Benjamin Wardill (15 October 1842 – 15 October 1917), often referred to as Major Wardill, was an Australian

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er and cricket administrator. Wardill played two

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...

matches: one for

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

in 1866, and one 20 years later for the Australians in England in 1886. His brother

Richard Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Frankish language, Old Frankish and is a Compound (linguistics), compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic language, Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' an ...

also played cricket for Victoria. Born in England, Wardill migrated to Melbourne in 1861 and worked for several years with his brother Richard at the office of the Victoria Sugar Co. He joined the garrison artillery soon after his arrival, and rose to the rank of major in the Harbor Trust Garrison Battery in 1885. Wardill was secretary of

Melbourne Cricket Club The Melbourne Cricket Club (MCC) is a sports club based in Melbourne, Australia. It was founded in 1838 and is one of the oldest sports clubs in Australia. The MCC is responsible for management and development of the Melbourne Cricket Ground ...

from 1876 to 1911. In his time the membership of the club increased from 572 to 5353. A biographer said that "Wardill was largely successful in his aim to make the Melbourne Cricket Club the Australian counterpart of the famous

Marylebone Cricket Club Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London. The club was formerly the governing body of cricket retaining considerable global influence ...

in England". His salary was raised to 700 pounds per annum in 1907, having been 600 pounds per annum for the previous 16 years. In his role as Melbourne Cricket Club secretary, Wardill organised and managed Australia's tours to England in 1886, 1899 and 1902. Wardill died of heart disease in 1917. He married once, to Elizabeth King, and had one daughter who died in infancy.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wardill, Benjamin 1842 births 1917 deaths Australian cricketers Victoria cricketers Cricketers from Liverpool Australian cricket administrators Melbourne Cricket Club cricketers English emigrants to colonial Australia

See also

References