Part 3 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
Part2

It was Boxing Day of 1876 when the visitors began their first game in Victoria, having completed 1 game in South Australia and 3 in New South Wales. A recent addition to the Melbourne Cricket Ground had been their new ‘reversible’ stand, built at the northern end of the famous ground at a cost of about £4678, the first major stand built on the ground to serve as a grandstand for the paying public, with a seating capacity of about 2,000 spectators. The local press described the new addition to the MCG as: “A fine grandstand…. with five seating bays. The seating is reversible for winter, so that spectators can look into Yarra Park for the football.” The ‘Reversible Stand’ was to later burn down tragically in 1884 and be replaced with a ‘Grandstand’. The English visitors faced off against XV of Victoria, and although there is no information regarding the toss, it is on record that the local team had taken first strike in the game.

The P & O steamship Poonah — The P & O steamship *Poonah*

Against a potent English attack comprising Tom Emmett, Alfred Shaw, James Lillywhite himself, Allen Hill, James Southerton, and George Ulyett, the local team put up a respectable total of 190 all out in the days of underprepared and uncovered wickets. Midwinter top scored with 41 for the home team and Tom Horan contributed 34 runs. Shaw was almost unplayable, picking up 6/43. The visitors replied with 135 all out, with Frank capturing 5/44 for the home team, and Midwinter picking up 2/46.

It was Horan (47*) again with the bat after the first 4 Victorian batsmen in the list had collectively scored a solitary run. The other men in double figures were Midwinter (12), ‘keeper Blackham (16), and slow left-arm orthodox bowler Kendall (10). The wrecker in chief was the English champion bowler Shaw (6/31) for the second time in the game as the Victoria XV total crept up to 105 all out in their 2nd innings.

That left the Englishmen a victory target of 161 runs in the last innings of the game. Midwinter was in devastating form with the ball, picking up 7/54 as the visitors were dismissed for 129 runs. The all-round skills of Billy Midwinter helped the Victoria XV to win the game by 31 runs on the 4th day of the scheduled 5-day game.

The second of two matches against New South Wales at the Albert Cricket Ground in Sydney, played over 15 and 16 Jan 1877, was to be an important turning point in the history of cricket played between teams from England and Australia. For the first time, the Englishmen found themselves up against an Antipodean colonial team on ‘equal terms’ in the sense of both teams comprising 11 players. The match was drawn. In his book The Complete Illustrated History of Australian Cricket, cricket historian Jack Pollard clarifies the situation: “The drawn match against New South Wales was the first of four English tours played on equal terms. The previous 58 matches involving English tourists saw the visitors opposed to sides of 22, 18, or 15 players, or in exhibition matches where Englishmen figured in both teams.”

At the conclusion of the above match, a suggestion was mooted to the English camp for a match between All Australian and All England. Mulling over the idea, Lillywhite found the proposition to be an attractive one, although the Englishmen were scheduled to begin the New Zealand leg of their tour very shortly. After discussion among themselves, the Englishmen agreed in principle, and requested the tour manager of the English team, John Conway of Victoria, to make the necessary arrangements while the Englishmen were away at New Zealand.

The New Zealand leg

The Englishmen departed from Australia on 17 Jan 1877 for a series of 8 second-class games in New Zealand from 29 Jan 1877 to 7 Mar 1877. During the tour, the Englishmen lost the services of their wicketkeeper Ted Pooley when he was arrested and imprisoned in Christchurch in connection with a gambling incident, although he was to be released later when no charges could be proved against him. The English team left.

Bluff, Invercargyll, on the southern tip of the South Island of New Zealand, for their trip back to Australia, on the Alhambra on 9 Mar 1877. Inclement weather and rough seas prolonged the duration of their passage, with most of the players falling prey to acute sea-sickness and many of them having to take whatever rest they could on the decks, there being insufficient accommodation for them on the ship. They returned to Melbourne on 14 Mar 1877 considerably shaken and vigorously stirred.

While the Englishmen were away at New Zealand, John Conway, blessed with a natural flair for organisation, threw himself whole-heartedly into the delicate business of selecting the team and organising the venue for the match. He had his own style and panache, completely by-passing the colonial administrative cricketing bodies in existence at the time, namely, the Victorian Cricketers’ Association and the New South Wales Cricket Association, as he set about contacting players of his personal choice, all highly acclaimed cricketers with proven skills and credentials.

Preparations for a Grand Match

The NSWCA were not amused at this rebuff, and passed the following resolution, washing their hands completely off the whole business: “It has been publicly notified that a game is about to be played between All England and a combined eleven of New South Wales and Victoria. This association wishes to place on record that (the) game has been arranged without any reference to the association, and cannot be recognised as a match in which chosen representatives of New South Wales take part.”

Conway’s enthusiasm received a setback from an unexpected quarter when some of his contacted players declined. All-rounder Edwin Evans of New South Wales pleaded his inability to participate on account of his public office as Government Inspector of Land Selections. Fred Spofforth refused to play when he heard that his preferred wicketkeeper, the New South Welshman Billy Murdoch, had been passed over to make way for Jack Blackham of Victoria. Spofforth’s replacement, left-arm swing bowler Frank Allan preferred to attend the Warrnambool Agriculture Show rather than turning out for All Australia. Allan was finally replaced in the squad by John Hodges, also a left-arm fast-medium bowler. The final selection comprised Charles Bannerman, Nat Thomson, Dave and Ned Gregory from New South Wales, while the other 7 players were all from Victoria.

In chapter 3 of the blog History of Cricket, one learns that the choice of venue proved to be another logistical hurdle for Conway initially when it became known that the East Melbourne Club had pre-booked the Melbourne Cricket Ground for one of their own games. High words ensued between Conway and the authorities of the Club and the East Melbourne Club even threatened to take legal action against Conway and Lillywhite. The impasse was finally smoothed over diplomatically when the master manipulator Conway offered to pay the East Melbourne Club £230 as compensation to assuage their feelings over the loss of the venue, cleverly adding the further inducement of allowing 500 members of the East Melbourne Club free entry into the MCG for the privilege of being allowed to stage the All Australia versus All England match at the famous cricket ground.

The important match was scheduled as a ‘timeless’ encounter at the MCG from Thursday, 15 Mar/1877, with a rest day on the Sunday, 18 Mar 1877. The playing hours were fixed as 3 ½ hours per day, beginning at about 1:00 PM. Lunch was to be taken between 2:00 PM and 2:40 PM. There were to be 4 balls bowled per over, and the follow on was to be compulsorily imposed for a 1st innings deficit of 80 runs or more. Only 1 new ball was to be used per innings, the provision for a second new ball after 200 runs had been scored was to come much later in history. In the English camp, James Southerton, about 8 months short of his 50th birthday, was to be the oldest debutant in the match from either side.

The Dhaka-born Bransby Cooper was easily the most experienced cricketer in the list, with a solid Rugby School upbringing and experience of playing cricket for his school, and for both Middlesex and Kent, in addition to playing alongside the great WG Grace for the Gentlemen. Additionally, and serendipitously, Cooper would be celebrating his 33rd birthday on the very day on which the match was scheduled to begin. In addition, Cooper was one of the 7 players from Victoria in the selected team. It was therefore widely expected that Cooper would be given the responsibility of leading the home team for this important game.

But Conway thought it fit to leave it to the selected players to choose their own skipper. Surprisingly, given the prevalent highly insular colonial feelings among the cricketers of the times, particularly between those of Victorian and New South Wales, and given the preponderance of Victoria men in the chosen side, the players opted for the New South Welshman Dave Gregory, all 6’ 2” and 14 st 4 lb of him, abundantly endowed with facial hair, and a man with a natural flair for leadership, as their skipper. David William Gregory, father of three and a senior official of the Sydney Audit Office, thus had the honour of leading the first representative Australian team bestowed on him by his own team-mates, a proud moment for him as a member of a pioneering cricketing family of Australia.

Many years later, Dave Gregory’s daughter Pearl, in conversation with noted cricket writer Ray Robinson, would say: “It always pleased father to recall that his fellow players elected him captain for the first of all Test matches. Yes, the Victorians elected him as the match was in Melbourne.” It may be mentioned here that Dave Gregory had had no previous experience of captaincy at this stage of his career.

The final line-ups from both teams, partially modified from The Wisden Book of Test Cricket 1877 - 1977, edited by the late Bill Frindall, was as follows, arranged in alphabetical order:

It was shortly before 1:00 PM on Thursday, the Ides of March of the year of our Lord 1877, that Dave Gregory, who would be completing 32 years of age exactly one month later, and James Lillywhite Jnr, who had completed his 35th year just a month earlier, and was as copiously whiskered as his rival, walked out on to the MCG turf for the toss of the coin in what was to be recognised by later cricket historians and statisticians as the very first Test match of all. Calling correctly, Gregory opted to bat first.

In the absence of Pooley, left behind in New Zealand, Henry Jupp, with some previous experience of keeping wickets, would have been a logical choice as replacement behind the stumps for England. Unfortunately, however, Jupp had been suffering from some unspecified inflammation of his eyes at the time, and the Englishmen were left with Selby for the ‘keeper’s post, although it later transpired that Selby had had little or no experience of ‘keeping to any established fast bowler.

The Davis Test Match Database Online, maintained so meticulously by Charles Davis of Melbourne informs us that a crowd of about 4,500 had been in attendance on the first day of the historic match. The umpires for the match were former Victoria players Curtis Reid and Richard Terry, the scoring being done by H Kennon and WK Plummer. Contemporary media reports suggest that the entire match had been blessed with fine weather.

(In the next instalment … the details of the first ever Test match)