#spofforth

6 incidents tagged

The Birth of the Ashes — Oval Test, 1882

England v Australia

1882-08-29

Across two August days in 1882, Australia beat England by seven runs at The Oval in the only Test of the tour. Fred 'The Demon' Spofforth took 14 for 90 in the match — 7/46 in the first innings and 7/44 in the second — to bowl England out for 77 chasing only 85. Within hours The Sporting Times printed a mock obituary declaring that English cricket was dead and that 'the body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia.' The most famous trophy in the game was born from a satirical paragraph.

#the-ashes#ashes-origin#spofforth

⭐Serious

Spofforth's 14 for 90 — The Demon at The Oval, 1882

England v Australia

1882-08-29

Fred 'The Demon' Spofforth took 7 for 46 and 7 for 44 at The Oval in August 1882, match figures of 14 for 90 that bowled Australia to a 7-run win and gave birth to the Ashes legend. The second-innings spell — bowled in tandem with Harry Boyle — broke an England chase of just 85 and stood as the best match analysis in Test cricket for 31 years.

#spofforth#demon-bowler#1882

🥊Serious

WG Grace Runs Out Sammy Jones — The Spark for Spofforth, 1882

England v Australia

1882-08-29

On the second morning of the 1882 Oval Test, with Australia's score at 114 in their second innings, young Sammy Jones wandered out of his crease to do some gardening — and WG Grace, ball in hand at point, threw down the stumps. Spofforth, watching from the pavilion, called Grace 'a bloody cheat' and reportedly stormed into the England dressing room with the line, 'this will lose you the match.' Two hours later he had taken 7 for 44 and Australia had won by 7 runs.

#wg-grace#sammy-jones#spofforth

⭐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

⭐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

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