Tour of Australia
1876-77Captain : James Lillywhite
First Test-playing tour of Australia by an
English side
(September 1876 - March 1877)
There had been three previous tours by
English sides on which no Test matches were played: 1861-62 under H.H. Stephenson;
1863-64 under George Parr; and 1873-74 led by W G Grace.
James Lillywhite, the 35 year-old Sussex cricketer, managed and captained the
tour, England's fourth to Australia,
but the first on which a Test match was played.
The Victorian James Conway suggested to him that he
should bring out a professional team and acted as his agent in arranging
matches. Arthur Hobgen, a wealthy young farmer, and Charles Stride, fellow
member of Chichester's Priory Park cricket club, put up the finance for the
tour.In spite of adding an unprofitable
visit to New Zealand
in the middle of the tour, Lillywhite was able to give his backers a
satisfactory return on their investment, as well as paying the team members,
professionals all, about twice the £150 fee they were promised.
James Lillywhite was a good cricket captain and a
natural organiser. He approached
players and they preferred his terms to those offered by rival Fred Grace,
whose own proposed Australian tour under the Melbourne Club fell through. Unlike 1873/74 when the professionals were given second-class
arrangements, Lillywhite ensured that they would all travel and stay
first-class.
Ted
Pooley and Alf Bramhall were detained in New Zealand after a brawl over a
bet. They were eventually acquitted about six weeks later and made their own
ways back to England.
This meant that they missed the first ‘Test Match’ against a combined New South Wales and Victoria XI at Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Henry
Jupp played in only the first match of the tour against South Australia because he was suffering
from "sciatica or something of the kind" and "inflammation of
the eyes".Once Pooley was
arrested, Jupp had to appear in every remaining game.
Opening batsmenJohn Selby,
George Ulyett, Andrew Greenwood
Middle-order batsmenHenry
Charlwood, Harry Jupp, Tom Armitage
Wicket-keeperEdward
Pooley
Slow bowlersAlfred Shaw, James Southerton, James Lillywhite
Medium-fast bowlersAllen Hill,
Tom Emmett
Armitage, T
Yo
28
RHBRM
Charlwood, H R J
Sx
30
RHB
Emmett, T.
Yo
35
LHBLM
Greenwood, A
Yo
29
RHBopener
Hill, A
Yo
31
RFM(round-arm)
Jupp, H
Sy
35
RHB openerreserve WK
Lillywhite, J
Sx
35
LSMcaptain
& manager
Pooley, E
Sy
39
WK
Selby, J
Nt
27
RHB openersecond WK
Shaw, A
Nt
34
RM assistant to captain
Southerton, J
Sx
49
SLAassistant to captain
Ulyett, G.
Yo
25
RHB openerRFM
County representation
Nt - Nottinghamshire
(2)
Sy - Surrey (2)
Sx - Sussex (3)
Yo -Yorkshire
(5)
Average
age ofteam at time of first Test
match
(15 March 1877) :
33
yrs 8 months.
Key to types :
LHB left-hand bat;LBG leg-break and googly bowler,OB off-breakLSMLeft-arm, slow mediumSLAslow left-arm bowler, RFM right arm fast medium bowler
Test Appearances made before the tour
none
Tour Management
James
Lillywhite
Player-Manager
Alfred
Shaw
Assistant
Manager
Selectors
James Lillywhite chose the team.
Selection
“Lillywhite’s
eleven contained the cream of English professional cricket of the day; only
Ephraim Lockwood… was missing from the ranks of the grizzled band of
simple-hearted cricketers.”
- from an appreciation of James Lillywhite Jr in The
Guardian after his death in 1929.
Tour
Party Announced: ?
Travel
SouthamptonAdelaide
‘’Poonah’
On the way to Southampton
Docks, the team stopped off at Chichester,
home of Lillywhite and of the tour's financial backers, to play a match on 17
September.
They departed the Southampton quayside on 21
September 1876, sailing on the three-masted P & O ship ‘Poonah’, via Gibraltar,
Malta, Suez
and Colombo (Ceylon). After a six-week voyage,
they arrived at King George’s Sound, Albany (Western Australia) on 2 November, and at Glenelg (South Australia) four
days later. Here they disembarked and were driven to Adelaide by horse-drawn coach.
They broke off their Australian tour on 17 January
1877 to sail from Sydney to New Zealand for eight matches.
During this time Conway
arranged for a combined New South Wales-Victoria team to play them on level
terms.
The team returned to Australia
from Bluff, Invercargyll, leaving on the ‘Alhambra’ on 9 March and reaching Melbourne on 15 March.
Time spent in Australia
159 days
(6
November - 6 April)
Reinforcements
None used.
Fixtures/Results
The two Sydney matches were played at the Albert
Cricket Ground, Renshaw.
•Alfred Shaw's 5-38 in the first Test at Melbourne was the first
five-wicket haul by an English bowler.
•In the second match George Ulyett (63) steered England
to their victory target.
Tour Summary
† includes odds matches,
limited overs, and any other non first-class.
P
W
L
D
Aban
Test Matches
2
1
1
0
-
Other first-class matches
1
0
0
1
-
ϯ Minor matches
20
10
3
7
-
All Matches
23
11
4
8
-
Return to England
AdelaideTBrindisi
‘Bangalore’
BrindisitLondon
On 19 April, a farewell dinner was held for the English side at
the Globe Hotel in Adelaide
and Lillywhite presented John Conway with a locket to thank him for carrying
out the arrangements for the tour.
Accompanied by the Australian
player William Midwinter, the team sailed home from Australia on the steam ship 'Bangalore' leaving Adelaide
on Tuesday 17 April, reaching Galle (Ceylon) on 8 May, and then Brindisi.
From Italy
the players travelled overland across Europe and reached London on 2 June.
Pooley travelled home alone,
by way of the United States,
arriving back in England
on 9 July 1877.