The

Australian cricket team The Australia men's national cricket team represents Australia in men's international cricket. As the joint oldest team in Test cricket history, playing in the first ever Test match in 1877, the team also plays One-Day International (ODI) an ...

toured

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

in late November and early December 1886. It was Australia's third tour of New Zealand, after tours in 1877-78 and 1880-81, and the shortest of the three. The Australians played five matches against provincial teams, four of which fielded 22 players (the other team,

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. ...

, fielded 18) with the aim of providing more evenly-matched contests. As the matches were not 11-a-side they are not considered to have been first-class. The Australians won two of the matches and drew the other three.

The Australian team

The Australians were returning from their 1886 tour of England, apart from

George Bonnor George John Bonnor (25 February 1855 – 27 June 1912) was an Australian cricketer, known for his big hitting, who played Test cricket between 1880 and 1888. Career Bonnor was born in Bathurst, New South Wales, and made his international debut ...

and

Tup Scott Henry James Herbert "Tup" Scott (26 December 1858 – 23 September 1910) was an Australian cricketer who played first-class cricket for Victoria and Test cricket for Australia. He acquired his nickname during a cricket tour of England in 1884 f ...

, who had remained in England. The 11 remaining players toured New Zealand, with the addition of Jim Phillips. Several of them were carrying injuries, and most of them were fatigued. *

Jack Blackham John McCarthy Blackham (11 May 1854 – 28 December 1932) was a Test cricketer who played for Victoria and Australia. A specialist wicket-keeper, Blackham played in the first Test match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in March 1877 and the fam ...

(captain) *

Tom Garrett Thomas William Garrett (26 July 1858 – 6 August 1943) was an early Australian Test cricketer and, later, a distinguished public servant. Early life Tom Garrett was the second son of a newspaper proprietor and politician who bore the same n ...

(vice-captain) * William Bruce * Edwin Evans *

George Giffen George Giffen (27 March 1859 – 29 November 1927) was a cricketer who played for South Australia and Australia. An all-rounder who batted in the middle order and often opened the bowling with medium-paced off-spin, Giffen captained Australia ...

* Affie Jarvis *

Sammy Jones Samuel Percy Jones (1 August 1861 – 14 July 1951) was an Australian cricketer who played 12 Tests between 1882 and 1888. A solid right-handed batsman and a handy medium pace bowler, Jones excelled for New South Wales and later for Queensla ...

* John McIlwraith *

Joey Palmer George Eugene Palmer (22 February 1859 – 22 August 1910) also known as Eugene Palmer and Joey Palmer, was an Australian cricketer who played in 17 Test matches between 1880 and 1886. After returning from the 1886 tour to England he damaged ...

* Jim Phillips *

Fred Spofforth Frederick Robert Spofforth (9 September 1853 – 4 June 1926), also known as "The Demon Bowler", was arguably the Australian cricket team's finest pace bowler of the nineteenth century. He was the first bowler to take 50 Test wickets, and the fi ...

Billy Trumble John William Trumble (16 September 1863 – 17 August 1944) was an Australian cricketer who played in seven Tests between 1885 and 1886. He was the older brother of the Test cricketer Hugh Trumble and the senior Australian public servant Thomas ...

Blackham and Spofforth had been on the previous two tours of New Zealand. Giffen was sick throughout the tour and unable to play at all. He umpired in the match against Hawke's Bay. Blackham suffered a severe gash to his hand while batting against Canterbury, and was unable to play thereafter, so the Australians played with only 10 men for the last three matches, the local associations lending them substitute fieldsmen. Blackham umpired in the match against Auckland.

The tour

Most of the Australians sailed from England on the ''Arawa'', stopping only briefly in

Hobart Hobart ( ; Nuennonne/Palawa kani: ''nipaluna'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Home to almost half of all Tasmanians, it is the least-populated Australian state capital city, and second-small ...

, where Phillips joined them, on the way to

Port Chalmers Port Chalmers is a town serving as the main port of the city of Dunedin, New Zealand. Port Chalmers lies ten kilometres inside Otago Harbour, some 15 kilometres northeast of Dunedin's city centre. History Early Māori settlement The origi ...

. Spofforth and Garrett arrived on a slightly later ship, missing the first day of the Otago match. * Otago v Australians,

Carisbrook Carisbrook (sometimes incorrectly referred to as Carisbrook Stadium) was a major sporting venue in Dunedin, New Zealand. The city's main domestic and international rugby union venue, it was also used for other sports such as cricket, football, ...

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

, 22, 23, 24 November 1886.

Otago Otago (, ; mi, Ōtākou ) is a region of New Zealand located in the southern half of the South Island administered by the Otago Regional Council. It has an area of approximately , making it the country's second largest local government reg ...

XXII 63 and 158; Australians 60 and 162 for 4. Australians won by six wickets. Evans took 16 for 25 and 10 for 37, for match figures of 96.1–58–62–26 (four-ball overs). Trumble top-scored in each innings with 30 and 52. The Australians were dismissed at stumps on the first day, when Spofforth and Garrett had not yet arrived in Dunedin, so they batted only nine men in their first innings. Otago's top-scorer was

Andrew Grieve Andrew Grieve (born 28 November 1939) is a British television and film director. Grieve's credits include ''Wire in the Blood''. ''On the Black Hill (film), On the Black Hill'', the screenplay of which he also wrote, won the Golden Shell at the S ...

, who made 33 in the second innings. The Australians considered Charlie Frith, who took 4 for 33 in their first innings, "the most troublesome bowler" they faced on this tour. * Canterbury v Australians,

Lancaster Park Lancaster Park, also known as Jade Stadium and AMI Stadium for sponsorship reasons, was a sports stadium in Waltham, a suburb of Christchurch in New Zealand. The stadium was closed permanently due to damage sustained in the February 2011 eart ...

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...

, 26, 27, 29 November 1886.

XVIII 178 and 139; Australians 99 and 82 for 5. Drawn. The Australians, who had lost to Canterbury in 1877–78, again struggled. They found the bowling of David Dunlop difficult to handle, as he bowled his leg-breaks cleverly into a strong wind and took 5 for 50 and 3 for 17. Two Canterbury batsmen, the captain

William Millton William Varnham Millton (10 February 1858 – 22 June 1887) was a New Zealand rugby union player and cricketer. He was the first captain of the New Zealand national rugby union team, leading them on their 1884 New Zealand rugby union tour of New ...

in the first innings and Edward Barnes in the second, scored 35, but the highest Australian innings was 32 by Blackham in the first innings. In the second innings a ball from

Frederick Wilding Frederick Wilding (20 November 1852 – 5 July 1945) played first-class cricket for Canterbury in the 1880s and 1890s. He also played tennis and was a noted athlete. Early life Wilding was born in Montgomery, Wales in 1852. His father, J ...

struck Blackham on the first finger of his left hand, opening a gash an inch and a half long and putting him out of action for the rest of the tour. * Wellington v Australians,

Basin Reserve The Basin Reserve (commonly known as "The Basin") is a cricket ground in Wellington, New Zealand. It has been used for Test matches, and is the main home ground for the Wellington Firebirds first-class team. The Basin Reserve is the only cricke ...

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

, 1, 2, 3 December 1886.

XXII 182 and 41 for 4; Australians 475. Drawn. The Australians' total of 475 set a record for the highest total in any match in New Zealand. It occupied 323.2 four-ball overs. Jones (159 in five and a half hours) and Palmer (76) put on 202 for the first wicket. * Hawke's Bay v Australians,

Napier Recreation Ground Napier Recreation Ground was a cricket ground in Napier, Hawke's Bay, New Zealand. It was located on Carlyle Street, opposite Chaucer Street. The ground first held a first-class match when Hawke's Bay played Wellington in 1884. Hawke's Bay wou ...

, Napier, 4 December 1886.

Hawke's Bay Hawke's Bay ( mi, Te Matau-a-Māui) is a local government region on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island. The region's name derives from Hawke Bay, which was named by Captain James Cook in honour of Admiral Edward Hawke. The region is ...

XXII 92; Australians 115. Australians won by 23 runs. Palmer took 15 for 47 off 27 four-ball overs, bowling unchanged through the Hawke's Bay innings. Garrett, with 31, was the only batsman on either side to reach 20. For Hawke's Bay, Charles Edwards took 6 for 39. * Auckland v Australians,

Auckland Domain The Auckland Domain, also known as Pukekawa / Auckland Domain, is a large park in Auckland, New Zealand. It is the oldest park in the city, and at is one of the largest. Located in the central suburb of Grafton, the park land is the remains o ...

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

, 6, 7, 8 December 1886. Australians 104 and 225;

XXII 114 and 44 for 15. Drawn. The Auckland batsman

Dan Lynch Daniel Lynch (born June 21, 1962) is a former college and professional American football offensive guard; he attended Washington State University; he was inducted to their athletic Hall of Fame in 2006. Lynch went on to a career in the venture ca ...

, who had bowled so effectively against the Australians on their previous two tours, scored 46 in Auckland's first innings. It was the highest score by any New Zealand batsman against the Australians on their first three tours of New Zealand. After taking figures of 57–32–41–12 in Auckland's first innings, Palmer made 72 in Australia's second innings, which lasted 212 overs; the Auckland bowler Edward Mills had figures of 59–32–53–7. An extra day was added, but the slowness of the match prevented a result: off 462.3 four-ball overs only 487 runs were scored. The Australians sailed for

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

on the ''Mararoa'' shortly after seven o'clock at the end of the third day's play.

Leading players

Jones was the highest scorer, with 280 runs at an average of 35.00; Trumble scored 218 at 27.25. Palmer was the leading wicket-taker, with 53 wickets at an average of 4.98; Evans took 34 at 3.23. Lynch's 46 for Auckland was the highest score by a New Zealander, and his team-mate Mills's 7 for 53 were the best figures. The New Zealand cricket historian

Tom Reese Thomas Wilson Reese (29 September 1867 – 13 April 1949) was a New Zealand first-class cricketer who played for Canterbury from 1888 to 1918, and later wrote a two-volume history of New Zealand cricket. Life and career Reese was one of the fir ...

wrote in 1927 that Jarvis's keeping was "the chief feature of the tour ... absolutely brilliant throughout, and it is generally considered that the best wicket-keeping ever seen in New Zealand was displayed by Jarvis on this tour". T. W. Reese, ''New Zealand Cricket: 1841–1914'', Simpson & Williams, Christchurch, 1927, p. 84.

References

External links

Australia in New Zealand 1886-87
at CricketArchive

in ''Cricket'' magazine, 27 January 1887 {{DEFAULTSORT:Australian cricket team in New Zealand in 1886-87 1886 in Australian cricket 1886 in New Zealand cricket

1886 Events January–March * January 1 – Upper Burma is formally annexed to British Burma, following its conquest in the Third Anglo-Burmese War of November 1885. * January 5– 9 – Robert Louis Stevenson's novella ''Strange ...

International cricket competitions from 1844 to 1888 New Zealand cricket seasons from 1863–64 to 1889–90