- History of Australian cricket from 1876–77 to 1890
This article describes the history of Australian cricket from the 1876-77 season until 1890.
Events
An England cricket team toured Australia and
New Zealand in the winter of 1876-77 and, in March 1877, took part with Australia in the first two matches to be designated as Tests.Domestic cricket
The 1876-77 Australian cricket season focused on the touring England team and featured no first-class matches between the colonies. New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania were unable to arrange fixtures as in previous seasons. Club cricket matches were played in most of the colonies.
In 1877-78, South Australia in its inaugural first-class match defeated Tasmania by an innings and 13 runs at the
Adelaide Oval , this being the initial first-class match at that famous venue. New South Wales defeated Victoria twice. At theMelbourne Cricket Ground , NSW won by an innings and 6 runs. Then, in the initial first-class match at theSydney Cricket Ground , NSW won by 1 wicket.The colonies continued to arrange matches against each other on an "ad hoc" basis through the 1880s. For details of the matches, see:
Intercolonial cricket in Australia andList of Australian intercolonial cricket matches .Leading players by season
The lists below give the leading first-class runscorers and wicket-takers in each domestic season.
Batsmen
* 1876-77 –
Charles Bannerman (HS 165*) andGeorge Ulyett (HS 94) scored 243 runs each @ 48.60
* 1877-78 –Nat Thompson 101 @ 33.66 (HS 73)
* 1878-79 –George Ulyett 306 @ 34.00 (HS 71)
* 1879-80 –Alec Bannerman 103 @ 25.75 (HS 52)
* 1880-81 –Tom Horan 318 @ 35.33 (HS 113)
* 1881-82 –Billy Murdoch 679 @ 61.72 (HS 321)
* 1882-83 –Alec Bannerman 434 @ 54.25 (HS 101*)
* 1883-84 –Billy Murdoch 567 @ 113.40 (HS 279*)
* 1884-85 –Billy Barnes 520 @ 43.33 (HS 134)
* 1885-86 –John McIlwraith 315 @ 78.75 (HS 133)
* 1886-87 –Arthur Shrewsbury 721 @ 48.06 (HS 236)
* 1887-88 –Harry Moses 815 @ 62.69 (HS 297*)
* 1888-89 –Harry Trott 507 @ 39.00 (HS 172)
* 1889-90 –John Lyons 254 @ 63.50 (HS 134)Bowlers
* 1876-77 –
Alfred Shaw 17 wickets @ 11.76 (BB 5-19)
* 1877-78 –Edwin Evans 18 @ 10.72 (BB 6-57)
* 1878-79 –Tom Emmett 44 @ 11.63 (BB 8-47)
* 1879-80 – William Cooper 12 @ 10.75 (BB 7-37)
* 1880-81 –Edwin Evans 32 @ 11.25 (BB 5-34)
* 1881-82 –Eugene Palmer 47 @ 21.55 (BB 7-46)
* 1882-83 –Eugene Palmer 51 @ 11.52 (BB 7-65)
* 1883-84 –Eugene Palmer 29 @ 17.51 (BB 6-72)
* 1884-85 –Bobby Peel 35 @ 19.22 (BB 7-27)
* 1885-86 –Fred Spofforth 18 @ 15.22 (BB 5-43)
* 1886-87 –Charlie Turner 70 @ 7.68 (BB 8-32)
* 1887-88 –Charlie Turner 106 @ 13.59 (BB 8-39)
* 1888-89 –John Ferris 36 @ 15.83 (BB 6-62)
* 1889-90 –Hugh Trumble 29 @ 14.20 (BB 8-110)International cricket
"For information about the first Australian tour of England, see" :
Australian cricket team in England and North America in 1878 International tours of Australia
England 1876-77
The historic two-match series was drawn 1-1:
* [http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Scorecards/2/2077.html 1st Test] atMelbourne Cricket Ground – Australia won by 45 runs
* [http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Scorecards/2/2078.html 2nd Test] atMelbourne Cricket Ground – England won by 4 wicketsIn addition, England played a [http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Scorecards/2/2075.html first-class match] against New South Wales at the
Albert Cricket Ground inSydney . This game was drawn.All the other games played, mostly against odds, were not first-class. This included the New Zealand leg of the tour. England played 23 matches in total of which they won 11, lost 4 and drew 8.
For further details of this and the next three tours by England, see
History of Test cricket from 1877 to 1883 .England squad
James Lillywhite of Sussex was both the tour organiser and England team captain. His party included five Yorkshire players:Tom Emmett ,George Ulyett ,Tom Armitage ,Allen Hill andAndrew Greenwood . The other players wereHarry Jupp ,James Southerton ,Ted Pooley (all of Surrey);Henry Charlwood (Sussex);John Selby andAlfred Shaw (both of Nottinghamshire).England 1878-79
* [http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Scorecards/2/2257.html 1st Test] at
Melbourne Cricket Ground – Australia won by 10 wicketsThe England team was otherwise known as
Lord Harris ' XI, after its captain, the tour having been organised by theMelbourne Cricket Club . In all matches, the team played 15, won 6, drew 6 and lost 3. In five first-class matches including the Test match, the tourists won 2 and lost 3.No first-class matches were played in New Zealand but four first-class matches in addition to the Test match were played in Australia. These were versus New South Wales (twice) and Victoria (twice). A riot occurred when the tourists played New South Wales, which is more fully described in the article on the
Sydney Riot of 1879 .England 1881-82
* [http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Scorecards/2/2529.html 1st Test] at
Melbourne Cricket Ground – match drawn
* [http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Scorecards/2/2532.html 2nd Test] atSydney Cricket Ground – Australia won by 5 wickets
* [http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Scorecards/2/2534.html 3rd Test] atSydney Cricket Ground – Australia won by 6 wickets
* [http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Scorecards/2/2535.html 4th Test] atMelbourne Cricket Ground – match drawnEngland 1882-83
* [http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Scorecards/2/2662.html 1st Test] at
Melbourne Cricket Ground – Australia won by 9 wickets
* [http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Scorecards/2/2663.html 2nd Test] atMelbourne Cricket Ground – England won by an innings and 27 runs
* [http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Scorecards/2/2664.html 3rd Test] atSydney Cricket Ground – England won by 69 runs
* [http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Scorecards/2/2667.html 4th Test] atSydney Cricket Ground – Australia won by 4 wicketsThe England team, captained by
Ivo Bligh , was on its famous quest "to recover those Ashes", a reference to the famous RIP notice that was published in the aftermath of England's defeat by Australia atThe Oval during the previous English season. Originally, three Tests were arranged and England won two of these after losing the first."For details of this tour, see" :
English cricket team in Australia in 1882-83 England 1884-85
* [http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Scorecards/2/2912.html 1st Test] at
Adelaide Oval – England won by 8 wickets
* [http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Scorecards/2/2917.html 2nd Test] atMelbourne Cricket Ground – England won by 10 wickets
* [http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Scorecards/2/2924.html 3rd Test] atSydney Cricket Ground – Australia won by 6 runs
* [http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Scorecards/2/2926.html 4th Test] atSydney Cricket Ground – Australia won by 8 wickets
* [http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Scorecards/2/2927.html 5th Test] atMelbourne Cricket Ground – England won by an innings and 98 runsFurther details of this and the next two tours can be found in the article
History of Test cricket from 1884 to 1889 .England 1886-87
* [http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Scorecards/3/3176.html 1st Test] at
Sydney Cricket Ground – England won by 13 runs
* [http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Scorecards/3/3180.html 2nd Test] atSydney Cricket Ground – England won by 71 runsEngland 1887-88
* [http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Scorecards/3/3291.html 1st Test] at
Sydney Cricket Ground – England won by 126 runs"For details of this tour, see" :
English cricket team in Australia and New Zealand in 1887-88 Notes
External sources
* [http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Events/AUS.html CricketArchive — itinerary of Australian cricket]
Further reading
* Chris Harte, "A History of Australian Cricket", Andre Deutsch, 1993
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