Lives in Cricket No 51 - Rev ES Carter

was built in 1865 by Scott & Co of Greenock for Holts Steam Ship Company, later the Blue Star Line. Its maiden voyage took place in April 1866 on a 65-day journey from Liverpool to Hong Kong. The Agamemnon sailed the oceans until it was scrapped in 1899. Amodel of the ship remains today in the National Maritime Museum, described as a passenger-cargo vessel. Carter records that on his arrival in Melbourne in early February 1869 he had put on over two stone in weight so the voyage must have been good for his constitution. He once said that when he boarded the steamer his weight was 10st 10lb, and that on disembarking he was 13st 4lb. “The first man I saw in Australia at the end of the Sandridge pier was G.P.Robertson, who played with me in the Oxford Eleven the year before. He was living in Melbourne, so at once got me down to the ground and enrolled me as a member of the Melbourne CC with the result that I was chosen to play against the Aboriginals and against New South Wales at Sydney.” He was to be in Australia for eight weeks and Longstop in The Australasian said of him ‘he is a very fine hitter, but he has no style and I think his defence is weak’. He then second top scored with 44 for Victoria for whom Mullagh, Bullocky and Redcap were bowling and The Australasian writer now pronounced: ‘The country which produces Carters will take a good deal of beating yet, and we should recommend our cricketers, especially the natives, to practise more and bounce less.’ The Melbourne cricket authorities were conscious that having an English player newly arrived in Australia in the Victoria side might incur some adverse comment, as indeed it did, but the benefit of having in their side a player who might well have more experience than many of the local team was to be a decisive factor. The advantage was not at first obvious. At the Sydney Domain Ground, on 4 March 1869, Victoria won the toss and batted first but were then bowled out for just 61 runs. The available scorecard shows that they were all out in 51.2 overs (presumably four-ball overs) bowled in 105 minutes, Carter did however top score with 16 runs. Victoria were not despondent Family 23