Interesting brief history of cricket in SA
Posted: Thu Jun 22, 2006 5:29 pmCricket
Miscellany
Introduction
Taken from Geoffrey H. Manning's A Colonial Experience
The game of cricket originated in England and the first match recorded in detail was played on 18 June 1744 between Kent and a team described as 'the World combined' or, in effect, 'the rest of England'. Richard Newland was the captain of the latter and was later to teach the rudiments of the game to Richard Nyren, who became the 'head and right arm' of Hambledon Cricket Club and author of The Cricketers of My Time in 1833.1 It became a game to be played by all levels of society but, upon its transportation to South Australia, it was soon apparent that little support was to be forthcoming from the 'influential community' and, accordingly, it was unusual for clubs to last for more than a season or two.
By 1862 there were no more than five clubs in Adelaide and suburbs and none of them in the best condition. They had no fenced ground to play on, no convenience of any sort or kind. The grounds they played on couldn't be called turf, since it was as hard and dusty as the metalled road. However, they had a code of ethics to be followed and swearing and profane language were forbidden 'on pain of a fine' and for a second offence, in some clubs, expulsion was the ultimate penalty.
It would appear that the first cricket match in Adelaide was played near Thebarton on the Park Lands abutting what is today the police barracks, for in an advertisement in the Register on 19 October 1839 the proprietor of the Great Tom o' Lincoln Hotel, Robert Bristow, said:
A GRAND MATCH will be played on Monday October 28th on the Thebarton Ground between Eleven Gentlemen of the Royal Victoria Independent Club and Eleven Gentlemen of Adelaide for twenty-two guineas a side. Wickets to be pitched at 10 o'clock. Refreshments will be provided and everything done that can add to the pleasure of the public.
To complement (or distract from?) this encounter, Mr Bristow staged a variety of entertainments such as footracing, climbing the greasy pole, juggling, etc., while from a capacious booth nearby he dispensed his 'pleasant tipple for country heat and dust.' Presently, cricket, which had been born in Adelaide on a tide of beer, made its own way in the realm of manly colonial sports.
In 1876 Mr W.H. Bundey, President of the Norwood Cricket Club, recalled that in 1851/52, in conjunction with a friend, he established the Union Cricket Club at Marryatville, naming it after the Adelaide Hotel at which the first meeting was held. Within a few years it had about 80 members and fielded three teams and 'having beaten both city and country clubs, it was resolved to challenge an eleven of the whole province.'
The challenge was advertised and in the ensuing match the Union team, comprising of Messrs Dobson, Miller, Uren, Baker, Futcher, Beazley, Lodge, Wood, Tunbridge, W. Hill and Carter, won convincingly by 97 runs. Strangely, the win proved to be the ruination of the club - an effort was made to go to Melbourne and challenge local teams 'but want of time prevented this being carried out...' Having no further antagonists the club gradually deteriorated and 'within a year afterwards Adelaide beat them in one innings.'
Another team of the 1850s was the Universal Cricket Club which had its headquarters on a ground near the Kent Town Hotel; in 1858 J.H. Barrow was president, F.B. Carlin. Vice-President, A.M. Harris, Honorary Secretary, J. Chittleborough, Treasurer.
Miscellany
Introduction
Taken from Geoffrey H. Manning's A Colonial Experience
The game of cricket originated in England and the first match recorded in detail was played on 18 June 1744 between Kent and a team described as 'the World combined' or, in effect, 'the rest of England'. Richard Newland was the captain of the latter and was later to teach the rudiments of the game to Richard Nyren, who became the 'head and right arm' of Hambledon Cricket Club and author of The Cricketers of My Time in 1833.1 It became a game to be played by all levels of society but, upon its transportation to South Australia, it was soon apparent that little support was to be forthcoming from the 'influential community' and, accordingly, it was unusual for clubs to last for more than a season or two.
By 1862 there were no more than five clubs in Adelaide and suburbs and none of them in the best condition. They had no fenced ground to play on, no convenience of any sort or kind. The grounds they played on couldn't be called turf, since it was as hard and dusty as the metalled road. However, they had a code of ethics to be followed and swearing and profane language were forbidden 'on pain of a fine' and for a second offence, in some clubs, expulsion was the ultimate penalty.
It would appear that the first cricket match in Adelaide was played near Thebarton on the Park Lands abutting what is today the police barracks, for in an advertisement in the Register on 19 October 1839 the proprietor of the Great Tom o' Lincoln Hotel, Robert Bristow, said:
A GRAND MATCH will be played on Monday October 28th on the Thebarton Ground between Eleven Gentlemen of the Royal Victoria Independent Club and Eleven Gentlemen of Adelaide for twenty-two guineas a side. Wickets to be pitched at 10 o'clock. Refreshments will be provided and everything done that can add to the pleasure of the public.
To complement (or distract from?) this encounter, Mr Bristow staged a variety of entertainments such as footracing, climbing the greasy pole, juggling, etc., while from a capacious booth nearby he dispensed his 'pleasant tipple for country heat and dust.' Presently, cricket, which had been born in Adelaide on a tide of beer, made its own way in the realm of manly colonial sports.
In 1876 Mr W.H. Bundey, President of the Norwood Cricket Club, recalled that in 1851/52, in conjunction with a friend, he established the Union Cricket Club at Marryatville, naming it after the Adelaide Hotel at which the first meeting was held. Within a few years it had about 80 members and fielded three teams and 'having beaten both city and country clubs, it was resolved to challenge an eleven of the whole province.'
The challenge was advertised and in the ensuing match the Union team, comprising of Messrs Dobson, Miller, Uren, Baker, Futcher, Beazley, Lodge, Wood, Tunbridge, W. Hill and Carter, won convincingly by 97 runs. Strangely, the win proved to be the ruination of the club - an effort was made to go to Melbourne and challenge local teams 'but want of time prevented this being carried out...' Having no further antagonists the club gradually deteriorated and 'within a year afterwards Adelaide beat them in one innings.'
Another team of the 1850s was the Universal Cricket Club which had its headquarters on a ground near the Kent Town Hotel; in 1858 J.H. Barrow was president, F.B. Carlin. Vice-President, A.M. Harris, Honorary Secretary, J. Chittleborough, Treasurer.
