| Tour
of England
1880 Captain : Billy
Murdoch | |
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Cricket Tours
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First
Australian Test tour [Second tour of England] First
Test-playing tour of England
by Australia (March - November 1880) | An Australian team toured England in
1878 without playing a Test match so the second tour (1880) is the first to be
regarded as an Australian 'Test cricket tour'. This tour of England
was the first on which the Australian team played a Test match abroad. Alluding
to the physical assault upon Lord Harris in 1878-79 as well as disapproval of
the huge earnings by 'amateur' cricketers in 1878, a cable was sent to
discourage the Australians from making the tour at all. Though not deterred,
the Melbourne Cricket Club organisers hesitated and did not make the final
decision to proceed with the tour until late (Australian) summer. James Lillywhite, acting as agent for the Australians, had the
tour confirmed but by
then, he was told, fixtures for the 1880 English season were arranged. When he asked the counties to change their plans he was snubbed and
failed to secure any matches on the main cricket grounds. He even resorted to placing
an advertisement in 'The Sporting Life'
for matches. Most games saw 18 men pitched
against the Australian XI, and with victory usually being achieved easily
within the three days allocated, a new match had to be started to fill up the time. Their high standard of play
soon reversed the tourists' misfortune. More teams offered to play them and
by the end of the tour the programme was almost too full. Charles Alcock who was the
Secretary of Surrey Cricket Club and had staged the first football
international at The Oval 1873 repeated his success with cricket. Alcock saw to it that the return match
against Surrey was replaced by a Test match
at the Oval. Earlier WG Grace had attempted without success to arrange a
match against England
at Lord's. The Australians did not lose
any match until late in the tour when teams like Scarborough
invited professionals of Test standard to join their side. During the Scarborough match Spofforth broke a finger batting
against an illegal delivery from Franks of Yorkshire and missed the remainder
of the tour, including the Test match. This team was Australia's
youngest - only Pakistani touring parties of the 1960s recorded a lower
average age. | All
Australian tours No
previous Test tour Next
Test tour England 1882 | To England 1880 To England 1882 To England 1884 To England 1886 To England 1888 To England 1890 To England 1893 To England 1896 To England 1899 To England 1902 To South Africa 1902-03 To England 1905 To England 1909 To England 1912 To South Africa 1914-15 & England 1916
cancelled To England 1921 To South Africa 1921-22 To England 1926 To England 1930 To England 1934 To South Africa 1935-36 To England 1938 To New Zealand 1945-46 To England 1948 To South Africa 1949-50 To England 1953 To West Indies 1954-55 To England 1956 To Pakistan 1956-57 To India 1956-57 To South Africa 1957-58 To Pakistan 1959-60 To India 1959-60 To England 1961 To England 1964 To India 1964-65 To Pakistan 1964-65 To West Indies 1964-65 To South Africa 1966-67 To England 1968 To India 1969-70 To South Africa 1969-70 To England 1972 To West Indies 1972-73 To New Zealand 1973-74 To England 1975 To New Zealand 1976-77 To England 1977 To West Indies 1977-78 To India 1979-80 To Pakistan 1979-80 To England 1980 To England 1981 To New Zealand 1981-82 To Pakistan 1982-83 To Sri Lanka 1982-83 To West Indies 1983-84 To England 1985 To New Zealand 1985-86 To India 1986-87
Sri Lanka
1987-88
West Indies 1987-88 both cancelled To Pakistan 1988-89 To England 1989 To New Zealand 1989-90 To West Indies 1990-91 To Sri Lanka 1992-93 To New Zealand 1992-93 To England 1993 To South Africa 1993-94 To Pakistan 1994-95 To West Indies 1994-95 To India 1996-97 To South Africa 1996-97 To England 1997 To India 1997-98 To Pakistan 1998-99 To West Indies 1998-99 To Sri Lanka 1999 To Zimbabwe 1999-00 To New
Zealand 1999-00 To
India 2000-01 To
England 2001 To
South Africa 2001-02 Zimbabwe 2001-02 cancelled v
Pakistan 2002-03 (SL) To
West Indies 2002-03 To Sri
Lanka 2003-04
Zimbabwe 2004 cancelled To
India 2004-05 To New
Zealand 2004-05 To
England 2005 To
South Africa 2005-06 To
Bangladesh 2005-06 Pakistan 2007-08 cancelled To
West Indies 2007-08 To
India 2008-09 To
South Africa 2008-09 To
England 2009 To New
Zealand 2009-10 v
Pakistan 2010 (in Eng) To
India 2010-11 To Sri
Lanka 2011 To
South Africa 2011-12 To
West Indies 2011-12 To
India 2012-13 To
England 2013 To
South Africa 2013-14 To 2014-15 To
England 2015 | |
Members of the Test tour party (13) Opening batsmen: Alick
Bannerman. Middle-order batsmen Percy
McDonnell, Billy Murdoch, George Bonnor, Tom Groube, Jim Slight Wicket-keepers Affie
Jarvis, Jack Blackham Spin bowler Joey (or Eugene) Palmer. Medium-paced bowlers William
Moule, Harry Boyle Fast bowlers George
Alexander, Fred Spofforth. | G Alexander | Vic | 29 | RHB RFM
manager | | | A C Bannerman | NSW | 21 | RHB (RM) | | | J M Blackham | Vic | 27 | WK | | | G J Bonnor | NSW | 25 | RHB | | | H F Boyle | Vic | 32 | RHB RM deputy
captain | | | T U Groube | Vic | 23 | RHB RM | | | A H Jarvis | S A | 19 | WK | | | P S McDonnell | NSW | 21 | RHB (RM) | | | W H Moule | Vic | 22 | RHB RM | | | W L Murdoch | NSW | 25 | RHB captain | | | G E Palmer | Vic | 21 | RHB OB | | | J Slight | Vic | 24 | RHB | | | F R Spofforth | NSW | 26 | RFM | | |
|
Colonial representation: NSW
New South Wales (5) S A
South Australia (1) Vic Victoria (7) Average
age of team at time of first Test
match (6 September 1880) : 24
yrs 7 months. Key to type: RHB
Right-handed bat RM Right arm medium-paced bowler RFM Right-arm fast medium OB Off break WK Wicket-keeper |
Test Appearances made before the tour | Blackham 3, Murdoch 2,
Spofforth 2, Bannerman 1, Boyle 1,
Alexander 0, Bonnor 0, Groube 0,
Jarvis 0, McDonnell 0, Moule 0,
Palmer 0, Slight 0. | |
Tour Officials | John Conway, pioneer of the
1878 tour, was sidelined. The manager was George Alexander. Harry Boyle shared the managerial duties. Alexander would also manage
the English 1882-83 side and the Australians in England 1884. | |
Selectors | The team was chosen by Billy
Murdoch and Harry Boyle. | |
Selection | Unavailable: Frank E Allan, George Bailey, Tom W Garrett, Dave Gregory,Tom
Horan. Tour Party Announced : early
January 1880. Not selected : Evans, Horan, Garrett Withdrawal: Charles Bannerman (unwell) and his place was taken by
Affie Jarvis. Harry Boyle, the original captain, was deposed en
voyage by his fellow players, who elected Murdoch in his place. | Time between selection and departure from Australia x days (January - 19 March |
Travel Melbourne T London ‘Garonne’ | The tour began with a series of matches on Australian
soil. The team started their eight-week voyage on the ss 'Garonne' from Melbourne on 19 March 1880. They arrived in Plymouth
on 4 May, from where Alexander and Boyle went overland to London to find that only five fixtures had
been arranged. After a week of practice at Mitcham, their first match took
place at Southampton. | Time spent in England 145 days (13 May - 5 October) |
Reinforcements | E Torkington fielded
substitute for the Australians at Stockport
when John Slight was delayed, arriving late because of illness. When he left
the tour, needing an operation, W A Giles and A McDonald played. The Australians played ten men and borrowed a
fielder also against Northern Players and Nottinghamshire. In the final match Bannerman
fielded on the first day but, as he did not bat or bowl, he was regarded as a
substitute and Spofforth batted (making second top-score). In the
supplementary match afterwards, -.Wilkinson played. | |
Fixtures/Results ⋆ Pre-tour
games: ϯ Victoria XV (lost) v Bendigo XXII (won) v New South Wales XV (won) v Bathurst XVIII (won) v Northern N S W XV (won) v Orange XXII
(won) v Daylesford XXII (lost) v Victoria XV (lost) v South Australia XVI
(lost) | | ⋆The
team played nine pre-tour games in Australia before sailing | | | | | a | † Southampton (2) | 18 of
St Luke's Club | Won
inns 22 r | b | Derby (3) | Derbyshire
| Won 8
w ¬ | c | †
Longsight (3) | 18 of
Longsight, Lancashire | Won
10 w ¬ | d | † Rochdale (3) | 18 of
Rochdale | Won
inns 26 r ¬ | e | †
Keighley (3) | 18 of
Keighley | Drawn
| f | † Burnley (3) | 18 of
Burnley | Won
inns 27 r ¬ | g | †
Malton (3) | 18 of
Malton, Yorkshire | Won 4
w | h | Dewsbury
(3) | Yorkshire | Won 5
w ¬ | i | †
Ormeau, Belfast
(3) | 18 of
North of Ireland
Club | Won 9
w | j | † Dublin (3) | 18 of
Dublin University | Drawn
| k | †
Aston (3) | 18 of
Birmingham | Won
inns 9 r ¬ | l | † Northampton (3) | 18 of
Northampton | Won 8
w | m | † Harrogate (3) | 18 of
Harrogate | Won
10 w ¬ | n | † Newcastle-on-Tyne (3) | 18 of
Newcastle-upon-Tyne | Drawn
| o | † Middlesbrough (3) | 18 of
Middlesborough | Won
inns 26 r ¬ | p | † Salford (3) | 18 of
Broughton | Drawn
| q | † Leicester (3) | Leicestershire
| Drawn
| r | † Oldham (2) | 18 of
Werneth, Oldham | Won
inns 21 r ¬ | s | † Crystal Palace (2) | 18 of
Crystal Palace | Won
10 w | t | Huddersfield (3) | Yorkshire | Drawn
| u | † Hull (3) | 18 of
Hull Town | Drawn
| v | † Crewe (3) | 18 of
Crewe | Drawn
| w | Clifton College (3) | Gloucestershire
| Won
68 r ¬ | x | †
Hunslet (3) | 18 of
Hunslet | Won 8
w ¬ | y | † Bradford (3) | 18 of
Bradford | Won
10 w ¬ | z | † Sunderland (3) | 18 of
Sunderland | Won
inns 38 r ¬ | a’ | † Scarborough (3) | 18 of
Scarborough | Lost
90 r | b’ | †
Yeadon (3) | 18 of
Yeadon | Won
inns 65 r | c’ | † Stockport (3) | 18 of
Stockport | Lost
100 r ¬ | d’ | † Hastings (3) | 18 of
Hastings | Drawn
| e’ | KENNINGTON OVAL (3) | ENGLAND Test Match | Lost 5 w | f’ | †
Titwood, Glasgow
(2) | 18 of
Clydesdale | Drawn
| g’ | Hove
(3) | Sussex | Drawn
| h’ | † Edinburgh (3) | Gentlemen
of Scotland | Won 6
w | I’ | Bradford (3) | Players
of Northern England | Drawn
| j’ | Trent Bridge (3) | Nottinghamshire
| Won 1
w | k’ | Crystal Palace (3) | Players
of England | Won 2
w ¬ |
(2) Two days were allocated to the match (3) Three days (¬)a second match was started. | † not first-class (2) Two days were allocated to the
match (3) Three days allocated ¬ second match started. Time spent in England
before First Test: 116 days (13 May - 6 September) |
Test appearances on tour | 1
- Alexander, Bannerman, Blackham, Bonnor, Boyle, Groube, McDonnell, Moule, Murdoch, Palmer, Slight. 0
- Jarvis, Spofforth.
| |
Highlights | •
In all matches Spofforth took 391 wickets at an average of 5 runs
each, while both Boyle and Palmer took 250 each. •
Billy Murdoch scored 153 runs in the 'Test' match at Kennington Oval. | |
Tour Summary | | P | W | L | D | Aban | Test Matches | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | - | Other first-class matches | 8 | 4 | 1 | 3 | - | ϯ Minor matches | 28 | 17 | 2 | 9 | - | All Matches | 37 | 21 | 4 | 12 | - |
| |
Return to Australia London t Suez Suez T Adelaide ‘Deccan’ | The tourists were keen to play a match in
September for the benefit of the Seaton Colliery Explosion Fund but lack of
time prevented it. The Lord Mayor of London invited the team to dine with him at
the Mansion House on 4 October before departure. The team were presented with
some pieces of silver plate by Australian colonists in London Next morning (5 October) the team left
Charing Cross on the 7.40 train for Dover and
travelled, via Calais, Paris
and Venice to Suez
by the fast overland route to ensure they could fulfil cricketing engagements
in Australia. From Suez
they embarked on the P & O steamer 'Deccan' and
reached Adelaide
on 15 November 1880. The eleven continued to play matches
around Australia
and did not finally disband until March 1881. | Time spent away from Australia 241 days (19 March to 15 November) |
Finances
| No statement was released as to the financial results
but, even in the matches against XVIIIs, attendances were usually large, and
the tourists took 75 per cent of the gate money. Overall the tour was such a
financial success that, after paying back the Melbourne Club its investment
money, there was a handsome profit to be divided among the players. | |
Written
accounts of the tour | Descriptions
of all tours may be found in Wisden’s
Cricketers Almanack (in this case, Wisden 1881) See also
- James
Lillywhite's Cricketers' Annual (“Red Lilly”) 1881. “Never a Gentlemen’s Game” (2012)
by Malcolm Knox (Hardie Grant
Books) covers all the early tours
between England and Australia
until 1912. | |
| Postscript | | | | |