Edgar Arthur "Ted" McDonald (6 January 1891 – 22 July 1937) was a

cricketer 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 ...

who played for

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

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 ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancas ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

, as well as being an

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 played with

Launceston Football Club The Launceston Football Club, nicknamed ''The Blues'', is an Australian rules football club, located in the West Tamar suburb of Riverside, seven kilometres north of the Launceston CBD and currently play in the Tasmanian State League in Tasma ...

Essendon Football Club The Essendon Football Club, nicknamed the Bombers, is a professional Australian rules football club. The club plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), the game's premier competition. The club was formed by the McCracken family in their A ...

, and

Fitzroy Football Club The Fitzroy Football Club is an Australian rules football club currently competing in the Victorian Amateur Football Association (VAFA). Formed in 1883 to represent the inner-Melbourne municipality of Fitzroy, the club was a member of the V ...

Cricket career

A very fast bowler with the ability to cause problems even on docile pitches, Ted McDonald was the unexpected bowling sensation of the 1921 Australian tour to England. He and Jack Gregory caused something approaching panic among the

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 ...

batsmen: John Evans' knees were allegedly knocking together when he went out to bat, and Andy Ducat was bowled when part of his bat, broken by McDonald's pace, hit the wicket. Where Gregory was able to swing the ball both ways, McDonald imparted vicious movement off the wicket. Like later fast bowling pairs, they were devastating in combination, taking 46 wickets in the series. McDonald played a few matches for Victoria before the First World War, but came to prominence immediately after it with eight wickets in an innings in a state match. He was picked for three Test matches in the 1920–21 series against England, which Australia won 5–0, but had little success, his six wickets costing 65 runs each. In England the following summer, though, he was an instant success, taking eight wickets in the first Test at

Trent Bridge Trent Bridge Cricket Ground is a cricket ground mostly used for Test, One-Day International and county cricket located in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England, just across the River Trent from the city of Nottingham. Trent Bridge is also ...

and contributing significantly to the victories 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 ...

and

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that won the series. McDonald was named as a

Wisden Cricketer of the Year The ''Wisden'' Cricketers of the Year are cricketers selected for the honour by the annual publication '' Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', based primarily on their "influence on the previous English season". The award began in 1889 with the naming ...

in 1922 for his exploits of the previous summer. After the England tour, McDonald played in three Tests against

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in the 1921–22 series in South Africa. Those, however, were his last Tests – all of his Test cricket was contained within the calendar year of 1921 – as he then took up an engagement as a professional with the Lancashire League club

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. By 1924, McDonald had qualified to play for Lancashire, initially, because of his League commitments, in midweek games only. Again, he was a sensation. In his first full season, 1925, he took 205 wickets, and in the five seasons from 1926 to 1930, Lancashire won the

County Championship The County Championship (referred to as the LV= Insurance County Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales and is organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). It b ...

four times, the most successful period in the county's history. In all, he took 1053 wickets for Lancashire. His value to the county was recognised in the award of a benefit in 1929, an unusually fast reward, for he had been playing county cricket for only five seasons. McDonald's first-class career ended fairly suddenly. His form dipped in 1930, though he still took more than 100 wickets, but in 1931, he lost form almost entirely, taking just 26 wickets all season and being left out of the county team for half the matches. At the end of the season, he went back to the Lancashire League with Bacup.

Australian rules football

McDonald also played

for Launceston, and for

(two matches in 1912) and

(46 matches from 1913 to 1919).

Death

McDonald died at the age of 46, when his car collided with another near

Bolton, England Bolton (, locally ) is a large town in Greater Manchester in North West England, formerly a part of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a production centre for textiles since Flemish weavers settled in the area in the 14th centu ...

, on the morning of 22 July 1937.Shaw, E.A., "One of the Greatest Fast Bowlers the Game Has Known", ''The (Brisbane) Telegraph'', (Friday. 23 July 1937), p.7.
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References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:McDonald, Ted 1891 births 1937 deaths Australia Test cricketers Australian cricketers Australian rules footballers from Tasmania Australian Rules footballers: place kick exponents Cricketers from Launceston, Tasmania Essendon Football Club players Fitzroy Football Club players Fitzroy Football Club Premiership players Lancashire cricketers North v South cricketers One-time VFL/AFL Premiership players People from Blackrod Players cricketers Road incident deaths in England Sir L. Parkinson's XI cricketers Tasmania cricketers Victoria cricketers Wisden Cricketers of the Year

Cricket career

Australian rules football

Death

References

Further reading

External links