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.
Murdoch was a Sydney barrister-solicitor by profession. He had been the Spofforth's preferred keeper at NSW level and was the cause of Spofforth's protest against Blackham's selection in March 1877.
The 1878 Australian tour was the first by a representative side to England. The selectors picked Murdoch as keeper and Blackham as substitute — a ranking that reversed during the trip.
Murdoch, born in Sandhurst (Bendigo) in October 1854 and raised in Sydney, had played for NSW since 1875. He was the wicketkeeper to whom Spofforth bowled most of his early career and the cause of Spofforth's first-Test boycott. He was the team's first-choice keeper on the 1878 tour, and kept in the famous MCC match at Lord's. But he found over the course of the English summer that he could not match Blackham's quickness behind the stumps and turned over the gloves. From mid-tour onwards Murdoch focused on batting; he made his maiden first-class hundred at Hove in mid-summer. He returned to Australia, was at the centre of the Sydney Riot of February 1879 (where Coulthard's run-out call against him triggered the disorder), and by 1880 had been chosen to captain the second Australian touring side to England. He scored 153 in the 1880 Oval Test, the first Test in England, and went on to become the first batsman to score a Test 200 (321 vs England, 1882).
Sails with Australian side May 1878
Keeps wicket in famous MCC v Australians match at Lord's
Hands over gloves to Blackham mid-tour
First first-class century at Hove
Run-out at centre of Sydney Riot, Feb 1879
Captains 1880 tour; scores 153 in first home Test
Oct 1854
Born at Sandhurst, Victoria
1875
First-class debut for NSW as wicketkeeper
Mar 1877
Omitted from first Test; cause of Spofforth's boycott
May 1878
Sails with first Australian XI to England
Mid-1878
Hands gloves to Blackham; concentrates on batting
Sep 1880
Captains Australia at Oval in first home Test, scores 153
“Murdoch found that he could not hold his own with Blackham, and thenceforward batting became his exclusive study.”
Murdoch captained Australia in 16 Tests between 1880 and 1890. He played one Test for England in 1891-92 in South Africa, becoming one of the small group of cricketers to represent both countries. He moved to England, qualified for Sussex, and became a popular figure in English county cricket.
The 1878 tour was Murdoch's transition from gloveman to batsman-captain. Within three years he was Australia's leader and one of the world's best batsmen.
Murdoch is one of cricket's foundational batsman-captains. His transition from keeper to opener in the summer of 1878 is a small career pivot with very large consequences — without it he would never have led Australia or scored the 321 that broke the previous Test record.
Yorkshire v Essex
1932-06-16
On 15-16 June 1932 Herbert Sutcliffe (313) and Percy Holmes (224*) put on 555 for the first wicket against Essex at Leyton, breaking the world first-class record for any wicket and adding a layer of folklore — including a scoreboard that read 554 for several minutes and a hastily reversed declaration — that has clung to the partnership ever since.
Australia v England
1933-02-14
With the fate of the Bodyline series in the balance and England 216 for 6 chasing 340, Eddie Paynter checked himself out of a Brisbane hospital where he was being treated for acute tonsillitis, taxied to the Gabba in pyjamas and a dressing gown, and batted for nearly four hours to score 83. England drew level on first innings, won the Test by six wickets and the series 4-1.
Australia
1934-09-25
Days after the 1934 Oval Test, Bradman fell seriously ill with appendicitis that progressed to peritonitis. With antibiotics not yet available, he was given little chance of survival; his wife Jessie left Adelaide on a sea voyage to England prepared for the worst. He recovered after weeks of intensive nursing in a London nursing home and returned to first-class cricket the following Australian summer.