Famous Cricketers No 77 - W.L.Murdoch

Spofforth’s spikes were actually the cause of the trouble. Own Team O M R W Opp Ct St Total Total 76. New South Wales v Victoria, Melbourne, December 23, 26, 27, 28, 29 (New South Wales won by seven wickets) *† c J.M.Blackham b F.E.Allan 71 247 148 c H.F.Boyle b W.Bruce 67 273-3 371 77. AUSTRALIA v ENGLAND, Melbourne, December 30, January 1, 2 (Australia won by nine wickets) * b C.F.H.Leslie 48 291 177 not out 33 58-1 169 78. AUSTRALIA v ENGLAND, Melbourne, January 19, 20, 22 (England won by an innings and 27 runs) * not out 19 114 294 b W.Bates 17 153 79. AUSTRALIA v ENGLAND, Sydney, January 26, 27, 29, 30 (England won by 69 runs) * lbw b A.G.Steel 19 218 247 1 c G.B.Studd b F.Morley 0 83 123 1 80. New South Wales v Victoria, Sydney, February 9, 10 (Victoria won by an innings and 166 runs) * b G.E.Palmer 16 49 281 b G.E.Palmer 3 66 81. AUSTRALIA v ENGLAND, Sydney, February 17, 19, 20, 21 (Australia won by four wickets) * b R.G.Barlow 0 262 263 1 c R.G.Barlow b W.Bates 17 199-6 197 3 SEASON’S AVERAGES Batting and Fielding M I NO Runs HS Ave 100 50 Ct St Test matches 4 8 2 153 48 25.50 - - 6 - Inter-state matches 2 4 0 157 71 39.25 - 2 - - Season 6 12 2 310 71 31.00 - 2 6 - Career 81 142 18 3687 321 29.73 4 14 74 13 1883/84 Picnics and champagne notwithstanding, Murdoch was now at his peak as a batsman. His 158 against Victoria was a hard fought effort with only 8 fours in a match of stark contrasts which saw the previously dominant batsman struggling on a crumbling wicket over the last two days. The two Combined X1 matches were part of a sequence of nine fixtures (the remainder against odds two of which Murdoch missed due to business elsewhere) staged as preliminaries to the tour of England. Murdoch’s 279* included 17 fours. Apart from a possible early stumping chance, the innings was said to be faultless until he passed 250. With P.S.McDonnell (111) he added 199 for the second wicket and with G.Giffen (53) 105 for the third. At this point, no other batsman had exceeded 200 in Australia. Own Team O M R W Opp Ct St Total Total 82. New South Wales v Victoria, Melbourne, December 26, 27, 28, 29, 31 (Victoria won by three wickets) * c and b W.E.Midwinter 158 412 420 1 b G.E.Palmer 22 143 136-7 1 83. Australian XI v Combined XI, Melbourne, January 1, 2, 3 (Match drawn) * not out 279 619 181-9 1 84. New South Wales v Victoria, Sydney, February 8, 9, 11, 12 (New South Wales won by 202 runs) *† c P.M.Lewis b J.W.Trumble 25 169 102 1 b J.W.Trumble 0 289 154 - 1 85. Australian XI v Combined XI, Sydney, February 15, 16, 18 (Australian XI won by nine wickets) c R.C.Allen b F.R.Spofforth 83 318 222 did not bat - 20-1 113 20