Part 2 of an exquisitely detailed biography of Billy Midwinter by Pradip Dhole. The travelling cricketer played four Test matches for England, sandwiched between eight Tests Australia and holds a unique place in cricket history as the only cricketer to have played for both Australia and England in Test Matches against each other
Part 1
In an article entitled Special Report: Bendigo’s Ashes Legacy, Part 5 – Billy ‘Mid’ Midwinter Had Divided Loyalties, and appearing in the Bendigo Advertiser of 13 Jul 2013, author Peter MacIver, quoting a columnist with the intriguing name of “Bohemia”, says: “‘Mid’ learnt his cricket on a little patch of grass amongst the Bendigo mines where he and his father bowled to each other in turn, the field being a dog. Sometimes when the ‘Bucks’, as the Bendigo United Cricketers were generally known in those days, were beaten in a match, the old man stood on the seats and told the team in no sort of undertone, ‘Me and Bill and the dog could play the crowd on yez.’”
In the same article quoted above, the same “Bohemia” stirs a historical hornet’s nest with: “It is extremely doubtful whether Midwinter was really born in Gloucestershire. The fiction was, it is understood, started by either (Harry) Jupp or Andrew Greenwood on the occasion of a match at Lord’s, and with the charitable intention of giving ‘Mid’, who had just then arrived from Australia, a chance, WG jumped at it and ‘Mid’ was playing for the county in a few days.”
The formative years of the ‘Sandhurst Infant’ were spent learning the basics of cricket at the California Gully Cricket Club and the Bendigo United Cricket Club, the period roughly covering the 1860s and the 1870s. During this early phase of his life, while attending California Gully School, and playing cricket for his school, Midwinter made the acquaintance of Harry Boyle, about 4 years his senior in age, and already playing for Sandhurst from about the age of 15 years. It was the beginning of a beautiful and abiding friendship. Between themselves, and with the help of a motley crew of a dozen or so other boys of similar age, they flattened out a section of the bush and trimmed the grass to form a crude version of a cricket pitch. That done, they formed a cricket club of their own, calling it the Sydney Flat Cricket Club, about 2 miles away from Sandhurst, the ‘Infant’s’ first cricket affiliation.
Speaking of outdoor sports in his book The History of Bendigo, George Mackay says: “Cricket came into fashion in the early fifties, long before any attention was given to football. The district has been famous for its cricketers— H. F. Boyle and W. Midwinter — who learned their cricket on Bendigo, having achieved distinction not only in Australia, but in England — the home of the game. The district has also been represented at different times in Victorian representative teams by other local players. Of late years, the excellent cricketing standard has been well maintained, and the Bendigo United Cricket Eleven is only inferior to the leading teams of the metropolis…” History tells us that the Bendigo United Cricket Club had been established in 1861.
The Midwinter dwelling was barely about 5 miles away from this rough cricket pitch, and between helping his father on his delivery rounds, the “Infant” took time off to play cricket with his friends. It is said that besides Boyle and Midwinter, several other players who were to later occupy prominent places in Victorian cricket, began their early cricket activities on this patch of rough ground that was to be later developed into a proper cricket ground in the 1890s, and was to be known as Midwinter’s Oval. Parker reports that young Midwinter had moved on from the Sydney Flat Cricket Club to the Bendigo United Cricket club in the 1864/65 Australian summer, and though barely 13 years of age himself, was soon playing alongside fully grown cricketers, and holding his own in adult company.
In his very informative essay, Parker speaks of a cricket game in which Midwinter had scored 256 in an innings, and if the scorecard for the game can ever be unearthed from any source, it would establish the fact that this would have been the first individual double-century in any grade of cricket ever scored in Australia. His documented cricket profile, however, shows Midwinter’s highest individual score to be 187, on behalf of the MCC against Leicestershire in a second-class game at Lord’s in June/1882, his last season in English domestic cricket, but more of that later.
George Mackay mentions 20 Oct 1862 as being an important date in the annals of the goldfield district of Bendigo. It was on this day that the first official railway system connecting Melbourne to the district of Bendigo was inaugurated by His Excellency Sir Henry Barkly in the presence of about 20,000 enthusiastic local people. The railway was to become an important means of communication for a region growing prosperous by the day from the takings from the gold and quartz mines in the area. This railway system, with its relatively quicker link to the metropolis, was to also prove vital for the development of sporting activities of the region.
Parker says that cricketers from the Carlton Cricket Club, formed in 1864, and having their ground in Prince’s Park, North Carlton, journeyed to Bendigo to play the Bendigo United Cricket Club in 1870. They were impressed by the performance and potential of both Harry Boyle and Billy Midwinter to the extent of inviting them to play in Melbourne for the Jolimonters, the previous name of the East Melbourne Cricket Club, for whom both Boyle and Midwinter were to have successful careers.
None of these events, however, informative and interesting as they are, can be found documented in Billy Midwinter’s official cricket profile. In the meantime, the ‘Infant’ had grown to becoming a muscular youth about 6’ 2 ½” tall, weighing in at 14 stones, and sporting a dashing moustache. Before long, Midwinter was being referred to as the “Bendigo giant”, his large-boned frame having filled out considerably.
“Australia’s summers were so long and dry – eminently suited to cricket, that by the 1850s, the whole country was labelled ‘cricket mad.’ This passion intensified as the first English XIs toured the colonies in 1861 and 1863, dominating their matches. Their colonial counterparts then learned the finer points of the game with such speed that by the time the third English side arrived in Australia (1873-74), led by the legendary WG Grace, colonial teams were far more competitive and assertive,” – these views mentioned in the book The Centenary Companion to Australian Federation, edited by Helen Irving, would explain the passion for the game in Australia at this time.
The statements mentioned above were very appropriate for budding Australian cricketers like Billy Midwinter, who had by now developed into a forceful right-hand batsman and a right-arm round-arm medium paced bowler. His performances for his local clubs, notably the Bendigo United Club, were being spoken of favourably by the cognoscenti by now, and his zest for the game was being spoken of as his driving force.
In an article for the online version of the Independent in June 2001, Nick Harris says that it was only in 1873, by which time he was in his 22nd year, that Midwinter was definitely mentioned as playing for the prestigious Melbourne Cricket Club. Described as being “quiet in demeanour”, Midwinter seemed to have the “happy knack of saying excessively funny, dry things without appearing to be in the least conscious of it.” Apart from his obvious cricketing skills, contemporary accounts credit him with being ‘a fine quarter-miler, a decent shot, and not bad at billiards.” Indeed, he was to develop his skills at the billiards table to a remarkable degree later on.
Taking on WG
Mention of Billy Midwinter first appears in his documented cricket profile during the 3rd English tour of Australia under WG Grace, in the second-class game between a Victoria XVIII and WG Grace’s XI at the MCG from Boxing Day of 1873. The local team won the toss and batted first, totalling 266 runs in the 187th (4-ball) over. For the Victorians, the Dhaka-born Bransby Cooper, leading the team, contributed 84, while the gentle giant, the 22-year old Midwinter scored 7 runs. WG Grace captured 10/58, while younger brother GF Grace captured 4/35, the brothers Grace finishing off the Victoria innings almost by themselves. The visitors were dismissed for 110 and 135 to lose the game by an innings and 21 runs.
Greg Ryan, in his book The Making of New Zealand Cricket 1832-1914, attributes “One long clatter of knives and forks followed by the usual popping of corks” as being the main reasons for the early losses by the early English tourists to colonial sides in these “odds” games rather than their superiority in numbers or in increased cricketing skills on the part of the colonials. Ryan then asserts that the losses suffered by the 1873/74 English teams against the main colonies of Victoria and New South Wales, followed by the loss in the first Test of all, were all indicative of a noticeable improvement in the overall cricketing skills and tactical sense of the colonial cricketers by the early 1870s
Later in the same season, Midwinter was to confront WG and his Englishmen a second time at the MCG from 12 Mar 1874, again turning out for XVIII of Victoria. In a drawn game, Midwinter’s scores (0 & 6*) were very modest, but his bowling figures in the visitors’ first innings (3/29) included the wickets of both WG himself and of his brother GF, both of them clean bowled. This was to be an important achievement from the point of view of his overall cricket career, and was to bring him to the favourable notice of WG Grace, leading to a fulfilling experience in his later life.
Midwinter made his first-class debut during the following Australian summer playing for Victoria in an ‘away’ game against New South Wales at the Albert Cricket Ground in the Redfern area of Sydney from 5 Mar 1875. ‘Mid’ was one of two debutants for Victoria in the match, the other being the right-handed batsman Edward Hastings, playing in the first of the only 2 first-class matches of his career. The 31-year old Joseph Coates of the home team won the honour of the toss from his rival skipper Jack Conway, and opted for first strike.
Beginning shortly after noon, the innings lasted only 165 minutes, the final total being 116 all out in the 83rd (4-ball) over. There were only 3 men in double figures: Ned Gregory (65*) of the famous Gregory cricketing clan of New South Wales, debutant Edwin Evans (11), and skipper Coates (14). Spearheading the attack along with the experienced Sam Cosstick, Billy Midwinter’s figures were: 41.2-13-61-6, his first 5-wicket haul in his inaugural first-class match.
The Victorians then put up an even more pathetic show, their first innings total amounting to only 71 all out in an hour and 45 minutes. ‘Mid” and keeper Blackham scored 15 runs each, the top score of the innings, while the home skipper Coates was devastating with the ball, his left-arm medium-paced bowling accounting for 7/40. Fred Spofforth, the only other bowler used in the innings, had figures of 2/25.
The New South Wales 2nd innings realised a total of 102 all out, the top scorer being their debutant Evans (31*). Cosstick (5/25) and Midwinter (2/61), again opening the attack together, and dismissed the first 7 batsmen between them, while Tom Horan, with astonishing figures of 8-7-1-3, disposed of the last 3 batsmen. Victoria began their 2nd innings with a winning target of 148 runs before them. It turned out to be an unreachable target for the Victorians, who could only manage a total of 70 all out to lose the match by 77 runs. Debutant Evans shone with the ball (6/25) for the home team, with Monty Faithfull, playing the last first-class game of his career, and picking up 3/16. The match notes mention a total of about 27,000 spectators over the 3 days of the game.
Father Time marched on and another Intercolonial match between New South Wales and the visiting Victoria team was played out at the Albert Ground of Sydney from 25 Feb/1876, resulting in another substantial victory for the hosts to the tune of 195 runs. Midwinter scored 9 in each innings, the first being the top score of the Victoria 1st innings, and the second while opening the batting. He also captured 1 wicket in each innings. Victoria were dismissed for 37 and 95 in their 2 innings, the devastation being caused by Spofforth (4/22 and 5/50) and Evans (5/12 and 5/40) as both bowlers bowled unchanged through both innings. Midwinter had now been on the receiving end from New South Wales twice out of the two matches he had played against them. Surprisingly, Mid had not been selected for the ‘home’ game against New South Wales at the MCG in December 1875.
The next phase of the cricket career of Midwinter was set in motion with the departure of the three-masted P & O steamship Poonah from the Southampton quayside on 21 Sep 1876. On board were the 12 members of the 4th English team to tour Australia, all of them being professional cricketers. Under the leadership of James Lillywhite Jnr, of the lineage of the great William Lillywhite who was known among the cricket intelligentsia of his time as the ‘Nonpareil’, the team were scheduled to play several matches in Australia and New Zealand. The vessel reached King George’s Sound, Albany, on the Western Australian coast, on 2 Nov/1876, after a voyage lasting 48 days. The ship then proceeded to Glenelg, South Australia, reaching the port after 4 days. The cricketers disembarked at Glenelg and were driven by horse-drawn coach to Adelaide to begin their tour of Australia, with the first game beginning on 16 Nov 1876.