Van Diemen's Land v Port Phillip, 1851

Background

It is uncertain precisely when and how cricket began to be played in Australia. It is possible that cricket arrived along with the first fleet from England but there are no records to document this. However, the game grew relatively quickly. The first recorded match in Australia took place in Sydney in 1803 between the military and civilians; according to the journalists Jim Kilburn and Mike Coward, in a review of Australian cricket, the New South Wales governor ordered that equipment should be made in government workshops. Similar early games between the military and civilians took place in Tasmania and Victoria. The distances between the colonies restricted the ability of early cricketers to compete across states, but in the population centres clubs quickly came into existence and an element of competition quickly arose. A combination of the presence of the British military, the attraction of English pastimes which did not require sophisticated venues or practices and a desire to develop a society similar to that of Britain made cricket an attractive outlet for Australians. By 1832, the Sydney Gazette was able to state that "cricket was now the prevailing amusement of the colony and that no gentleman could expect to 'dangle at a lady's apron strings' unless he could boast of his cricket prowess.'" Matches began to be covered by newspapers, and the sport's popularity spread with the population.

One of the most prestigious clubs in Australia was the Melbourne Cricket Club (MCC) which was formed in 1838, only three years after the foundation of Melbourne. The MCC dominated cricket in Australia for the rest of the century. Although membership of the club was intended to be socially elite, in a similar way to leading English clubs at the time, its ability to secure the best cricketers in its teams made it enormously popular with spectators; the intention of the MCC seems to have been to spread cricket's popularity in a similar way to the Marylebone Cricket Club in England.

Cricket was less well-established in Tasmania, then known as Van Diemen's Land. Although cricket was probably played soon after the island was settled in 1803, and it was reasonably popular by the mid-1810s, the first recorded matches only took place in 1825, and there was little organisation of clubs or competitive games; clubs were not formed in Hobart until 1832 nor in Launceston until 1841. Partly, this may have been due to an insistence among Tasmanian clubs that only the social elite could play cricket. The cricket historian Jack Pollard suggests that Tasmanian cricket failed to thrive in its early years because of "the strange reluctance of the strong, prestigious clubs in Hobart and Launceston to hire professional players to coach and strengthen their teams". With these main cities 200 kilometres apart, it was difficult to establish competition; despite an abandoned attempt in 1841, the first match between North and South Tasmania did not take place until 1850. The difficulties of organising this match prompted Launceston cricketers to seek opponents from the Australian mainland rather than Hobart.

Build-up

On 12 January 1850, William Philpott—born in England but emigrating to Australia in 1844 and establishing himself as a leading figure at the MCC—proposed at a special MCC meeting that a cricketing challenge be sent to Launceston for a match between teams representing Port Phillip and Van Diemen's Land. The match was also proposed in celebration of the impending separation of Port Phillip from New South Wales in 1851 as the colony of Victoria. An invitation was sent to Launceston Cricket Club in February with a view to playing that March. The invitation was accepted but the match was delayed when the acceptance letter was not posted in time to reach the steamer delivering mail. The MCC repeated their invitation later in 1850 and a match was arranged for February 1851. The fixture came to be considered as the first first-class cricket match in Australia and also became the first intercolonial cricket match in Australia.

The Melbourne Club decided that the team should wear red, white and blue colours on their clothing for the game. Although they had a long time to prepare, the MCC had some difficulty in assembling enough men to represent Port Phillip; many potential players were unable to spare the time to travel to Van Diemen's Land. Even as the team prepared to depart, only ten people had been found, and the eleventh, Duncan Cooper only joined as they left on the steamer Shamrock. The eleven Victorian players, accompanied many acquaintances, both men and women, arrived in Launceston on 9 February. On the evening of their arrival, they attended a dinner at the Cornwall Hotel with 100 paying guests. The following day, the team won a match against Bishopthorpe College. There was little other time to practise before the intercolonial game.

The Port Phillip team were favourites before the game began. This was partly owing to their bowlers' use of overarm bowling at pace; by contrast, bowlers in Tasmania continued to use underarm bowling, and continued to do so at a time when round-arm bowling was permitted in the rest of the world. The match was played at the Launceston Racecourse ground but the state of the ground was such that the umpires were unsure of the best place to pitch the wickets. The Victorian team were dismayed by the state of the pitch, which looked extremely difficult to bat on, and later received an apology from the government of Tasmania.

The team for Van Diemen's Land was drawn from across the island: three players came from Hobart, five from Launceston and three players from other individual clubs.

Match proceedings

The match started on 11 February 1851 at 10:30am and was scheduled to be played to a finish irrespective of time. The match was well attended, and booths were set up to accommodate spectators. According to Ray Webster in his analysis of all Australian first-class matches, there was no charge for admission for spectators; the attendance was approximately 1,000 on the first day and 1,500 on the second. In common with all cricket games at the time, each over consisted of four deliveries. Similarly, there were no boundaries to the pitch, so the batsmen had to run for every hit—there were no fours or sixes.

The two captains were John Marshall, who captained the Tasmanian team, and William Philpott, who captained the Victorian team. The toss was won by Marshall, who sent in Victoria to bat. The match started at 11 a.m.

First innings

The Tasmanians, bowling first, used their underarm style; the two bowlers, William Henty and Robert McDowall, had an unusually slow pace. The Port Phillip opening batsmen, Duncan Cooper and William Philpott, added 14 runs in 22 minutes before Cooper was bowled. A syndicated Tasmanian press report of the match described Philpott as batting "in fine style" before he was caught at mid-off. Thomas Hamilton and Charles Lister batted steadily before the former was bowled. In the first hour, after which the score was 34 runs for the loss of three wickets. Hamilton was bowled and Lister run out; Alfred Thomson, who scored one run, was soon bowled to leave the score 42 for five. Richard Philpott, the elder brother of Victorian captain William Philpott, made 12 runs to bring the score up to 54, before he too was bowled, and Thomas Antill was dismissed for a duck. James Brodie hit out to score 17 runs, to be the joint-highest scorer of the innings with William Philpott. He was caught at slip. The last two wickets fell cheaply; Frederick Marsden and Matthew Hervey were both bowled; Melmoth Hall remained not out. The Victorian team scored 82 in 26 four-ball overs in 125 minutes. Henty (four wickets at a cost of 52 runs) and McDowall (five for 27) bowled unchanged throughout the innings.

For Tasmania, Gervase Du Croz and Marshall opened the batting to the the fast round-arm bowling of Lister and Hamilton. They batted for an hour—described in the press as displaying "brilliant steady batting"—without being dismissed, at which point a lunch break was taken. After the interval, they maintained their partnership for another half hour before Antill, who had replaced Hamilton in the bowling attack, bowled Du Croz; he had scored 27 in 93 minutes and the partnership was worth 40 runs. William Field, who replaced Du Croz, was bowled by his first ball. The new man, Maddox, scored a single from his first ball; Marshall was then caught at point, having batted 105 minutes for 13 runs. Antill had taken three wickets in four balls. Maddox was bowled by Antill after scoring one, then Hamilton bowled George Gibson for eight. Walter Westbrook, the next man in, survived for forty minutes but struggled to score, only managing three scoring shots in that time before Antill bowled him. Wickets fell steadily: Charles Arthur, bowled by Antill, scored one; John Tabart, bowled by Hamilton, scored two, and Henty was bowled by Antill for a duck. The last batsman, McDowall, batted effectively to score ten runs before he was caught by Antill at mid-on off Hamilton's bowling. Vincent Giblin remained not out, having batted for half-an-hour for seven runs. The Van Diemen's Land innings ended for 104, a lead of 22 over Port Phillip, after 160 minutes and 32 overs. Antill had taken seven wickets for 33 runs while Hamilton took three for 24. Before the match, the Tasmanians had been expected to struggle against the overarm attack of the Victorians, and Antill had performed effectively; yet the Tasmanians were helped by a large total of 24 extras (which included 11 byes and eight no-balls).

Second innings

Brodie and Hall opened the Port Phillip second innings; they added 12 in ten minutes before Brodie was caught at long off by Tabart and was replaced by Hamilton. Hall was leg before wicket from the bowling of McDowall shortly afterwards for six. Lister was caught off the bowling of Field for three and Henty bowled Thomas for a duck. William Phillpot was run out by Tabart for three and Cooper was bowled by Henty for a duck, the fifth man out with the score on 28. Wickets continued to fall, although Hamilton was batting well at the other end. Roger Phillpot, who scored just a single, was caught by Westbrook off Henty; Marsden was bowled by McDowall for two and Hervey bowled by Henty for one. Meanwhile, Hamilton had batted for an hour to score 35 runs, the highest individual score of the match; he was last man out, leg before wicket to McDowall to end the innings for 57 runs. The innings had lasted 80 minutes and taken 17 overs. The other batsmen had contributed 21 runs (one bye was scored) between them. Henty took five for 26 and McDowall returned figures of three for 21. Van Diemen's Land required 36 runs to win.

Although it was getting late, both teams were enthusiastic to finish the match that evening and the home team began their second innings at half past five. Giblin and Du Croz opened the batting to Brodie and Antill. By the time play ended for the day, Van Diemen's Land had lost six wickets for 15 runs. Giblin and Du Croz were bowled by Antill, who then had Westbrook caught by Cooper. Field was caught by Thomson off Brodie, Gibson was bowled by Antill and Marshall caught and bowled by the same bowler. Tabart and Arthur batted until the end of the day, when the umpires called off play due to bad light. The Launceston Examiner stated in its match report: "The excitement was now very great, and neither side confident of victory."

Play resumed at 11 a.m, and Tabart was dropped from his second ball when he mis-hit the ball high into the air. Antill took his fifth wicket of the innings when Hervey caught Arthur without adding to his overnight score. Tabart made several big hits and Van Diemen's Land reached their target without further loss, winning by seven wickets. The innings lasted 74 minutes or 17 overs. Antill took six for 19, and had match figures of thirteen for 52. The syndicated press report stated that the match was "one of the most exciting contests ever seen", and praised the level of fielding throughout the match. The Tasmanians Marshall, Westbrook and Tabart were specifically praised for their fielding, which drew the crowd's appreciation. The spectators displayed high levels of sportsmanship throughout the match, noticeably refraining from cheering the fall of the opponent team's wickets or celebrating scoring shots from their own team.

Aftermath

There was high camaraderie witnessed between the two teams and the organising clubs throughout the Victorian's stay. After the first day's proceedings, around a hundred people from Tasmania and Victoria, including the cricketers, had dinner together, and post that attended a ball. Similarly, after the match, a public ball organised by the Tasmanian hosts was held on the Thursday night at the Cornwall Hotel, where the visiting cricketers were staying. The event – which was attended by more the 350 people, including the Victorians and many of the supporters that had accompanied them – continued into the very early morning before the visitors were instructed to leave. On the day of leaving, the Tasmanian and Victorian players proceeded arm-in-arm to the departure wharf, walking from the Cornwall Hotel with the Launceston Brass Band playing along.

Noted Australian journalist Edmund Finn wrote in the book The Chronicles of Early Melbourne: "Everybody invited everybody, and the difficulty was how to contrive so as to partake of all that was offered. From the time of landing to the time of embarking the same spirit continued – dinners, balls, musical parties, picnics and every description of entertainment was got up to give a hearty welcome to the strangers from Port Phillip."

Post their return, the Victorians praised the Tasmanian cricketers and invited their opponents to play a return match in Victoria in the subsequent season. The match, which was held on 29–30 March 1852 at the Melbourne Cricket Club ground situated on the south bank of Yarra River, was lost by Tasmania by 61 runs. This became the first intercolonial match played in Victoria. Two years later, Tasmania beat Victoria in a dead rubber match played at Launceston on 3–4 March 1854.

Two more years later, Victoria played New South Wales on 26–27 March 1856 at Melbourne Cricket Club's new ground based at Richmond Paddock, now known as Yarra Park. This match, which was won by New South Wales, became the first first-class match between two Australian mainland colonies, and the first first-class match at the current site of Melbourne Cricket Ground.

The Victorians, with nine English migrants as a part of their team, returned to tour Tasmania in the 1857–58 season and played a two-match fixture, both of which they won. In the first match, held at Launceston Racecourse in February 1858, Gideon Elliott of Victoria played a significant part in their victory, taking 9 wickets for 2 runs in the first innings. Elliott's figures put him in the record books with the most economical 9-wicket haul, a record which is yet to be surpassed. Tasmania – represented primarily by amateurs – scored 33 runs in the first innings and were defeated by an innings. The second match, which was played at Battery Ground, Hobart on 4–5 March 1858, again was won comfortably by the Victorian team. The Tasmanian team, through the series of matches, found it difficult to comprehend the roundarm bowling of the professional and skilled Victorian bowlers. After these fixtures, Victoria and Tasmania played three additional matches between 1869 and 1873, with Victoria winning all three.

The visit of the Victorian team is credited to have provided a significant encouragement to the sport of cricket in Tasmania, and to the formation of the Southern Tasmanian Cricket Club, which came into existence on 28 April 1858 with 136 members. The club was rechristened as the Southern Tasmanian Cricket Association on 1 February 1866 and became the vanguard of future intercolonial and interregional matches.

In February 2015, the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery named its cricket memorabilia exposition "164-Not Out" as a mark of remembrance of the number of years that had passed since the historic match. The match by itself is now considered to be one of the most significant events in the cricketing history of Australia, drawing rave mention during the 150th anniversary celebration of Cricket Tasmania in 2015.