Jack Blackham — The Prince of Wicket-Keepers, 1880s

Wicketkeeping in the 1860s and 1870s was a long-stop-supported position: the keeper stood well back to fast bowlers, and a fielder behind him caught the byes. Blackham, training in Melbourne with the unusually quick Victorian club bowlers, learned to stand up to everything.

By the time of the inaugural 1877 Test, Blackham was 22 and already the leading keeper in the colonies. His selection was almost automatic.

John McCarthy Blackham was born in Melbourne in 1854 and made his first-class debut for Victoria in 1874. He was the wicketkeeper in the very first Test match in 1877 and remained Australia's keeper through almost every Test for the next 17 years.

What set him apart was his habit of standing up to the stumps to even the fastest bowling. Where almost every other Test wicketkeeper of the era stood back to fast bowling and required a long-stop behind him, Blackham took everything close, including Spofforth's full-pace cutters. The result: Australia could play one extra batsman or fielder, since the long-stop position became redundant.

In an era before proper wicketkeeping gloves (Wisden later compared his to gardening gloves) and well before pads or helmets, this was physically punishing work. Blackham's hands were misshapen by the end of his career; his fingers had been broken so many times he could barely hold a teacup.

Wisden made him Wicketkeeper of the Year in 1891 and called him 'the greatest wicket-keeper the world has yet seen'. He ended with 36 Test catches and 24 stumpings — modest by modern standards, but in an era when the wicketkeeper rarely received the ball cleanly. His captaincy of Australia in the 1894-95 Ashes was distinguished if brief; he played his last Test in 1894 and retired aged 40.

In England, a small group of clergymen reportedly complained to MCC that Blackham was 'a danger to the wellbeing of cricket' because by abolishing the long-stop position he was depriving village clergy of their traditional fielding spot.

“By general consent he is the greatest wicket-keeper the world has yet seen.”

“His gloves were little more than gardening gloves.”

“He is a danger to the wellbeing of cricket, encouraging as he does the abolition of long-stop, the clergy's traditional fielding spot in village teams.”

Blackham's hands never recovered from his career; he lived modestly in Melbourne after retirement, working in odd jobs and as a cricket coach. He died in 1932 in his early seventies. His Wisden obituary repeated the 'prince of wicketkeepers' line.

The abolition of the long-stop position was permanent. By the 1890s no Test team employed one; by 1900 the same was true even at club level. Blackham's example also paved the way for keepers like Dick Lilley, Bert Oldfield and Don Tallon.