Test Cricket Tours - Australia to England 1882

Test Cricket Tours - Australia to England 1882

Tour of England 1882 Captain: Billy Murdoch

2nd Australian Test tour

Second Test-playing tour of England by Australia

(May - September 1882)

Henry Perkins, Secretary of M.C.C. was the agent for the Melbourne Club who promoted this tour while New South Wales gave its patronage. Unlike Lillywhite in 1880, Beal convinced Perkins that the team members were ‘amateurs’ which made the tourists more acceptable to the English cricket establishment and had no difficult getting a full programme of fixtures.

In the opinions of WG Grace and Alfred Shaw, this was the strongest team ever to visit England. It was also the first to win a 'Test' match (not so called at the time) in England. The match played at The Oval is one of the most significant cricket matches ever played. The England batsmen were unable to withstand the tension or the accuracy of the 'Demon Bowler', Spofforth, and lost by seven runs. This prompted 'The Sporting Times' to publish its famous mock obituary notice dreamed up by Reginald Brooks:

"In affectionate remembrance of English cricket, which died at the Oval on 29th August 1882. Deeply lamented by a large circle of sorrowing friends and acquaintances, RIP. The body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia."

England's next captain in Australia, Ivo Bligh, learned of the notice and vowed that he "would regain those ashes" on the 1882-83 tour he led to Australia.

All Australian tours

Previous tour

England 1880

Next tour

England 1884

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

South Africa 1914-15

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

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

To Pakistan 2007-08

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 2011-12

To South Africa 2011-12

To West Indies 2011-12

To India 2012-13

To England 2013

To South Africa 2013-14

Members of the Test tour party (13)

Opening batsmen: Alick Bannerman, Hugh Massie.

Middle-order batsmen George Bonnor, George Giffen, Tom Horan, Percy McDonnell, William Murdoch, Sammy Jones.

Wicket-keepers Jack Blackham

Medium-paced bowlers Harry Boyle, Eugene Palmer

Fast bowlers Tom Garrett, Fred Spofforth

A C Bannerman	NSW	23	RHB opener RM

J M Blackham	Vic	29	WK

G J Bonnor	NSW	27	RHB

H F Boyle	Vic	34	RHB RM

T W Garrett	NSW	24	RFM

G Giffen	SA	23	RHB RM

T P Horan	Vic	28	RHB

S P Jones	NSW	21	RHB (RFM)

P S McDonnell	NSW	21	RHB

H H Massie	NSW	28	RHB opener

W L Murdoch	NSW	27	RHB captain

G E Palmer	Vic	22	RM / OB

F R Spofforth	NSW	28	RFM

State representation

NSW New South Wales (8)

SA South Australia (1)

Vic Victoria (4)

Average age of team at time of first Test match

(28 August 1882) :

26 yrs 3 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 8, Murdoch 7, Spofforth 2, Boyle 6, Garrett 6, Horan 6, Bannerman 5, McDonnell 5, Palmer 5, Massie 4, Giffen 3, Spofforth 3, Jones 2, Bonnor 1.

Tour Official

Mr C W Beal, a lawyer and Hon Secretary of the New South Wales Cricket Association, was invited to manage the side.

Selectors

Billy Murdoch and Harry Boyle chose the team.

Selection

Once Spofforth made himself available, and Massie was given time off from his work at a bank, they were added to the side. As late choices, George Giffen and Ted Evans were the last two to be selected.

Withdrawal: Ted Evans was keen to tour but illness in his family prevented it and he was dropped from the team. There was speculation that William Midwinter would be included but nothing came of it. Sammy Jones of the University Club was at the last moment included in the side.

Time between selection and departure from Australia x days

(? - 16 March)

Travel

Melbourne T Gravesend

‘Assam’

On Thursday 16 March the team sailed from Williamstown Railway Pier, Melbourne, on the RMS steamer 'Assam', only two days after the end of the fourth 'Test' of the 1881-82 series against England. Charles Bannerman was on board though not with the team.

The ship sailed via Galle, Port Said and Malta, and arrived at Plymouth on the morning of Monday 3 May.

On landing at Plymouth, the Australians immediately wanted to settle a bet struck with a passenger on board that Bonnor could not throw a cricket ball 115 yards. At Raglan Barracks he won £100, exceeding the distance by 4½ yards.

From Plymouth Bonnor, Murdoch, Garrett and Beal took a train to London while the rest sailed on to Gravesend.

Some of the team played club cricket in Twickenham and the team had practice at Mitcham before the first match at Oxford on 15 May. From then on, unlike in 1880, the programme of fixtures was solid for four months.

Time spent in England 150 days

(3 May - 30 September)

Reinforcements

The manager Charles Beal took part in three matches.

Fixtures/Results

a	Oxford	Oxford University	Won 9 w
b	Hove	Sussex	Won inns 355
c	† Twickenham	Orleans Club (2-day)	Drawn
d	Kennington Oval	Surrey	Won 6 w
e	Cambridge	Cambridge University	Lost 6 w
f	Old Trafford	Lancashire	Won 4 w
g	Bradford	Yorkshire	Drawn
h	Trent Bridge	Nottinghamshire	Drawn
i	Derby	Derbyshire	Won inns 109 r
j	Sheffield	Yorkshire	Won 6 w
k	Kennington Oval	Gentlemen of England	Won inns 1 r
l	Chichester	United XI	Won inns 263 r
m	† Leicester	Leicestershire(2-day)	Won 74 r
n	† Northampton	Northamptonshire (2-day)	Won inns 80 r
o	Lord's	Middlesex	Won 8 w
p	Lord's	MCC Club & Ground	Drawn
q	Dewsbury	Yorkshire	Draw
r	Bradford	Yorkshire	Won 47 r
s	Middlesborough	Yorkshire	Won 7 w
t	† Gosforth, Newcastle	Northumberland (2-day)	Won inns 95 r
u	† Edinburgh	Gentlemen of Scotland	Won inns 18 r
v	† Edinburgh	Scotland XI (extra match)	Lost 7 w
w	Aigburth, Liverpool	Liverpool Club & District	Drawn
x	Clifton College	Gloucestershire	Won inns 159 r
y	Canterbury	Kent	Won 7 w
z	Kennington Oval	Players of England	Lost inns 34 r
a’	Derby	An XI of England	Drawn
b’	Portsmouth	Past & Present of Cambridge Univ	Lost 20 r
c’	Taunton	Somerset	Won inns 19 r
d’	Clifton College	Gloucestershire	Drawn
e’	KENNINGTON OVAL	ENGLAND Test Match	WON 7 r
f’	Tunbridge Wells	The United XI	Drawn
g’	Trent Bridge	Nottinghamshire	Won 164 r
h’	Scarborough	I Zingari	Drawn
I’	Holbeck, Leeds	Alfred Shaw's XI	Won 89 r
j’	Old Trafford	North of England	Lost 10 w
k’	Kennington Oval	Alfred Shaw's XI	Drawn
l’	† Glasgow	XI of Scotland (2-day)	Won inns 23 r
m’	Harrogate	An England XI	Won 4 w

n’	† Hoboken, New York	18 of New York(2-day)	Won 7 w
o’	† Nicetown, Philadelphia	18 of Philadelphia (3-day)	Won 9 w

After the Kent fixture there was a scratch game between Band of Brothers and a World XI.

The matches against Leicestershire, Northants, Northumberland and the two games against Scotland were

considered second-class, while that against Somerset was first-class.

† not first-class

Time spent in England before First Test:

117 days

(3 May - 28 August)

Test appearances on tour

1 - Bannerman, Blackham, Bonnor, Boyle, Garrett, Giffen, Horan, Jones, Massie, Murdoch, Spofforth.

0 - McDonnell, Palmer.

Highlights

• Hugh Massie scored 206 not out, the highest debut innings in England, in the first match at Oxford

• Murdoch then bettered this with 286 against Sussex.

•

• Fred Spofforth took 7-46 and 7-44 to give him match figures of 14-90 in the Test match at The Oval

Tour Summary

	P	W	L	D	Aban
Test Matches	1	1	0	0	-
Other first-class matches	32	17	4	11	-
ϯ Minor matches	9	9	0	0	-
All Matches	42	27	4	11	-

The two matches played in America are included in the summary above.

Return to Australia

Liverpool T New York

‘Alaska’

San Francisco T Sydney

‘City of New York’

On 28 September, the day prior to the team's departure from London, the Australians were given a banquet in their honour at the Criterion Hotel.

The team went up to Liverpool and sailed at 11 am on Saturday 30 September in the 'Alaska' Sailing via Queenstown (Cobh), they berthed in New York at 9 am on 9 October. There were two matches in the United States and the team left San Francisco on 21 October.

Sailing by way of Hawaii, the ss 'City of New York' arrived at Sydney Harbour on Saturday 18 November.

The professional Billy Midwinter had sailed with the team to start a new life in the colonies.

The team did not break up until January 1883, iImmediately after the third Test match against Ivo Bligh’s XI at Sydney.

Time away from Australia 247 days

(16 March to 18 November)

Finances

Prominent businessmen in Australia invested in the tour and would take the first £1500 of profits, the remainder being divided up among the players, except Bannerman who was on a set fee. The Australians took 50 per cent of the gate money, which was a lower proportion than in 1878 or 1880.

In January 1883 the team broke up, each man receiving between £600 and 700 as his share. The Australians gained about £260 each from the tour and the same again from playing the three ‘Test’ matches against Bligh’s XI in Australia.

Written accounts of the tour

"The Australians in England 1882" ed Charles F.Pardon (facsimile reprint 1982)

"The Third Australian Team in England" (facsimile reprint 1989 with foreword by John Arlott)

Postscript

“Incessant toil has interfered sadly with the physique of our men… [they are] broken-down champions.”