History of Test cricket from 1877 to 1883

Test matches in the period 1877 to 1883 were organised somewhat differently from international cricket matches today. The teams were rarely representative, and the boat trip between Australia and England, which usually lasted about 48 days, was one that many cricketers (especially amateurs) were unable or unwilling to undertake. As such, the home teams enjoyed a great advantage.

Thirteen Test Matches were played during the period, all between Australian and English sides. Most were not styled as representative "England v. Australia" contests, however: this description was only applied later by cricket statisticians. The same is true of their designation as "Test matches", which did not enter into the vernacular until 1885.Fact|date=October 2008 Eleven of the thirteen matches played to 1883 were in Australia, where the colonials made the most of their home advantage, winning seven while England won four, and two matches were drawn.

By 1883, the tradition of England-Australia tours was well established, that year having concluded the first Ashes series. When England lost at home for the first time in 1882, "The Sporting Times" lamented the death of cricket in the mother country and declared that "the body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia". Later in the year, the Honourable Ivo Bligh led a team to Australia to recover the Ashes. After a three-match series, a group of Melburnian ladies presented him with an urn containing ashes, which has come to be the accolade for which England and Australia play today. It is not, however, nor has it ever been, the official trophy of the contest.

A number of the problems that continue to bedevil cricket today had already surfaced by 1883: there were umpiring disputes, betting controversies, match-fixing, and even a riot.

Genesis of Test cricket

There was a long build-up to what became the first Test tour. The inaugural overseas visit of leading English cricketers was organised by John Sackville, 3rd Duke of Dorset, a strong player himself. Having recently been an ambassador to [France, where he promoted the game of cricket, Dorset arranged a tour to that country in 1789. Although it is unclear whom they were to play against, his men did get as far as an assembly in Dover, ready for the cross-Channel trip to France. The Duke's timing was poor, however, for the French Revolution had just broken out. His cricket tour became the first one to be abandoned for political reasons.

It was not until the 19th century that strong "England" teams began to form. By the late 18th, there were many games played by sides designated "England" — "England" vs "Hambledon" and "England" vs "Kent", for instance — but these were not truly representative. By 1846, however, William Clarke, a bricklayer from Nottingham, had formed the All-England Eleven, a mostly professional team of top cricketers who toured the country, taking on local sides. Leading amateurs such as Alfred Mynn also played on occasion. Matches were usually against the odds, with eleven men in their team versus 22 for the opposition, to make it a more interesting and even contest.

In 1852, together with fellow Sussex man Jemmy Dean, John Wisden founded the United All-England Eleven, providing both financial and sporting competition to Clarke's side. The matches between these two became the highlight of every English season, and the teams, both essentially business ventures, went a long way to popularising the game in England.

1859 saw the first main representative tour by an England team. It was captained by George Parr and comprised six players from the All-England Eleven, together with another six from the United All-England XI. The team toured North America, where cricket was very popular — especially in the United States and Canada. The match in New York, for example, is said to have been watched by 10,000 people, but this may well be an exaggeration. Even more saw the team when it played in Philadelphia, the spiritual home of North American cricket. All matches were played against the odds, and the tour was a financial success, the English players making £90 each.

1861 brought the first English side to Australia. North America was avoided this time because of the Civil War. It was a weak side, dominated by Surrey players because George Parr and his Notts men would not accept £150 per head plus expenses. The Englishmen won half their twelve matches, losing two and drawing four, all against the odds. This was followed in 1863/64 by another tour to both Australia and New Zealand, led by George Parr and including the amateur EM Grace, older brother of WG.

In 1868 a team of Australian Aborigines toured England — see "Australian Aboriginal cricket team in England in 1868" — becoming the first Australians to visit England. Also in that year, an English side, led by Edgar Willsher, toured North America and beat an XXII of the United States and an XXII of Canada. 1872 saw a third tour to North America, led by RA Fitzgerald. Among its number was WG Grace, who was already recognised as the greatest cricketer in England. In 1873/4, Grace himself led a tour to Australia which included four amateurs. The most important game was played and won against a XV of New South Wales and Victoria. Up to this point, all but one match had been played against odds.

The first Test tour: 1876/77

Two Englishmen tried to promote separate tours to Australia for the 1876/77 season: James Lillywhite pushed a tour of professional cricketers, while Fred Grace (another of that immortal kin) promoted one that would have included amateurs. Despite the many initial preparations for Grace's tour, it fell through, leaving Lillywhite's to go solo. It visited New Zealand first and then Australia. Its highlights were two games against a Combined Australia XI, which later came to be recognised as the first Test Matches.

Lillywhite's team was considered weak. It did not include any of the leading amateurs of the day, like "The Champion" WG Grace, and was further handicapped after its only specialist wicketkeeper, Ted Pooley, was left behind in New Zealand facing a charge of assault. "The Australasian" wrote of Lillywhite's men that they were

by a long way the weakest side that have ever played in the colonies, notwithstanding the presence of Shaw, who is termed the premier bowler of England. If Ulyett, Emmett, and Hill are specimens of the best fast bowling in England, all we can say is, either they have not shown their proper form, or British bowling has sadly deteriorated.

The first Test, against a Combined Australia XI, was billed as the "Grand Combination Match", and was scheduled to be held at the East Melbourne Cricket Ground, because the Melbourne Cricket Ground had been booked by Grace. With Grace having pulled out, however, Lillywhite moved his matches to the larger, and more profitable, MCG, to the considerable ire of the East Melbourne functionaries. The Combined Australia XI included cricketers from New South Wales and Victoria, but there were also some notable absentees. Fred Spofforth, Australia's legendary "Demon Bowler", did not play in the first Test as a show of dissent at the non-selection of Billy Murdoch, the New South Wales wicket-keeper to whom he then attributed much of his success. He declared that he would play only if Murdoch kept wicket, but Jack Blackham had already been chosen. Spofforth's appeal was seen as a display of insolence shocking in a man of twenty-three. "As this could not be arranged," went the sardonic remark of the time, "this modest gentleman was left out." [Barker 1967, p. 7.] Despite the name of the Australian side, all but four of its members were British-born.

The first Test

At 13:00 on March 15, 1877, the first Test began. It was dominated by Charles Bannerman, who scored the first single in Test history off Alfred Shaw's second ball, was dropped on ten by Tom Armitage off the same bowler (who himself would drop Bannerman twice) [Meredith 1990, p. 61.] and had 27 by lunch at 14:00, with the Combined XI 42 for three. Bannerman increased his scoring rate after the interval and reached his century at 16:25, by which time the crowd was around 4,500. By the close of play at 17:00, he had moved on to 126, and Combined Australia was 166 for six. Bannerman took his score to 165 on the second day before he was forced to retire hurt after a delivery from George Ulyett split the index finger of his right hand. Australia was 240 for 7 at that stage; the innings promptly collapsed to 245 all out.

Bannerman scored 67 per cent of the runs in the innings, which remains a record today. His score is still the highest by an Australian on Test debut, and the ninth highest by all players. His performance so impressed the public that a subscription raised more than £80 for him.Fact|date=October 2008

On the third day, a Saturday, play started earlier at 12:15. There were approximately 12,000 spectators in the ground, a figure abetted by England's having conceded a first-innings lead. Lillywhite's XI fought back, though, with five for 38 from Shaw and three for 39 from Ulyett. By the close, Australia had been reduced to 83 for nine, a lead of just 132.

On the fourth morning, Australia's last-wicket stand extended the lead to 153, and Lillywhite's XI collapsed to 108 all out in just over two hours. Australia thus won by 45 runs, and the crowd was vociferous in its congratulations. Captain Dave Gregory, was given a gold medal by the Victorian Cricket Association, while his team-mates received silver medals. Losing captain James Lillywhite was magnanimous in defeat. "The win," he said, "was [...] a feather in their cap and a distinction that no Englishman will begrudge them [...] ."

The second Test

Following the success of the first Test, a second was quickly arranged, with the tourists taking a larger slice of the gate receipts. Melbourne Cricket Club contributed £50 to the cost of bringing New South Welshmen, such as Spofforth and Murdoch, down to Melbourne. Lillywhite's team proved itself stronger than "The Australasian" had suggested, and went on to win the match.

On the first day, Australia won the toss but was tied down completely by the English bowlers. Billy Midwinter top-scored with 31 as Australia struggled slowly to 122 in 112.1 four-ball overs. Australia struck back immediately, however, leaving England seven for two at the close. The attendance that first Saturday was poor, with only 4,500 paying to get into the ground.

The second day was all England's, as a solid performance took the score to 261 all out at the close, a lead of 139. Lillywhite's XI was so dominant that there were rumours that they had deliberately underperformed in the first game so as to secure better odds from bookmakers on winning the second, or at the very least bolster gate receipts.

England was still on top on the third day, despite a better Australian performance: at stumps, the hosts were 207 for seven, Lillywhite himself having picked up four wickets. Only 1,500 were watching by the time his side was set 121 to win on the Wednesday. Victory was secured by early afternoon.

The Test Matches, particularly the first one, greatly excited the colonial press. There was little coverage in England, however, and it was only later, once they were recognised as Tests, that any real note was taken of them there.

"England in Australia 1876/7. Match length: Timeless. Balls per over: 4. Series result: Drawn 1-1."

Lillywhite, Shaw and Shrewsbury's first tour 1881/2

After the 1876/7 tour Lillywhite invited Shaw to join him in promoting and managing a tour to Australia. Shaw was concerned that the financial burdens may be too great for two men, so Arthur Shrewsbury was brought in as a third backer. After Lord Harris's intervening tour, the three men put together their first tour to Australia in 1881, going via America. At the time Shaw was rated England's best defensive bowler and Shrewsbury England's best defensive batsmen. Lillywhite no longer played, but did umpire in a number of games. All the tourists were professional players.

They lost money on the American leg of the tour, and could only scrape together less than £1,000 to pay for their steamship journey to Sydney. This was made worse as the Americans refused to accept Bank of England banknotes as payment, and the captain of their ship, the "SS Australia", a Sydneysider himself, personally agreed to guarantee their fare.

Betting scandals have been part of cricket from its earliest days, and it was in a match against Victoria before the first Test of the tour that they surfaced. There was very heavy betting on the match. Victoria needed 94 runs to win in the last innings when the tourists' boat was due to leave, meaning that the match would be a draw. The Victorians, anxious for a win, asked Shaw and Lillywhite to play out the game. They agreed, but only if the sailing of their boat was delayed till 7pm after the match; to their surprise, the boat company consented. However, there were rumours that two Englishmen had tried to throw the game. In response Shaw bet £1 on an England victory and made every other member of his team do likewise. Remarkably, the Victorians were bowled out for 75, leaving Shaw's side the winner by 18 runs. But the rumours of match-fixing did not go away: On the boat journey to Adelaide, Billy Midwinter, who is the only man to play Test cricket for England against Australia and Australia against England, made accusations that led to a scuffle with the two men believed to have been implicated. Discretion from those reporting the tour means that the names of the alleged match-fixers cannot be identified with any certainty, but it was suggested that one of the players had dropped the simplest of catches, the other taken a catch only after the ball got into his shirtsleeve and became stuck.

Later Shaw said, "It was a remarkably curious circumstance." The "Australasian" wrote, "Professional cricketers who keep late hours, make bets to some and are seen drinking champagne at an early hours with members of the betting tent cannot be surprised if people put a wrong construction on their conduct."

When the Test matches were played, for the first time a South Australian, George Giffen, was selected to play. The first Test saw the biggest crowds then on record: 16,500 on the Saturday; 20,000 on the Monday and 10,000 on the Tuesday. England had the better of a game that was drawn after the fourth day as Shaw's side needed to catch a steamship for New Zealand at 6.30pm. Chasing 277 Australia had made 127 for 3 by the end of the game.

In the second Test, England made a tortuous 133 in 115 four-ball overs, with Eugene Palmer taking 7 for 68. By close of play on the first day, Australia were in the driving seat at 86 for 1. Whilst England recovered to dismiss them for 197 and then made 232 themselves, they were never going to stop Australia getting the 169 runs they needed to win. The third Test was even more one-sided. England got 188. Then Australia made 262, with Percy McDonnell making 147, Alec Bannerman 70, and no other batsman scoring more than 7! England again collapsed to 134, and Australia won by 6 wickets.

Although the fourth Test was billed as being "timeless", in practice, because of Shaw's team's other engagements, the game could only last four days. After three days only 22 wickets had fallen, with the most notable performance being a Test-career best 149 for George Ulyett. The fourth day of the fourth Test was wiped out by rain, and so the Test was drawn. The Englishmen went to their other commitments, and the Australians set sail to England.

"England in Australia 1881/2. Match length: Timeless. Balls per over: 4. Series result: Australia win 2-0."

"England in Australia 1882/3. Match length: Timeless. Balls per over: 4. One off Test. Result: Australia won."

"Continued on: History of Test cricket (1884 to 1889)"

Notes

References

*Gibson, Alan: "The Cricket Captains of England" ISBN 1-85145-395-4.
*Green, Benny (ed.): "Wisden Anthology 1864–1900" ISBN 0-356-10732-9.
*Grubb, Norman P.: "C.T. Studd: Cricketer and Pioneer" (Lutterworth Press, 2003). ISBN 0-7188-3028-8, p. 29.
*Frith, David: "Australia versus England: A Pictorial History of every Test Match since 1877" ISBN 0-670-90323-X.
*Joy Munns, "Beyond Reasonable Doubt: The Birthplace of the Ashes" (Sunbury, 1994), ISBN 0-646-22153-1, for the origin of the Ashes
*Piesse, Ken: "Cricket's Colosseum, 125 Years of Test Cricket at the MCG", ISBN 1-74066-064-1.
*"Barclay's World of Cricket" (Collins, 1980), ISBN 0-00-216349-7, p259.
* [http://www.cricinfo.com Cricinfo]
* [http://www.cricketarchive.com Cricket Archive]

External links

* [http://www.sportstats.com.au/1880article.html Detailed scorecard of the 1880 Test]