Cricket 1908

S e p t . 3, 1908. CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 397 SOME CHAPTERS OF AUSTRALIAN CRICKET HISTORY. B y J . N . P E N T E LO W . {Continued from page 119.) C h a p te r II. NEW SOUTH W ALES v. VICTORIA. Six states are included within the Australian Commonwealth ; and the number of possible different inter-state cricket matches is consequently fifteen. Twelve of these fifteen have been played at one time or another, the three never yet fixed up being Queensland v. Western Australia, Queensland v. Tasmania (Queensland met Southern Tasmania once, and tbis might practically, though notofficially.be reckoned as a match between the two States), and Tasmania v. Western Australia. But of the other twelve contests only five have assumed tho character of a regular series. These are: New South Wales v. Victoria, Victoria v. South Australia, South Australia v. New South Wales (the Sheffield Shield contest is made up of these three), Victoria v. Tasmania, and New South Wales v. Queensland. Western Australia for geographical reasons, has never been able to secure an annual fixture with any of her sisters, though she has at different times met all three of the great teams. The New South Wales v. Tasmania and Victoria v. Queensland matches have been started only to be dropped again ; and South Australia has met Tasmania only once (roughly thirty years ago), and Queensland ouly once (ten years ago). The New South Wales v. Victoria series is not, as many suppose, the oldest of them all. That honour belongs to Victoria v. Tasmania. The first match between those two was played as far back as February, 1851. The opening engagement between the two most populous and most important colonies is dated five years later. But New South Wales v. Victoria has always been the greatest of the inter-colonial (or inter-state) matches, even in the days when South Australia was at the height of her strength. Between these two old rivals as many as eighty games have now been played, New South Wales having won 42, Victoria 38. It is with the history of these eighty games, spread over a period of more than half a century, that this chapter will deal. Much of interest must naturally be left untold in such a survey. One does not kuow it all, and has-not space for half of what one knows. Twenty years ago the Sydney Mail pub­ lished an a»ticle (reprintei in Cricket) dealing with the first match of the series, and written by one of the players. (It will be found in the number of Cricket dated April 19, 1888). The writer states that the match originated from a challenge in a Melbourne paper to the effect that eleven of Victoria would play eleven of New South Wales for a sum of money to be arranged mutually. It does not appear, however, that the match was played for money. There was no rail between Sydney and Melbourne in those days. The N.S.W. team (one man short, a Parramatta man being expected to follow by the next boat) sailed in the S.S. Telegraph on March 19, 1856, a Wednesday, the match being fixed to begin on the following Wednesday. Their expenses were defrayed by means of a sub­ scription. The Parramatta player failed to arrive, and Mr. R. Driver, who had done more than anyone else to bring about the match, played instead of umpiring, as it had been intended he should do, and had the honour of tieing with J. McKone, a fast underhand bowler who did deadly execution, as top scorer in the match. Each of them made 18 in their two innings, neither scoring in the second. McKone was not out in the first. There were only four other double­ figure scores, and in the match thirty-seven wickets fell for 183 runs. Victoria led off with 63, having been sent in to bat by the visitors, who (after the umpires had tossed, and the Victorians had won) claimed that the side playing away from home had a legal right to the choice of going in themselves or sending their opponents in. N.S.W. replied with 76. Then the homo side tumbled out for 28. The visitors required only 16 to win, and lost seven wickets in getting them ! The scores remind one strongly of village green cricket ; but wickets in Australia fifty years ago were not adapted to heavy run-getting ; and I think there is no doubt that even at that early date the cricketers of both Colonies had attained a degree of skill by no means to be despised. G. Elliott (very fast round, with good length and break) took ten wickets for 35 for the home side; J. McKone, already referred to, had 10 for 36 for the visitors. Among the other players were G. Gilbert, a relative of W. G .’s, who died the year before last, a n l Harry Hilliard, who for many years never mi«sed seeing one of these matches (I am not sure whether he has not seen the whole eighty), on the N.S.W . side ; while Victoria included in their team T. Morres, who was to distinguish himself in the third match of the series, and who must have been one of the best batsmen in Melbourne at that day. It is on record that all the players in this match took off their boots to play, some wearing their stockings, others barefooted ! Less than a year later the Victorians came to Sydney, were m aie favourites in the betting (£1,600 to £ 1,000 is said to have been laid on them), but went under by as many as 65 runs in a match in which the higest innings total was only 86 . W. G. Rees, like Gilbert, a relative of the Graces, was top scorer in the home side’s first with 28, Hilliard making 20; in their second Gilbert ran up 3 1. For the visitors J . M. (Jerry) Bryant, a capital all-round player and a great favourite in Melbourne, scored 23 in the first innings; but perhaps the most notable performer, as well as the most famous man on the side was Thomas Wentworth Wills, of Rugby School and Kent County fame, who only made one run in his two innings, but had ten wickets for 66 with his fast bowl'ng. For close on a score of years thereafter Wills was one of the most promineut figures in Australian cricket; aud his enthusiasm for the game was immense. Against George Parr’s English team in 1863-4 he played not only for Victoria, but for local odds teams at Ararat, Ballarat, Geelong, Maryborough and Sandhurst; he travelled 1,800 miles ftom the north of Queensland to play for 22 of Victoria on New Year’s Day, but had the mortification to arrive la te ; he even accompanied the English team to New Zealand, and played against it at Christchurch and Dunedin! Altogether he took during the tour just over 50 wickets in the matches in which he played in opposition to the English side. He was born at Parramatta in August, 1835, and in 1856 played for Cambridge against Oxford as that side were a man short: he had been entered at Cambridge but was never in res dence. In this second match the Victorians had choice of innings as a matter of courtesy, and sent the home side in. This procedure, so unusual nowadays, was quite the thing then, and perhaps it had more justification in days wheu scores were so much smaller. Victoria won for the first time in the third match, at Melbourne, in January, 1858, and that iu no undecided fashion. Her second innings total of 238 looked very big beside the other three totals of the match—59, 57, 69. Wills (49 not out) was top scorer; Morres made 47, W. J . Hammersley 31, W. Pickering (*n Englishman of a famous cricket family) and T. F. Wray 26 each. Gilbert, with 15 and 12, was highest aggre­ gate scorer for the losers. Wills took eight wickets for 59, and Elliott six for 34 ; for N.S.W. Gilbert had eleven for 88 , and it was hard lines on him after playing such excellent cricket to be on the losing side. In this match N. Thompson made his first appearance for N .S.W . He had passed his prime when the first Australian team visited England; had it come a few years earlier he must have been one of its most prominent members, for he was a really good all round man—batsman, bowler, wicket-keeper, field —and for twenty years was quite in the forefront. Victoria won again in the fourth match, at Sydney, January, 1859, though only by two wickets, after being all out for 38 in their first innings. O. Lewis scored 13 and 40 for the losers, for whom Thompson made a pair. “ Je r r y ” Bryant (32) and A. Burchett (26) had much to do with the visitors’ victory ; but Wills, with eleven wickets for 49, perhaps had more. Captain Ward (ten for 56) and J. Kinloch (seven for 70) did nearly all the N.S.W . bowling. The Melbourne men now went ahead, winning the next three matches. The fifth of the series was played in Richmond Paddock, early iu February, 1860. It is ou record that, besides the Is. payable at the gate, 12s. 6 d., 7s. 6 1., aud 2s. 6 d. admission was charged to various, parts of the ground ; that the Victorians wore pink shirts, white trousers and caps, the Sydney men blue shirts, white trousers and caps, except Gilbert, who spoited an orange shirt, and Brown, the wicket-keeper, who wore a red c ap ; and that the attendance number*d 15,000. It was not merely an intercolonial game, but a contest of beer drinkers v. tea drinkers. Sad to relate the votaries of beer won by 69 runs. The tea drinkers had a can of their favourite liquid on the ground fpr 02 casi >nal refreshment; our authority does not state whether a barrel of beer was a'so conspicuous. The highest score on either side was the 20 made by Wills in Victorians second. Wills had nine wickets for 39. Elliott eight for 36. For the losers Hilliard made 15 in the first, Gilbert 13 in the second innings; G. Richardson took nine wickets for 55 in the match, R. Murray five for 13 in Victoria’s first. In the sixth match, on the Sydney Domain, in February, 186 1, the visiting side is stated to have been composed of professionals only; but this seems doubtful. Wills was absent; but I do not think W. J . Hammersley and C. Makinson, who played, were ever pros. This game marked the first appearance of Sam Cosstick, one of the finest bowlers Victoria ever had. He took 1 1 wickets for 48 ; and to his bowling the visitors’ win by 21 runs was mainly due. Bryant made 22 in