seemed to have the
happy knack of keeping his team well in hand and up to the highest
standard of their play.
Once more in 1886 did a strong team of professionals go to Australia
under the indefatigable Shaw and Shrewsbury. Although beaten twice
by New South Wales, they won four matches out of five against
representative Australian elevens, the other being drawn, no mean
achievement. The days of Turner and Ferris were beginning, and the
former was now rapidly becoming one of the great bowlers of the day.
A beautifully easy delivery and great power of pace, combined with a
quickness of break back that baffled the strongest defence, were the
characteristics of this fine cricketer’s style. Ferris, although not so
attractive in his methods, made an excellent colleague in their bowling
partnership, with his steady left-handed deliveries.
Lyons for the first time appears among the representative Australian
players. Very big and powerful, he proved a worthy successor to the
great hitters of the earlier Australian elevens, and some of his
hitting, performed with little apparent effort and without moving
the feet, was a wonderful exhibition of sheer muscular force of arm.
Giffen’s loss from illness was a great blow to the Australians, and
some of the older bowlers were now losing something of their skill. On
the other side, the English bowling was very strong, with Lohmann and
Briggs to lead it, and Shrewsbury at the top of his form in batting.
So popular had these Australian tours now become that in the winter of
1887-88 two separate English elevens visited Australia, one under G. F.
Vernon, and the other under Shrewsbury. This division of forces, which
was for many reasons to be regretted, did not appear to materially
affect their chances of success, as the teams lost only two or three
matches between them. H. Trott and H. Trumble were prominently seen
for the first time this season, and were both destined to take a very
leading part in the games of the next few years. Trumble as a bowler is
probably now second to none, making admirable use of his great height,
and exercising the best of judgment in his admixture of different paces
and flights. Trott, an excellent batsman and useful change bowler, was
always a useful man on the side, but it has been his fine judgment as
captain that has proved him to be so invaluable a member of it.
The representatives of Australia were met three times by Shrewsbury’s
eleven, and twice by Vernon’s, and all these five matches ended in
English success—crushing evidence of the now seriously deteriorated
form of the Australians. Shrewsbury and W. W. Read gave many fine
exhibitions of batting, and came out more than 25 points ahead of
their nearest competitors in the batting list. Lohmann and Briggs for
Shrewsbury’s side, and Attewell and Peel for Vernon’s, did most of the
bowling with conspicuous success.
The 1890 Australian eleven for England furnished a surprise in the
return of Murdoch to the headship of affairs, and, in spite of some
obvious disadvantages of increasing age and weight, his form was once
more able to place him at the head of the batting averages. First
of a rather moderate lot must be the estimate of this performance,
and only Barrett besides himself was able to claim an average of over
20, his and Barrett’s being 23 and 22 respectively. Barrett, here for
the first time, was a left-handed bat with dogged powers of defence,
highly uninteresting to watch. Burn, the Tasmanian, a batsman of some
reputation, did not show to much advantage over here, and Walters, a
powerful Victorian, who had proved a great run-getter in Australia
for some years, seemed quite unable to accommodate himself to altered
conditions. S. E. Gregory appears for the first time, and at once made
a name for himself by his wonderful fielding and throwing in from
cover-point or mid-off. The powers of batting which were to make him
so useful a member of most of the Australian elevens of the next few
years were not yet much in evidence. The most of the bowling was as
before entirely thrown on the shoulders of the undaunted pair, Turner
and Ferris, and most admirably did they acquit themselves. 215 wickets
for an average of 12 and 215 wickets for an average of 13 are figures
that speak eloquently of a hard season’s work well performed. Charlton
and Trumble were their assistants nearest in point of performance,
but Trumble, although at that time a steady persevering bowler, had
not yet acquired sufficient mastery of break and pace to be really
dangerous. For the first time the losses of the team, sixteen, exceed
the victories, thirteen, a terrible falling-off from the successes of
ten years ago. Three matches were arranged against the full strength
of England, but only the first two were played, both won by England,
by seven wickets and two wickets respectively, the third match being
abandoned through rain. It was said, not untruthfully, that these two
narrow defeats against strong English sides, especially the latter of
the two, conferred more credit on the Australians than any other of
their performances, but an eleven can hardly be congratulated that has
such a criticism as its chief recommendation.
In the winter of 1891-92 quite a new plan was carried out, Lord
Sheffield collecting and taking out a strong English eleven, including
once more the veteran “W. G.,” Stoddart, and other fine players. The
eleven, to be really representative of England’s strength, would have
required some additions to the batting, but Grace, Stoddart, M. Read,
and Abel made at all events a strong backbone to the defence, and
the bowling was well up to the highest mark in the hands of Briggs,
Lohmann, Attewell, and Peel. Three matches were played against combined
Australia, the first two being lost by 55 and 72 runs, and the third
won easily in one innings. Of this last match, however, it should be
said that the two sides batted under quite unequal conditions, the
English on a hard dry wicket, and the Australians on one spoilt by
rain. Lyons, Bannerman, and Bruce all did excellent service in batting,
and Lyons’ second innings of 134 in the Sydney match was a very fine
display of hitting. Australian bowling had suffered considerably from
the absence in England of Ferris, and Turner, although still about
the best Australian bowler, was hardly so deadly as formerly. Grace
was able to show his Australian admirers that the eighteen years that
had elapsed since his last visit had little diminished his marvellous
skill, and his average of 44 in eleven-a-side matches brought him
easily to the top, Abel, Stoddart, and M. Read all coming out with good
figures.
The improved form of the Australians this season added much to the
interest which was felt in the 1893 Australian eleven, who came,
moreover, as a thoroughly representative side, no other Australian
cricketer, except possibly Moses, having any real claim for selection.
An advance on the form of the last few years they certainly exhibited,
but, although the quality of the cricket opposed to them was certainly
of great merit, the summed-up results of the tour, eighteen matches
won to ten lost, cannot be said to show conclusively that all the lost
ground had yet been made up.
The season of 1893 was exceptionally sunny and fine, so that many
more hard wickets were played on than in an average English summer.
The strain on the bowlers of a travelling eleven was accordingly
severe, and Turner was not able to preserve the unassailed position
of superiority hitherto held by him. On the hard wickets G. Giffen
was perhaps the best bowler of the side, and he is said to have not
unreasonably complained of the invariable regularity with which his
bowling was made use of on the hard wickets, while, on the more
difficult wickets, the other bowlers were able to dispose of their
more easily conquered victims.
A great improvement is to observed in Trumble both in batting and
bowling, and he had now reached a formidable degree of power in both
departments of the game. Graham made a most promising _début_ as a bat
and fine out-field; indeed, his batting was quite one of the features
of the tour. Another pair of batsmen of most unequal appearance and
batting methods were also very successful, Lyons and A. Bannerman, who
generally went in first together. Some of Lyons’ hitting ranks high
among the recorded feats of big hitting, and Bannerman’s dogged defence
was never more usefully employed during his long career. G. H. Trott,
too, and G. Giffen were both generally useful with the bat, and the
eleven throughout showed a higher level of batting power than had been
seen for some years.
If we compare this eleven with the strong years of 1882 and 1884, we
should say that the 1893 team would naturally suffer in the absence
of Murdoch at his best, and in the bowling falling somewhat below the
standard of that of the four great bowlers of that day, Turner not
being at his best and Trumble not quite attained to his full powers.
The English representatives of this year were of great strength. Grace,
Shrewsbury, Stoddart, Gunn, Jackson, A. Ward, W. W. Read, all in fine
form, made an immensely strong batting combination, while an era of
great fast bowlers was arising, with Richardson, Mold, and Lockwood
all now coming to the full possession of their great powers, and
the slow bowling in the safe and capable hands of Briggs and Peel.
It is doubtful if in the whole history of English cricket three such
exceptionally fine fast bowlers as these ever flourished at the same
time, and the bowling of one or other of them influenced the play of
most of the great matches for some years at this time.
Only one of the three matches against England was played to a finish,
and that resulted in a one-innings victory for England. The other two
both ended in draws none too favourable to the chances of an Australian
victory.
Many fine innings were played by the chief English players during these
matches, while Graham with 107 at Lord’s and Trott with 92 at the Oval
did great things for the Australians.
A great drawback to Australian success in a summer so favourable to
hard wickets was the absence of a reliable fast bowler. The days of E.
Jones were now soon to begin, and had he been available at this time, a
great addition to the all-round strength would have been realised. The
unusual wealth of bowlers of this description in the English elevens at
this time made this weakness especially noticeable.
[Illustration: _AN ELEVEN OF MISS WICKETS._]
And now, having traced in somewhat cursory fashion the ups and downs of
Australian _v._ English cricket through some thirty-two years of its
earlier existence, we leave the history of its further development at
a time when the present generation of Australian players are beginning
to make their appearance. The process of development between the days
of 1861 and the date of the first Australian eleven, 1878, seems to
have been gradual and steady. With the arrival of that notable eleven
were apparent great possibilities in the future, and, quicker even than
could have been thought possible, came the rapid progress, until the
culminating point of 1882 and 1884 was reached. From that time came the
curiously steady and disappointing decline, till, as we have lately
seen, the 1893 team once more gave promise that the ten lean years
were over, and a new era of prosperity about to begin. Right up to the
present day Australians were now to show themselves fully equal to
meeting our very best on even terms both here and in the Colonies.
How profoundly this interchange of cricketing visits has influenced
the course of cricket in England can hardly be too much insisted upon.
Without them a representative English eleven would have never been
seen in the field at all, and how great a loss this fact alone would
have been to the cricketing world, both of players and spectators, can
hardly be overstated.
That our Australian cousins should so soon have been able to tackle us
on even terms, in spite of their vastly smaller population and their
comparatively small number of first-class matches, must always be a
somewhat humbling problem for our cricketing philosophers. Certainly
they have the advantage of a longer cricketing season, and a greater
likelihood of finding the weather sufficiently fine to ensure their
cricket being played on good wickets. In this last factor we may
probably find the key to the whole matter, and, favourable conditions
being their normal experience, we may always look with confidence to
them for a very high level of play, and one that will tax to the utmost
the capacity of our best players.
[Illustration]