Charlie Turner and
Jack Ferris bowled unchanged throughout their first innings at Test level to dismiss Shaw's Team for 45, which remains England's lowest-ever score in a Test match. By the end of the first day, Australia led by 31 with six first innings wickets remaining. On the second day, Australia moved their score on to 119. By stumps, England seemed out of it: they were only 29 runs ahead with 3 wickets remaining. The match turned on the final Monday, though. Briggs, Flowers and Scotton were able to move England to 184, setting Australia 111 to win. The wicket was in fine order, but Barnes, who took 6 for 28, assisted by Lohmann, who took 3 for 20 saw them dismissed for 97. According to ''Wisden'', apart from one mistake, Shaw's team's fielding was "magnificent".
In the second Test, owing to injury to Barnes, the hero of the last Test, Reginald Wood, a Lancastrian now based in Melbourne was called upon to play. Barnes had injured his hand after hitting it against a wall: he had aimed a punch at the Australian captain, and McDonnell had ducked out the way. Wood's Test career consisted of coming in at number 10 and scoring 6 and 0. He did not bowl or take a catch. He played only 11 other
first class games. For the Australians, Spofforth was missing (the first Test proved to be his last).
In their first innings, England made 151, with the eighth wicket contributing 57 of those runs; Ferris and Turner took five wickets apiece.
George Lohmann
George Alfred Lohmann (2 June 1865 – 1 December 1901) was an English cricketer, regarded as one of the greatest bowlers of all time. Statistically, he holds the lowest lifetime Test bowling average among bowlers with more than fifteen wickets ...
then destroyed Australia, becoming the first man to take eight wickets in a Test innings, as the Aussies made only 84. In England's reply, "Stonewaller" Barlow top-scored with 42, as they made 154, with Ferris and Turner taking 4 wickets apiece, to leave Australia an unlikely 222 to win. This time Briggs and Flower helped Lohmann, and though three Australians made 30s, they never looked likely to make them, and lost by 71 runs. England had run up six consecutive Test victories against them. In this match, Billy Gunn both played for England and deputised as an umpire when one of the appointed umpires was absent on the final morning, and Charlie Turner became the third man to take a catch as a substitute for the opposing Test side.
A putative third Test was hoped for at the East Melbourne ground, but the bitterness that divided Australian cricket at the time meant that the Sydney players would not have played.
''England in Australia 1886/7. Match length: Timeless. Balls per over: 4. Series result: England win 2–0.''
England v Australia 1887/8
There still was no formal organisation of international tours, with any promoter free to try to put together a touring side. However, for ten years, only one team had toured for any one Australian summer. In 1887/8 this changed. Lillywhite, Shaw and Shrewsbury put together what was to turn out to be not only their last professional tour, but the last English tour led by a professional for sixty-seven years. Their team was invited to Australia by the
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, ...
. Shaw himself did not tour, but stayed at home to put together a football side that played
rugby union
Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...
and Victorian rules (now known as
Australian rules
Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...
) football in Australia after the cricket tour. The tour was a financial disaster, with the Melbourne Cricket Club, Lillywhite, Shaw and Shrewsbury well
out-of-pocket. Lillywhite defaulted on his debt. All the English team was mostly professional, to boost the status of the team, an amateur,
Aubrey Smith, was invited to captain it.
At the same time
Lord Hawke
Martin Bladen Hawke, 7th Baron Hawke (16 August 1860 – 10 October 1938), generally known as Lord Hawke, was an English amateur cricketer active from 1881 to 1911 who played for Yorkshire and England. He was born in Willingham by Stow, near G ...
, as he was soon to be, was invited by Sydney to tour with a team that only comprise amateurs. However, Hawke had to return to England at the start of the tour as his father had died, leaving
George Vernon
George Frederick Vernon (20 June 1856 – 10 August 1902) was an English cricketer who played first-class cricket for Middlesex County Cricket Club. He also played one Test match for England during the first-ever Ashes tour in 1882-83.
Biog ...
to captain the side in his stead. Both teams played "Combined Australia" sides in matches that are not accorded Test match status. They did get together to form one united England side in one Test, although there was at least one other representative match played in the season between stronger sides. In a compromise move,
Walter Read
Walter William Read (born 23 November 1855 in Reigate, Surrey, died 6 January 1907 in Addiscombe Park, Surrey) was an English cricketer. A fluent right hand bat, he was also an occasional bowler of lobs who sometimes switched to quick overa ...
was selected as captain.
The game itself was dogged by wet weather and low-scoring game. Australia won the toss and decided to field. This probably looked like the right decision as bowling sensations Ferris and Turner took 9 wickets between them to help dismiss England for 113 all out, with
Arthur Shrewsbury
Arthur Shrewsbury (11 April 1856 – 19 May 1903) was an English cricketer and rugby football administrator. He was widely rated as competing with W. G. Grace for the accolade of best batsman of the 1880s; Grace himself, when asked whom he wo ...
top-scoring with 44. When Australia's turn came to bat, Lohmann and Peel, bowling unchanged, blitzed them. The Aussies were 35 for 8 at stumps on the first day. As a result of continuing rain, and an intervening Sunday, play did not resume for another 5 days. On resumption, Lohmann and Peel finished Australia off for 42. Turner's 7 for 43 was the highlight as England then set Australia 209 to win. They were never up to it as Lohmann and Peel shared 8 wickets, and England won by 126 runs.
''England in Australia 1887/8. Match length: Timeless. Balls per over: 4. One-off Test. Result: England won.''
English summer of 1888
Australia toured with what some considered to be the weakest side to leave Australia: the touring party lost the three matches they played before leaving Australia. However, they surprised their critics by winning their first five matches. In a low-scoring Test series, seven of the ten completed innings were completed for 100 or fewer. In the first Test, England only needed 124 runs to win after getting 53 in response to Australia's 116 and 60, on a poor pitch at
Lord's
Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England ...
, but despite
WG Grace
William Gilbert Grace (18 July 1848 – 23 October 1915) was an English amateur cricketer who was important in the development of the sport and is widely considered one of its greatest players. He played first-class cricket for a record-equal ...
's admirable 24, fell 61 runs short. This was Australia's first victory in England since the Test that started the Ashes legend 6 years before.
For the second Test,
Surrey County Cricket Club
Surrey County Cricket Club (Surrey CCC) is a first-class club in county cricket, one of eighteen in the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Surrey, including areas that now form South London. ...
, the ground authority, chose the legendary
WG Grace
William Gilbert Grace (18 July 1848 – 23 October 1915) was an English amateur cricketer who was important in the development of the sport and is widely considered one of its greatest players. He played first-class cricket for a record-equal ...
as their captain. As a cricketer Grace was reckoned above those earlier greats,
Alfred Mynn
Alfred Mynn (19 January 1807 – 1 November 1861) was an English first-class cricketer during the game's "Roundarm Era". He was a genuine all-rounder, being both an attacking right-handed batsman and a formidable right arm fast bowler. Cricket w ...
and
George Parr, and it is probably more to do with the way captains were chosen in the 19th century (with away team's captains being chosen by their promoters, home team's captains chosen by the home ground authority, and deference shown to those with titles, such as
Lord Harris
Colonel George Robert Canning Harris, 4th Baron Harris, (3 February 1851 – 24 March 1932), generally known as Lord Harris, was a British colonial administrator and Governor of Bombay. He was also an English amateur cricketer, mainly active f ...
) that Grace had not captained England sooner than his forty-first year. The England team included five Surrey players.
Although there was nothing wrong with the Oval wicket, Australia collapsed to 80 all out. Thanks to a 112 stand for the fifth wicket between Abel and Barnes, England reached 317, only for Australia to collapse again, this time to 100 to lose by an innings and 137 runs.
In the third Test, England batted first on a pitch dead after recent rain to reach 172. Australia, who had the misfortune to bat on a stickier wicket, were dismissed for 81 and from 7 for 6 recovered to 70 all out, but that still equated to a further innings defeat. It was a game decided by the toss and the rain: and ended with an English victory at 1.52 pm (before lunch) on the second day.
''Australia in England 1888. Match length: 3 days. Balls per over: 4. Series result: England won 2–1.''
South Africa's first Tests 1888/9
A not particularly strong English touring team, consisting of seven county-standard players and six of good clubs standard, and that
Altham compared to a weak English county, played an extremely weak nascent South African team. These games were not recognised as Tests by England at the time. ''Wisden's Cricketers Almanack'' noted that "it was never intended, or considered necessary, to take out a representative English team for a first trip to the Cape". The England team did, however, include some stars such as Briggs and Abel, and
George Ulyett
George Ulyett (21 October 1851 – 18 June 1898) was an English cricketer, noted particularly for his very aggressive batsmanship. A well-liked man (who, in later years, kept a pub in his native Sheffield), Ulyett was popularly known as "Happy ...
, who replaced a player who had to return from South Africa due to a family bereavement.
Although the English team is said not to have paid its expenses, it was otherwise financially successful. The cricketers were warmly welcomed. England were led by
Aubrey Smith, who became the most widely known of England's cricket captains as a result of becoming a "B" list Hollywood star. They played all their matches, except the two that later came to be regarded as Test matches, against odds, and lost some too. Of the 19 games they played, they won 13, including the two that later became recognised as Test matches, losing four and abandoning two.
In the first Test, which was played on a green matting wicket, England beat South Africa on matting by 8 wickets by 3.30 pm on the second day. Around 3,000 spectators attended the first day.
Monty Bowden
Montague Parker Bowden (1 November 1865 – 19 February 1892) was an English first-class cricketer, a wicket-keeper, who played two Test matches against South Africa in 1888/89.
Bowden was born in Stockwell, Surrey, and educated at Dulwich Col ...
became England's youngest ever Test captain aged 23 in the Second Test, replacing an injured Smith. England scored 292 and then dismissed South Africa for 47 and 43 to record a comprehensive victory. Bowden died three years later after being trampled by his own oxen after falling from his cart. He had stayed in South Africa. His death was possibly the result of an epileptic fit. He may not have known he had ever played Test cricket. It is said that his body, which was taken to Umtali hospital, had to be protected from marauding lions before being interred in a coffin made from old whiskey cases.
''England in South Africa 1888/9. Match length: 3 days. Balls per over: 4. Series result: England win 2–0.''
Notes
References
*''The Cricket Captains of England'' by Alan Gibson
*''Wisden Anthology 1864–1900'' edited by Benny Green
*''Australia versus England, A Pictorial History of every Test Match since 1877''
*''Lords 1787–1945'' by
Sir Pelham Warner
*''A Social History of English Cricket'' by Derek Birley {{ISBN, 1-85410-941-3
*''The Complete History of Cricket Tours at Home & Abroad'' by Peter Wynne Thomas
CricinfoCricket Archive
(Retrieved 5 March 2005)
* ttps://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Articles/0/972.html ''1884 1st Test Eng v Aus – What the Papers Said of the Australia 1st innings'' compiled by John Kobylecky(Retrieved 5 March 2005)
''1884 1st Test Eng v Aus – What the Papers Said of the England 2nd innings'' compiled by John Kobylecky
(Retrieved 5 March 2005)
History of Test cricket