Cricket 1908

M ay 7, 1908. CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 123 R E M I N I S C E N C E S OF AU STRAL IAN CRICKET. B y “ THE ALMANACK.” * PIONEERS FROM THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE. There has been some talk of sending a Fijian team to England just at the present or on some future date, though the Governor of Fiji has, I believe, declined to give his sanction to it. It will be of interest to recall the doings of the first team of cricketers who ever left Australia to battle on the cricket fields of the Old Country. Many people are under the im­ pression that the pioneer team of 1878, captained by Dave Gregory, was the first to visit England, but that is not so. The first was an aboriginal team composed of pure aboriginals from all parts of Australia, the majority being Murray blacks. Their names were Bullocky, Cuzens, Dick-a- Dick, Dumas, Jim Crow, Mullagh, King Cole, Red Cap, Mosquito, Peter, Tiger, Twopenny, with Charley Lawrence as cap­ tain. King Cole, within five weeks of his arrival in England, was seized with pneu­ monia, and died in Guy’s Hospital on June 24th, 1868. The blacks were first taken in hand by a squatter named Hayman, and, after con­ siderable coaching, played a series of matches throughout Victoria and New South Wales under the joint managership of Tommy Wills and Charley Lawrence, the old English player. Their matches caused so much interest that it was thought they would take well in England. Their last match in Australia prior to their departure for England was on January 23rd, 1868, when, in the presence of the Duke of Edinburgh, who was then visiting Australia, they played a team from the Galatea. They landed in England on May 13th, 1868, and were accompanied by Charley Lawrence, who acted as captain. They went into strong practice at Mailing, and pleased the critics fairly well. It was thought they would be a good match for some of the minor counties, but not equal to playing very strong counties with any chance of success. They played their first match at Kennington Oval against Surrey, who played a purely amateur team against them. Surrey made 222, and the blacks 83 and 132 (Mullagh 33 and 73). They were beaten in an innings. Mullagh’s baiting was much admired, his style being free, and yet his cricket was perfectly safe. His best strokes, though travelling at great speed, were “ right along the carpet,” or low skimming hits clear of the fieldsmen. They played right through England, and drew large crowds. From “ The English Game of Cricket,” by Charles Box, one learns that they played from May 25th to October 14th, 46 matches, of which they won 14, lost 13, and 19 were drawn. Mul­ lagh came out top batting average, with 22, and scored 1,679 runs ; C. Lawrence next with 21, and scored 1,198 runs. Mul­ lagh took 245 wickets for 2,489 runs, aver­ age 10 ; Lawrence, 250 wickets for 3,022 runs, average 12. '■•Mr. David Scott, for many years in partnership with the late Mr. II. F. Boyle, had the title of “ The Alm anack” conferred on him by John Conway, manager of the Australian Team of 1878. by virtue of his remarkable knowledge of the history of cricket and cricketers. A portrait and biography of Mr. Scott will be found in Criclcet of October 30th, 1890.— E d . Cricket. The novelty of the black team caused many a rhymster an opportunity to indulge his fancy, and one of the best was as follows:— Your swarthy brows and raven locks Must gratify your tonsors, But by the name of Dick a Dick, Who are your doughty sponsors? Arrayed in skin of kangaroo And decked with lanky feather, How well you fling the fragile spear Along the sunny heather. And though you cannot hope to beat The Britishers at cricket, You have a batter, bold and brave, In Mullagh, at the wicket. Besides cricket they also took part in native sport, which caused great amuse­ ment to the English people. Dick-a-Dick appears to have been the one who claimed the largest amount of attention by dodging the ball. Possessed of a narrow shield and triangle, he defended himself against a shower of balls pelted at him from a distance of 20 yards. He fenced off many that must have struck his head and other parts of the body with wonderful adroit­ ness, by means of this primitive instru­ ment, while others he avoided by leaping or bending. The throwing of the boom­ erang also excited considerable astonish­ ment. It showed what great command practice had given them over this singular projectile. On some occasions they intro­ duced a native sham-fight, when they were costumed in a dark, close-fitting overall in doublet of opossum skins and in parti­ colored head-dress, turned with a broad band of cabbage tree plant, and a crest of lyre bird plumage, all armed with spears, boomerangs, and throwing sticks, ranged up in single line ; and upon the word of command given, they delivered three flights of spears to distances varying from 60 to 100 yards. They then separated into opposing parties of six, and, facing each other at 80 yards distance, discharged their spears from each side, sometimes using the throwing sticks. In throwing the cricket ball they were also adepts. Dick-a-Dick once threw 120 yards. Several others could run and leap splendidly. Lawrence, the captain, sig­ nalised himself by catching a ball on the face of his bat when thrown high into the air from a long distance. As a commercial speculation the black team did not pay, but they had a most en­ joyable time on the whole. They left England towards the end of October, and on reaching Australia were sent back to the various stations they were brought from. Cuzens was for some time en­ gaged as a professional on the Melbourne Ground. Johnny Mullagh, who came from Harrow, went back there. When Lord Harris’ team played a match against Vic­ toria on the Melbourne Ground in 1879, Mullagh was brought down to play in the match, and by the most delightful cricket scored 36. It caused great excitement, and Mr. George Gibson and the late Harry Boyle went round the ground, and in less than twenty minutes collected over ^50, which was presented to Mullagh for his beautiful play. A more graceful batsman never faced a bowler than Johnny. His cutting was as near perfection as possible, and his leg hitting was a treat. Some time later he was brought down to practise for an inter-colonial match, when a most amusing incident occurred. The weather was very showery and cold | when Mullagh was in town to practise for the inter-colonial match, and he was located at the Albion Hotel in Bourke Street, kept by that genial sportsman, John Cleeland, the owner of Wollomai, who won the Melbourne Cup one year. Mr. Clee­ land many a time in the old days, when money was collected to send our teams to Sydney, was one of the most liberal sup­ porters. WTell, Johnny, not being able to practise, used to put in all his spare time at our cricket warehouse, and at that time we were opening up a new lot of cricket bats. I asked Johnny to have a look a them and pick one he liked, and if he made 40 in the inter-colonial match I would make him a present of it. He picked a very nice bat for himself, and, to test his powers of finding, I always used to hide it away. Johnny would come in, then would seek round till he found it. One wet, miserable, dull day towards 5 o ’clock a pressman who occasionally indulged, and who was also a very fine club cricketer, came in and asked if he might use the room upstairs, a kind of private office, to write a report about some case he was doing for one of the leading daily papers in Melbourne. “ Yes,” I said; “ you know your way.” Some short time after he came rushing down the stairs shouting “ I ’ve seen the devil!” “ There’s no doubt you’ve got them all righ t!” said I. His hair was on end, his eyes nearly bulging out of his head, and he was trembling like a leaf. “ No, no !” he said, “ it is nothing like that— it is Old Nick right enough!” I went up the stairs into the room, and there on a sort of trap-door that led up under the roof stood Johnny Mullagh with a bat in his hands and his eyes bright with glee. He said: “ Ah, Mr. Scott, you plant bat very good ; take long time to find. W7hat you think of Johnny Mullagh now ?” I nearly took a fit with laughter, and the pressman said “ Thank Heaven it is a human being after all !” I said to Johnny, “ No more planting ; I make you a present of the bat n ow !” It was lucky for Mullagh, as he met with an accident at practice, and was unable to play. The joke of seeing the devil was kept up on the pressman for many a long day. He is still wandering round the Commonwealth, and perhaps when he sees the “ Referee” he will remember the episode. On another occasion Mullagh caused some anxiety. Harry Boyle was a%vaj on a trip with a team of which Mullagh was one. All the team had gone to bed, with the exception of Boyle and another, who said to Boyle, “ There is gas escaping some­ where !” They called the night porter and traced it to Mullagh’s room. The door was locked. Boyle and his comrade burst it in just in time, for the room was full of gas. Johnny had blown it out, and they were just in time to save his life .—Sydney Referee. Akm y T e n ts an d M a rq u e e s , all s z e s ; lists free. - Thos. James Gasson, Bye, Sussex. GEORGE AVERY & SON, W holesale C ricket Ball M anufacturers, S0UTHB0R0UGH, KENT- “ Under the patronage of two genera­ tions of leading cricketers.' G. AVERY & SON have rarely known a trial order fail to elicit con­ tinued patronage ; in durability and appeamnce their balls are unsur­ passed, and their easy response to every stroke is noted by all who use them.