AUSTRALIAN TEAM HISTORY

AUSTRALIAN TEAM HISTORY:

The History of Australian cricket begins over 200 years ago. The first recorded cricket match in Australia took place in Sydney in December 1803 and a report in the Sydney Gazette on 8 January 1804 suggested that cricket was already well established in the infant colony.^[1] By 1826, clubs including the Currency Cricket Club, the Military Cricket Club and the Australian Cricket Club had been formed and Hyde Park and the Racecourse   were the venue for these organized matches. The formation of clubs in Van Diemen's Land (later Tasmania) was not far behind with clubs formed in Hobart in 1832 and Launceston in 1843. In Victoria in 1838, arguably Australia's most exclusive and influential cricket club was formed, the Melbourne Cricket Club. Clubs in the other colonies followed in South Australia in 1839, and in Western Australia in 1835 a match was arranged between the laborers and mechanics against the builders of the new Government House.

Neocolonial cricket in Australia started with a visit by cricketers from Victoria to Tasmania in February 1851.^]The match was played in Launceston on 11–12 February with Tasmania winning by 3 wickets. Another three matches between the two teams were played before 1854 but in time the crossing of Bass Strait became less attractive to the Victorians and the focus turned to the neighboring colony of New South Wales. These matches attracted large crowds, including a crowd of 15,000 at a match in Sydney in January 1853 Boards of control were formed in the various colonies: New South Wales in 1857, Victoria in 1864 and South Australia in 1871.

First Australian team to tour England

In 1868, a indigenous player Aboriginal cricketers became the first Australian team to tour England. The team was captained by Charles Lawrence, a member of Stephenson's team in 1861 who remained in Australia, and mainly recruited from the Harrow and Edenhope areas of the Wimmeraregion in western Victoria. Including outstanding cricketers such as Johnny Mullagh, the team played 47 matches, winning 14, drawing 19 and losing 14. In addition to cricket, the players demonstrated athletic prowess before after and during games, including throwing boomerangs and spears. The heavy workload and inclement weather took its toll with King Cole contracting a fatal case of tuberculosis during the tour.

Further tours by English teams took place in 1873-74 (featuring the most notable cricketer of the ageW.G. Grace) and 1876-77. The 1876-77 season was notable for a match between a combined XI from New South Wales and Victoria and the touring Englishmen at the Melbourne Cricket Ground played on 15–19 March. This match, later to be recognized as the first Test Match, was won by Australia by 45 runs thanks mainly to an unbeaten 165 by Charles Bannerman. The result of this match was seen by Australians and Englishmen as a reflection of the rising standard of Australian cricket.

Origin of the Ashes and Sheffield Shield

The rising standards of Australian cricket were further established during the first representative tour of England in 1878. While the Australians did not play a representative English team on this tour, the efforts of players such as Billy Murdoch, Fred Spofforth and Jack Blackham attracted much public interest. A return visit in 1878-79 is best remembered for a riot and by the time Australia visited England in 1880, playing the first Test in England at The Oval, a system of international tours was well established.^]A famous victory on the 1882 tour of England resulted in the placement of a satirical obituary in an English newspaper, The Sporting Times. The obituary stated that English cricket had died, and the body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia. The English media then dubbed the next English tour to Australia (1882–83) as the quest to regain The Ashes.^[

The Sheffield Shield, the premier first-class cricket competition in Australia, was established in 1892 by the Australasian Cricket Council, the first attempt at a national cricket board.  The Shield was purchased from funds donated by Lord Sheffield, the financier of the English tour of 1891-92. The Council was formed with representation from New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia and with the aim of regulating neocolonial cricket and organizing international tours. This last aim met resistance from the leading players of the day such as George Giffen. The players had previously run tours as a private enterprise, splitting profits amongst themselves and were unwilling to relinquish control of appointing a captain and team selection. Conflict between players and administrators would become a running theme in Australian cricket.

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