John "Jack" Conway (3 February 1842 – 22 August 1909) 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 st ...

er who played

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 ...

from 1861–62 to 1879–80. He organised the first Test match in March 1877, and Australia's first cricket tour in 1878. He was also an accomplished

Australian rules football 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 ...

er who captained the

Carlton Football Club The Carlton Football Club, nicknamed the Blues, is a professional Australian rules football club that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's top professional competition. Founded in 1864 in Carlton, an inner suburb of Me ...

between 1866 and 1871.

Career

A right-handed batsman and a right-arm fast round-arm bowler, Conway played 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 ...

and made ten appearances in first-class matches between 1862 and 1875. He played a single match for

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 ...

in New Zealand in 1880. Conway is best remembered for his work as an organiser and promoter of international cricket. He acted as the Australian agent for the English team that toured Australia in 1876–77, and towards the end of the tour he arranged for the leading players from

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

and Victoria to play a "Grand Combination Match" against the English team at the

Melbourne Cricket Ground The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), also known locally as "The 'G", is an Australian sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne, Victoria. Founded and managed by the Melbourne Cricket Club, it is the largest stadium in the Southern ...

. This match is now regarded as the first Test match. The success of this match and another hastily arranged match shortly afterwards led Conway and several of the Australian team to contemplate the feasibility of a tour of England. Despite the objections of the state cricket associations, Conway organised and managed the inaugural Australian tour of England in 1878. The tour began in November 1877 with matches in Australia and

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 ...

before the main tour of England, and continued with a tour of North America and some final matches in Australia, concluding in January 1879. The tour, undertaken for profit, yielded about 1000 pounds for each of the eleven players, and 1200 pounds for Conway. For many years, Conway worked as a journalist covering football, cricket, horse racing and coursing. He also acted as agent for English cricket teams that visited Australia in 1881–82 and 1884–85.''The Oxford Companion to Australian Cricket'', Oxford, Melbourne, 1996, p. 119.

Personal life

Conway and his wife Elizabeth had seven children, but only their son Leslie married. Conway's relatives included the cricketer

Sydney Donahoo Sydney John Donahoo (14 April 1871 – 14 January 1946) was an Australian cricketer. He played five first-class cricket matches for Victoria between 1890 and 1896, six for Queensland in 1896–97 and one for a combined Victoria and Queenslan ...

, a nephew, and the writer Ronald Conway, a grandson.Lazenby, p. 3. Conway died at his home in

Frankston, Victoria Frankston is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Frankston local government area. Frankston recorded a population of 37,331 at the 2021 census. Due to ...

in August 1909, aged 67. Attendees at a small private funeral included

Tom Horan Thomas Patrick Horan (8 March 1854 – 16 April 1916) was an Australian cricketer who played for Victoria and Australia, and later became an esteemed cricket journalist under the pen name "Felix". The first of only two players born in Irelan ...

and

Frank Allan Francis Erskine Allan (2 December 1849 – 9 February 1917) was an Australian cricketer who represented Victoria in first-class intercolonial matches and made one Test appearance for Australia. A tall, wiry left-arm medium pacer known by the ...

from the 1878 team.

References

External links

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John Conway: "and one man in his time plays many parts…"

Career

Personal life

References

External links

Further reading