Samuel Morris (22 June 1855 – 20 September 1931) 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 who played in one

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...

in 1885. He was the first black man to play Test cricket, as well as the first person of West Indian heritage and the first Tasmanian-born player to play Tests. He and

Andrew Symonds Andrew Symonds (9 June 1975 – 14 May 2022) was an Australian international cricketer, who played all three formats as a batting all-rounder. Commonly nicknamed "Roy", he was a key member of two World Cup winning squads. Symonds played as a ri ...

are the only people of West Indian heritage to play for Australia.

Early life

Morris's mother Elizabeth McGuiness was born in

Van Diemen's Land Van Diemen's Land was the colonial name of the island of Tasmania used by the British during the European exploration of Australia in the 19th century. A British settlement was established in Van Diemen's Land in 1803 before it became a sepa ...

West Indian A West Indian is a native or inhabitant of the West Indies (the Antilles and the Lucayan Archipelago). For more than 100 years the words ''West Indian'' specifically described natives of the West Indies, but by 1661 Europeans had begun to use it ...

parents. His father Isaac Morris was from Barbados and had travelled to Australia in the gold-rush years of the early 1850s. Sam was born 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 ...

, Van Diemen's Land, in 1855, and the family moved to the Daylesford gold fields in the

Colony of Victoria In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the '' metropolitan state'' ...

in the late 1850s. Isaac Morris played cricket in the Daylesford area and was soon joined by Sam, who became a prominent local player and represented the district several times.

Cricket career

Morris was appointed groundsman of the

Richmond Cricket Ground Punt Road Oval, also known by naming rights sponsorship as the Swinburne Centre, is an Australian rules football ground and former cricket oval located within the Yarra Park precinct of East Melbourne, Victoria, situated a few hundred metres to ...

in 1880, and began playing for

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

in December that year. He was successful straight away, and in February 1882 he scored 280 against St Kilda, setting a record for the highest score in the Australian colonies. It is still Richmond's highest score. Morris was selected to play his first match 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 March 1882, against

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

. He played his second match two years later, also against South Australia in Adelaide; he made his highest first-class score of 64

not out In cricket, a batter is not out if they come out to bat in an innings and have not been dismissed by the end of an innings. The batter is also ''not out'' while their innings is still in progress. Occurrence At least one batter is not out at t ...

and took five wickets in Victoria's four-wicket victory. Morris built such a good reputation as groundsman at Richmond that in 1884, when the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb nor ...

was establishing its ground, they appointed him to be the inaugural groundsman. He took over from the surveyors and prepared the ground to be ready for use in the 1885–86 season. He played for Richmond while he was developing the ground, then transferred to

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for the 1885–86 season, then played a season for University in 1886–87. Although he was never a regular player for Victoria, Morris was one of nine Australian players to make their Test debuts in the second Test of the 1884–85 series against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

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, Australia, Victoria. Founded and managed by the Melbourne Cricket Club, it is the largest stadiu ...

. The selectors had been forced to choose an entirely new team after the eleven who played in the first Test refused to play over a payment dispute. Morris took two wickets in the match, including English captain

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 wou ...

, and made 14 runs (4 as an opener in the first innings, 10 not out in the second batting at number ten) as Australia lost by ten wickets. Five of the Australians who were making their Test debuts, including Morris, never played Test cricket again. In 1886-87 Morris took his best first-class bowling figures in the match against South Australia: 4 for 59 and, bowling unchanged through the second innings, 5 for 21 off 25 four-ball overs. In 1887 he was offered an increase in pay to take over as the groundsman for

South Melbourne South Melbourne is an inner suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 3 km south of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Port Phillip local government area. South Melbourne recorded a population of 11,548 at t ...

. He accepted, and began playing for South Melbourne, his fourth club in four seasons. He remained at South Melbourne until his sight deteriorated in the 1900s, forcing him to give up his work in 1907. Morris played his last first-class match for Victoria in April 1893, scoring 52 in Victoria's victory over

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Between 1895 and 1899 he travelled with the Victorian team to Tasmania three times to umpire first-class matches between the two state teams. In the early 1920s the cricketers of Daylesford contributed to the making of a large silver trophy for the district championship. Instituted for the 1922–23 season, it was called the Sam Morris Cup.

Personal life

Morris married Julia Good in May 1881. She died aged 33 in March 1889. In September 1891 he married a widow, Jane McCracken. Their son William was born in late 1892. Jane died aged 45 in January 1905. By 1908 Morris was totally blind. He was looked after by his

de facto ''De facto'' ( ; , "in fact") describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with ''de jure'' ("by la ...

wife, Jean Eukermunder, as well as by several old cricketing friends, for the rest of his life. He still regularly attended cricket matches in Melbourne, and when the 1930-31 West Indian team played in Melbourne he met the members of the team at their hotel. Morris died at his home in the Melbourne suburb of Albert Park on 20 September 1931, aged 76. ''

The Australasian The ''Australasian Post'', commonly called the ''Aussie Post'', was Australia's longest-running weekly picture magazine. History and profile Its origins are traceable to Saturday, 3 January 1857, when the first issue of ''Bell's Life in Victoria ...

'' said, "By the death of Sam Morris Victoria has lost one of the most likeable characters that ever played the game in this State." His son William had several children, and there are many descendants.Woodward, pp. 82, 93.

References

External links

*
"Sam Morris: The first black man to play Test cricket" by Arunabha Sengupta
{{DEFAULTSORT:Morris, Sam 1855 births 1931 deaths Australia Test cricketers Victoria cricketers Richmond cricketers Australian cricketers Australian cricket umpires Cricketers from Hobart Australian people of Barbadian descent Groundskeepers Sportspeople from the Colony of Victoria South Melbourne cricketers

Early life

Cricket career

Personal life

See also

References

External links