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The 1870s

Cricket controversies from 1870 to 1879

32 incidents documented

⭐Mild

Spofforth's Hat-trick — Test Cricket's First, Melbourne, 2 January 1879

Australia vs England

1879-01-02

On 2 January 1879 Fred Spofforth took the first hat-trick in Test cricket — dismissing Vernon Royle bowled, Francis MacKinnon bowled (first ball of his Test career) and Tom Emmett caught — at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. England were 26 for some when the hat-trick fell. Spofforth went on to take 13 for 110 in the match, and Australia won by 10 wickets.

#fred-spofforth#hat-trick#first-test-hat-trick
🔥Explosive

The Sydney Riot — Lord Harris vs NSW, 8 February 1879

Australia (NSW) vs England

1879-02-08

On 8 February 1879 a crowd at the Association Ground in Sydney invaded the pitch after Victorian umpire George Coulthard gave Billy Murdoch run out. Lord Harris was struck across the back by a stick or whip, his teammate Monkey Hornby seized the assailant and frog-marched him to the pavilion, and 2,000 of the 10,000 spectators joined the disorder. It is cricket's first international riot.

#sydney-riot#1879#lord-harris
😂Serious

Monkey Hornby Drags the Rioter Off — Sydney, 8 February 1879

NSW vs England

1879-02-08

When Lord Harris was struck across the back by a stick during the Sydney Riot of 8 February 1879, his Lancashire team-mate A.N. 'Monkey' Hornby — five foot six but indomitable — seized the assailant in the crowd and frog-marched him through the throng to the pavilion, taking blows the whole way. The incident is one of cricket's most famous physical interventions by a player.

#monkey-hornby#1879#sydney-riot
⭐Mild

The Reverend Vernon Royle — Greatest Cover Point, Bowled by Spofforth's Hat-trick, 1879

Australia vs England

1879-01-02

The Reverend Vernon Royle — Lancashire amateur, future schoolmaster and one of the greatest cover-point fielders in cricket history — was the first wicket of Spofforth's hat-trick at Melbourne in January 1879. He played one Test, scored 18 runs, but lived in cricket folklore for his fielding. Tom Emmett's quip when his partner called for a single while Royle was at cover — 'Woa, mate, there's a policeman' — became a 19th-century cricket catchphrase.

#vernon-royle#1879#lancashire
⭐Mild

Charles Bannerman's Later Life — Player to Umpire, 1879-1930

Australia

1879-02-08

Charles Bannerman, the man who had scored Test cricket's first century in March 1877, played his last Test in February 1879. He continued for NSW until 1888 but his career declined sharply. He coached in Melbourne, Sydney and New Zealand, and stood as umpire in twelve Tests between 1887 and 1902. He died in poverty in Sydney in 1930.

#charles-bannerman#umpire#later-career
🔥Explosive

The Sydney Cricket Riot — Lord Harris Attacked, 1879

New South Wales v England

1879-02-08

On 8 February 1879 — strictly outside the 1880s but the curtain-raiser to the decade — about 2,000 Sydney spectators invaded the pitch after Australian batsman Billy Murdoch was given run out by the English-engaged Victorian umpire George Coulthard. Lord Harris, the English captain, was struck with a stick; AN Hornby's shirt was torn off; play was suspended. The riot poisoned Anglo-Australian cricket relations for years and explains why no Test was scheduled in England before September 1880.

#1879#sydney#riot
⭐Serious

Spofforth's First Test Hat-Trick — Melbourne, 1879

Australia v England

1879-01-02

On 2 January 1879, in only the third Test ever played, Fred Spofforth took the first hat-trick in Test cricket — Vernon Royle bowled, Francis MacKinnon bowled, Tom Emmett lbw — at the MCG. He finished the innings with 6 for 48 and the match with 13 wickets for 110 runs, an Australian win by 10 wickets, and an early sketch of the Demon Bowler legend that would mature at The Oval three years later.

#spofforth#first-test-hat-trick#1879
⭐Mild

Australia Bowl MCC Out Twice in a Day — Lord's, 27 May 1878

Australia vs MCC

1878-05-27

On 27 May 1878 the touring Australians, on their first visit to England, bowled MCC out twice in a single day at Lord's. MCC made 33 and 19; Australia made 41 and 12 for 1 to win by 9 wickets. Fred Spofforth took 6/4 (including a hat-trick) and 4/16; Harry Boyle 3/14 and 6/3. W.G. Grace was clean-bowled by Spofforth for 4. The match made Australian cricket's reputation in a single afternoon.

#fred-spofforth#demon-bowler#lords
⭐Mild

'The Demon' — How Spofforth Got His Nickname, 1878

Australia vs MCC

1878-05-27

Fred Spofforth's nickname 'The Demon' was coined on the afternoon of 27 May 1878. After clean-bowling W.G. Grace for 4 at Lord's, Spofforth — according to teammate Tom Horan — leapt two feet in the air at the wicket and in the dressing-room afterwards repeated the phrase 'Ain't I a demon?' A Vanity Fair cartoon by 'Spy' fixed the name in print within months.

#fred-spofforth#demon-bowler#nickname
⭐Mild

Lord Harris Captains England in Australia — 1878-79 Tour

England in Australia

1878-12-01

Lord Harris's 1878-79 tour of Australia was the first England touring side led by an amateur captain to play what would later be recognised as a Test match. The trip produced the third Test in history — the Spofforth hat-trick match at Melbourne — and the Sydney Riot at the Association Ground in February 1879.

#lord-harris#1878#1879
⭐Mild

The First Australian Tour of England — May-September 1878

Australia in England

1878-05-01

From May to September 1878 the first representative Australian XI toured Great Britain and North America. Captained by Dave Gregory and managed by John Conway, the side played 37 matches in four months, beat MCC at Lord's in a single day, and turned a profit of £750 each for the players. None of the matches were Tests — but the tour established that cricket between the two countries was financially and competitively viable.

#1878#first-australian-tour#dave-gregory
⭐Mild

Spofforth's Action — How the Demon Bowled, 1878

Australia

1878-06-01

Fred Spofforth was 6ft 3in tall, lean, and bowled with what contemporaries called 'all legs, arms and nose'. After his initial fast spells in 1878 he developed an extraordinary capacity to bowl medium and slow with the same action — concealing pace changes invisibly. He stared at batsmen during his run-up. He was the first bowler treated as a deliberate intimidator.

#fred-spofforth#1878#bowling-action
⭐Mild

Billy Murdoch — From NSW Wicketkeeper to Australia's Captain, 1878

Australia in England

1878-05-01

Billy Murdoch, a 23-year-old NSW solicitor and wicketkeeper, sailed with the first Australian touring side to England in 1878 as the team's first-choice gloveman. By the end of the season he had ceded the gloves to Jack Blackham and turned his attention exclusively to batting — a switch that would lead him to the Australian captaincy in 1880 and to many of the great Test batting innings of the next decade.

#billy-murdoch#1878#australia
⭐Mild

Harry Boyle — Spofforth's Partner, 1878-1888

Australia

1878-05-27

Harry Boyle of Bendigo was the medium-pacer who shared the new ball with Fred Spofforth on Australia's first six tours of England. At Lord's on 27 May 1878 he took 3/14 and 6/3 against MCC; he played 12 Tests, took 32 wickets, and was Spofforth's accuracy-and-cunning foil for a decade.

#harry-boyle#fred-spofforth#1878
⭐Mild

W.G. Grace Bowled by Spofforth for 4 — Lord's, 27 May 1878

MCC vs Australia

1878-05-27

W.G. Grace, the most famous batsman in the world, was clean-bowled by Fred Spofforth for 4 at Lord's on 27 May 1878. The dismissal — among the most famous of the 19th century — fixed Spofforth's reputation and shocked the English cricket establishment, which had assumed the touring Australians would be no match for MCC's strongest XI.

#wg-grace#fred-spofforth#1878
⭐Mild

The First Test Match — Australia vs England, Melbourne, March 1877

Australia vs England

1877-03-15

Cricket's first Test match was played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground from 15 to 19 March 1877. A combined Australian XI captained by Dave Gregory beat James Lillywhite's touring English professionals by 45 runs. Charles Bannerman scored 165 retired hurt — the first Test century — and Tom Kendall took 7 for 55 in the second innings to clinch the win. The match was not officially designated a Test until decades later, but it has stood ever since as the start point of international Test cricket.

#first-test#melbourne#1877
⭐Mild

Charles Bannerman's 165 Retired Hurt — First Test Century, March 1877

Australia vs England

1877-03-15

Charles Bannerman, a 25-year-old Sydney professional born in Kent, scored 165 before retiring hurt with a split finger in the first innings of the first Test at Melbourne in March 1877. It was the first century in Test cricket and represented 67.34% of Australia's total of 245 — a proportion no other Test centurion has ever matched.

#charles-bannerman#first-test-century#melbourne
⭐Mild

Alfred Shaw Bowls the First Ball in Test Cricket — Melbourne, 15 March 1877

Australia vs England

1877-03-15

Alfred Shaw of Nottinghamshire, the most accurate slow-medium bowler in England, delivered the first ball in Test cricket — to Charles Bannerman at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on the morning of 15 March 1877. Bannerman took a single off the fourth ball of the over to register the first Test run.

#alfred-shaw#first-ball#melbourne
⭐Mild

Tom Kendall's 7 for 55 — Tasmanian Wins the First Test, March 1877

Australia vs England

1877-03-19

Tom Kendall, a Tasmanian-born left-arm medium-pacer and the only Tasmanian in the side, took 7 for 55 to bowl Australia to a 45-run win in the first Test at Melbourne. England, set 154 to win, were dismissed for 108 on the fourth day, leaving Kendall with the first match-winning bowling figures in Test history.

#tom-kendall#first-test#1877
⭐Mild

Dave Gregory — Australia's First Test Captain, March 1877

Australia vs England

1877-03-15

Dave Gregory, a NSW public servant and the eldest cricketing brother of a long-running Australian dynasty, captained the All-Australian XI to a 45-run victory over James Lillywhite's England side at Melbourne in March 1877. He thus became the first Test captain in cricket history.

#dave-gregory#first-australian-captain#1877
⭐Mild

James Lillywhite — First England Test Captain and Tour Promoter, 1877

Australia vs England

1877-03-15

James Lillywhite junior of Sussex, captain and promoter of the touring English professionals, became the first England Test captain when his side took the field at Melbourne on 15 March 1877. England lost the match by 45 runs but won the rematch a fortnight later, levelling the unofficial series.

#james-lillywhite#first-england-captain#1877
😂Serious

Ted Pooley in a Christchurch Jail — England's Wicketkeeper Misses the First Test, 1877

England in New Zealand

1877-02-13

Ted Pooley, the Surrey wicketkeeper and acknowledged best gloveman in England, missed the first Test in March 1877 because he was sitting in a Christchurch jail. He had been arrested after a betting dispute at the Carlton Hotel turned into an assault charge. By the time he was acquitted, the tour had sailed for Sydney and the first Test had been lost.

#ted-pooley#christchurch#1877
⭐Mild

England's Revenge — Second Test at Melbourne, 31 March 1877

Australia vs England

1877-03-31

A fortnight after losing the first Test, Lillywhite's England side won the rematch on the same Melbourne pitch by 4 wickets. Alfred Shaw took 5/40 and 4/41, George Ulyett scored 52 in the second innings, and the unofficial 1877 series was tied 1-1.

#second-test#1877#melbourne
⭐Mild

Billy Midwinter's 5/78 — Australia's First Test Five-for, March 1877

Australia vs England

1877-03-16

Billy Midwinter, the Gloucestershire-born Australian all-rounder, took 5 for 78 in England's first innings of the inaugural Test at Melbourne — the first five-wicket haul in Test cricket. He went on to become the only man to play Test cricket for both England and Australia.

#billy-midwinter#1877#first-test
🥊Moderate

Spofforth Boycotts the First Test — March 1877

Australia vs England

1877-03-15

Fred Spofforth, the leading fast bowler in the Australian colonies, refused to play in the first Test in March 1877. His protest was over the selectors' decision to pick Victorian Jack Blackham as wicketkeeper rather than the New South Welshman Billy Murdoch, the keeper Spofforth had bowled to all his career. Australia won without him.

#fred-spofforth#billy-murdoch#jack-blackham
⭐Mild

Tom Garrett — Youngest Australia Test Debutant, 18 in March 1877

Australia vs England

1877-03-15

Tom Garrett of NSW was 18 years and 232 days old when he opened the bowling for Australia in the first Test in March 1877. He remains the youngest player ever to represent Australia against England — a record that has stood for nearly 150 years. Garrett took 2/22 and 2/9 in the match and went on to play 19 Tests over the next decade.

#tom-garrett#youngest-debut#1877
😂Moderate

Frank Allan — 'Bowler of the Century' Misses the First Test, 1877

Australia vs England

1877-03-13

Frank Allan of Victoria, hailed by W.G. Grace and others as 'the bowler of the century', sent a telegram two days before the first Test telling the selectors he could not play because it was carnival week in Warrnambool and his friends were in town. He never played in the inaugural Test and ended up with a single Test cap two years later.

#frank-allan#1877#first-test
🔥Moderate

Lillywhite's Tour Finances — Pay, Gates and Disputes, 1876-77

England in Australia and New Zealand

1876-11-01

James Lillywhite's 1876-77 tour was the first English tour of Australia run as a private commercial venture rather than on invitation. The professionals travelled for a share of the gate; that share was repeatedly disputed throughout the trip, and the tour returned home with a slim profit only after months of haggling with local agents.

#james-lillywhite#tour-finances#1876
⭐Mild

W.G. Grace's 1873 Double — First 1,000 Runs and 100 Wickets in a Season

Gloucestershire / MCC / Gentlemen / South

1873-08-31

In 1873 W.G. Grace became the first cricketer to score 1,000 first-class runs and take 100 first-class wickets in the same English season. He repeated the feat seven more times before 1886. The 'Grace double' set the bar for the all-rounder's season for the next century.

#wg-grace#1873#all-rounder-double
😂Mild

W.G. Grace's Honeymoon Tour of Australia — 1873-74

England (W.G. Grace's XI) in Australia

1873-10-01

Two weeks after marrying Agnes Day in October 1873, W.G. Grace took her on his honeymoon by sailing to Australia at the head of a private cricket tour. He was paid £1,500 — the equivalent of well over £100,000 today — for what was effectively a privately organised England side. The tour played 15 matches across Australia and laid the groundwork for the Test era that followed three years later.

#wg-grace#honeymoon-tour#1873
⭐Mild

W.G. Grace 268 vs North — Champion's Year, 1871

South v North (representative match)

1871-08-01

W.G. Grace's 268 for South against North at The Oval in August 1871 was the highest score of his career to that point and the centrepiece of an extraordinary season in which he became the first cricketer to pass 2,000 first-class runs in a summer. He averaged 78.25 — twice anyone else — and made ten of the 17 first-class centuries scored in England that year.

#wg-grace#1871#the-oval
⭐Mild

George Parr — All-England Eleven Captain Through the 1860s

All-England Eleven vs United All-England Eleven; vs touring sides

1870-09-01

George Parr — captain of Nottinghamshire from 1856 to 1870 and of the All-England Eleven over the same period — was the dominant figure in English professional cricket between William Clarke's death and W.G. Grace's emergence. Tour captain in North America in 1859 and Australasia in 1863-64, he scored 6,626 first-class runs at 20.20 in conditions that were brutal to batters, and ran the AEE through the great rivalry years against the United All-England Eleven from 1857 to 1866.

#george-parr#all-england-eleven#captaincy