Famous Cricketers No 77 - W.L.Murdoch

SEASON’S AVERAGES Batting and Fielding M I NO Runs HS Ave 100 50 Ct St Test matches 1 2 1 8 4* 8.00 - - - - Other matches 2 4 1 211 82* 70.33 - 2 - 1 Season 3 6 2 219 82* 54.75 - 2 - 1 Career 23 40 8 569 82* 17.78 - 2 16 9 1879/80 Although not achieving anything remarkable, Murdoch was now established in the New South Wales side as opening batsman/wicket-keeper, a fairly rare combination at the time. Own Team O M R W Opp Ct St Total Total 24. New South Wales v Victoria, Sydney, November 21, 22, 24 (New South Wales won by 32 runs) † c and b H.F.Boyle 21 204 168 st J.M.Blackham b G.E.Palmer 16 113 117 25. New South Wales v Victoria, Melbourne, December 26, 27 (Victoria won by an innings and 96 runs) † c T.K.Kendall b G.Alexander 27 139 338 b G.Alexander 2 103 SEASON’S AVERAGES Batting and Fielding M I NO Runs HS Ave 100 50 Ct St Inter State matches 2 4 0 66 27 16.50 - - - - Career 25 44 8 635 82* 17.63 - 2 16 9 1880 - Australians in England It is a fine point whether this or the 1878 tour was the more arduous. Starting at Melbourne on January 1st 1880, ending on the same ground on March 21st 1881 and covering Australia, England, Ireland, Scotland, Australia (again), Tasmania, New Zealand and back to Australia, there were 67 matches, 54 of them against odds plus 23 supplementary games when the main fixture finished early. Of those 67 fixtures, Murdoch missed only one – the ninth at Adelaide in March 1880 when financial affairs required his presence elsewhere. Following the team meeting in Suez, Murdoch now had the additional responsibility of captaincy. First-class opposition was hard to find due to the Sydney rumpus and the fact that most fixture lists were almost complete before the decision to tour was known in England. Hence the large number of matches against odds (as in 1878, the opposition was more often than not heavily reinforced with first-class cricketers). Travel arrangements were little better than in 1878. For example, when journeying from Crewe to Clifton for the Gloucestershire fixture the team caught their train ten minutes after close of play, still in their flannels, travelled overnight and arrived at 7.30 next morning for a noon start. Murdoch’s 153* at The Oval in the first ever Test Match in England, the only first-class hundred hit for the tourists, was the foundation of one of the greatest fight backs in Test cricket history. Opening in the first innings, Murdoch was caught at mid-off without scoring. With his side following on 271 in arrears, he came in when the first wicket fell at 13 and was still there when the last fell at 327, sharing partnerships of 83 with P.S.McDonnell, (fourth), 42 with J.M.Blackham (sixth), 38 with G.J.Bonnor (seventh), 52 with G.Alexander (ninth) and 88 with W.H.Moule (tenth). The latter was an all legal affair, solicitor Murdoch batting with the future Judge Moule. Murdoch hit 1 five and 18 fours, gave no chance according to contemporary accounts and beat Grace’s first innings 152 by one run. This won him a bet with Grace as to who would finish top scorer. Murdoch wore Grace’s sovereign on his watch chain until the day he died. Murdoch’s gift for conciliation did not always work. Playing against the tourists on a lively wicket for Eighteen of Scarborough & District in August was Joseph Frank, a fast bowler who even some of his team mates were prepared to accept was a blatant thrower. Put on late in the first innings he took the 14