Famous Cricketers No 77 - W.L.Murdoch

Murdoch the Bowler Murdoch’s bowling was not taken very seriously, least of all by the bowler himself. He could however swing the ball at slow medium pace at a time when the skill was not widely used or understood. When conditions were right he even on occasions opened the bowling, under his own captaincy for Sussex and for London County under W.G.Grace. Three times he took a wicket when doing so. In his book Murdoch refers proudly to having dismissed Edward Lyttelton. It was in fact the at least equally talented younger brother Alfred (clean bowled). Wicketkeeping and Fielding Although early in his career considered the equal of Blackham, by the end of the 1878 tour of England Murdoch himself seems to have appreciated that he was not in the great Victorian’s class. Even so, he was clearly an accomplished performer behind the stumps and the fact that well into his forties he was able to keep throughout a long innings seems to indicate a sound basic technique as well as a higher standard of fitness than appearances might imply. He was among the first to dispense with a long stop and an early advocate of the practice of standing back to bowlers of genuine pace. When not keeping wicket Murdoch generally fielded at point where, without being ranked with outstanding point fielders of the day such as E.M.Grace or L.G.Wright, he seems to have been well up to the general standard. Captaincy Tactically, Murdoch was ahead of his time. The chapter on captaincy in his book is still worth reading over one hundred years later. Field settings and bowling changes targeted at individual batsman, commonplace now, were rare in the 1880s. He had a gift for working closely with his bowlers, “taking wickets by proxy” as Charles Fry termed it. In the famous Oval Test Match of 1882 when England failed by seven runs to achieve the 85 they needed for victory, his switching of Spofforth to the sightscreen-less pavilion end to take advantage of the combination of high arm and dark background was widely judged a decisive factor. So too was the deliberate misfield which resulted in Spofforth bowling Alfred Lyttelton after a sequence of 12 maidens. Never afraid to change the bowling, he was equally prepared where conditions justified to keep bowlers on for long spells. At Sydney in 1882 George Eugene Palmer bowled 58 and Ted Evans 57 (four-ball) overs unchanged for more than three hours to restrict England to 133 and set up a five-wicket victory. Interestingly in the light of past disagreements, the veteran Alfred Shaw, with some justification, clearly resented the work load imposed on him by his captain. Possibly his greatest gift was the ability to create a happy, relaxed and united dressing room, not easy with the Australian teams of the time. Murdoch captained Australia before federation and inter-state rivalry was always likely to surface in relationships between individuals. So too was the even more divisive Catholic/Irish v English/Protestant/Freemason split which was a factor in Australian cricket at least up to Bradman’s time. Possibly significantly the 1886, 1888 and 1893 tours, all bereft of Murdoch’s leadership, suffered in varying degrees from internal feuds and indiscipline. Sir Home Gordon records Murdoch’s reaction to captaining Sussex after leading Australia - “These dear lads would eat lemon out of my hand and swear it was sugar but my old lot would swear that treacle was sour”. Gordon considered that Murdoch, though firm when leading Australia, was apt to let things slide with Sussex while A.G.Steel thought Murdoch allowed too much chatter and “talking back” from the Australians. Neither could match Murdoch’s breadth of leadership experience and, given 8