Story The Re-History of International Cricket

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USA vs Canada
Germantown
13 Sep 1880 (first concurrent Tests in history!)

Lineups:
- Ridgway Moore, Charles Newhall, George Newhall, Sutherland Law, Robert Newhall, John Thayer, Richard Hargrave, Daniel Newhall, Francis Brewster, Thomas Hargrave, Walter Clark
- H Totten, CJ Logan, DJ Smith, Rainald Gamble, FW Trousdell, GB Behan, John Kirchhoffer, Samuel Ray, Russell Ogden, FC Blake, James Gillean
Debuts: all, Law, Thayer, Clark, R Hargrave

George Newhall, recalled, won the toss and bowled. Canada, rank underdogs, played alright for their 133. The top order was scratchy, but Behan made a decent 30, and Ray bludgeoned 25 late on. The wickets, as usual, were a team effort, but John Thayer stood out - the youth, one of two youngsters selected for America (Clark the other) took 3/8.

America started very poorly. None of the batting Newhalls succeeded, and America teetered at 7/64. But then Daniel Newhall took over again. His 56, plus Francis Brewster's 31, got America to 173. The Canadian mainstream bowlers were good, but none better than Russell Ogden, who took 4/44.

Canada, in response, collapsed. At 5/13, it looked like a truly awful day for their batting. But, as always, the tail wagged, and 20s for Kirchoffer, Ray and Ogden saved the innings and forced America to chase down 68 after Canada were dismissed for 108. The wickets were shared around the Americans, with two each for Newhall, Hargrave and Thayer.

The Canadians made a good fist of their defense. The American batting order again failed, leaving them 6/34 - but from there, Daniel Newhall came to the wicket, and the chase was quickly completed by him. Gillean and Logan had a pair of cheap wickets each, but the Americans held on for the win.

133 (Behan 30, Thayer 3/8) and 108 (Kirchoffer 26, R Hargrave 2/14) lost to 174 (D Newhall 56, Ogden 4/44) and 6/71 (D Newhall 23*, Logan 2/1)
MOTM: Daniel Newhall

@VC the slogger

 

[VC the slogger]

USA vs Canada
Germantown
13 Sep 1880 (first concurrent Tests in history!)

@VC the slogger

It's only fitting that the sport's oldest rivalry gets official status here before The Ashes.

John Thayer stood out - the youth, one of two youngsters selected for America

Ain't that the same chap who sadly went down with the Titanic.. the only known cricketer to have done so unfortunately.

Tough game for Canada, but they ought to be bolstered quite soon by the likes of Walter Wright and Francis Terry which hopefully gets them and upset win or two.

 

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Ain't that the same chap who sadly went down with the Titanic.. the only known cricketer to have done so unfortunately.

Yep!

Wright will get called up as soon as possible. This was a real match I gave Test status, hence both the lack of him for Canada and the lack of William Brewster (MOTM in the US's last two games) for USA - simply availability

 

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Canada vs USA
29 Aug 1881
Hamilton

Lineups:
- Ridgway Moore, Charles Newhall, Sutherland Law, William Morgan, John Thayer, Richard Hargrave, Daniel Newhall, William Brewster, James Soutter, Thomas Hargrave, Walter Clark
- Samuel Ray, F.W. Guerrier, Brian Waud, George Morrison, Alexander Gillespie, GB Behan, Dyce Saunders, Walter Wright, CJ Logan, Russell Ogden, James Gillean
Debuts: Morgan, Guerrier, Waud, Morrison, Gillespie, Saunders, Wright
Note: I messed up. GB Behan was incorrectly left out instead of FW Trousdell. My bad

America won the toss and elected to bowl first. A Canada team that was much stronger than last time with the inclusions of the likes of Gillespie, Saunders and Wright showed as much, scoring 156. Gillespie (34) and Wright (26) were key. America bowled eight players, which may be too many for me in the future lol, but two - Soutter and Law - took three wickets apiece.

America, though, did take the lead in their reply. Ridgway Moore made a solid 25, but the real reason was Brewster's 42 and Hargrave's 26 as they added 51 for the ninth wicket to haul the US to 177. Walter Wright further proved his class as he was on a hat-trick early after dismissing C Newhall and Law, and finished with 4/46. Ogden and Gillespie also seemed almost unhittable, and America's score would have been much lower if not for eight expensive Logan overs.

Canada continued to prove that they had the required international chops as they scored 165 in the third innings. This was definitely a team effort, but led by Waud's 25 and Saunders' 26. America again perhaps had too many bowlers going on, but there was a couple of standouts - Walter Clark (2/29) continued to prove he was ready, while William Brewster returned the figures of 2.4-2-0-2.

In reply... America crashed. CJ Logan made up for his earlier error with the ball by helping run through America's top six. The USA was 5/31 when Daniel Newhall came to the wicket. He'd done this so many times before, with so much success, and he had to agai...

0 (2).

Fight as hard as the rest of the tail did - and boy, they did fight, with 32 to Richard Hargrave, 24 to Thomas Hargrave, and 31 to Soutter - but they were never getting there. CJ Logan's 4/23 had led Canada to a truly shocking upset win.

156 (Gillespie 34, Law 3/19, Soutter 3/20) and 165 (Saunders 26, Brewster 2/0) beat 177 (Brewster 42, Wright 4/46) and 125 (R Hargrave 32, Logan 4/23)
MOTM: Walter Wright

 

[VC the slogger]

CJ Logan's 4/23 had led Canada to a truly shocking upset win.

 

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Australia vs England
29 Dec 1881
Melbourne

Lineups:
- Dick Barlow, George Ulyett, John Selby, Billy Bates, Arthur Shrewsbury, Billy Midwinter, Tom Emmett, William Scotton, Alfred Shaw, Dick Pilling, Ted Peate
- Hugh Massie, Alick Bannerman, Billy Murdoch, Percy McDonnell, Tom Horan, George Giffen, Jack Blackham, Joey Palmer, Edwin Evans, Harry Boyle, Fred Spofforth
Debuts - Pilling, Barlow, Scotton, Massie, Giffen, Evans

Billy Murdoch won the toss, batted, and then put his own choice to good use. After Massie and Bannerman added 62 runs for the first wicket, Murdoch came in and scored his second fifty of his career. Bannerman and McDonnell played helpful supporting hands, but when McDonnell was dismissed, Australia collapsed to a degree. Edwin Evans' 23* got Australia up to 265. Dick Barlow took four wickets, including both Bannerman and Murdoch.

England's second innings was mainstayed by George Ulyett. He stonewalled his way to 70 not out off 255 balls, becoming the first batsman in Test history to carry his bat. The rest of the team was hamstrung by Joey Palmer, who dominated, preventing any partnerships over 35 from forming by taking 5/33 and running out Billy Bates.

Australia lost three cheap wickets before Bannerman and Horan got to work. The two had very little support - especially Horan after Bannerman's dismissal - but they added 63 and both scored 50s. Bannerman's 51 was good, but the star of the show was Horan, who scored 86 including the last 30 coming at just under a run a ball while batting with the tail. Tom Emmett took 3/22 - Giffen, Murdoch, and Horan.

England collapsed in response. Giffen, Evans and Spofforth reduced them to 7/52, with all of the top seven back in the sheds. William Scotton didn't give up and hit a bruising fifty, but he had very little chance of getting there, and when Boyle hit the stumps and he missed, the game was up.

265 (Murdoch 63, Bannerman 47, Barlow 4/34) and 208 (Horan 86, Bannerman 51, Emmett 3/22) beat 218 (Ulyett 70*, Palmer 5/33) and 135 (Scotton 54, Giffen 3/14, Boyle 3/21)
MOTM: Tom Horan

 

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Australia vs England
17 Feb 1882
Melbourne

Lineups:
- Dick Barlow, George Ulyett, John Selby, Billy Bates, Arthur Shrewsbury, Billy Midwinter, Tom Emmett, William Scotton, Alfred Shaw, Dick Pilling, Ted Peate
- Hugh Massie, Alick Bannerman, Billy Murdoch, Percy McDonnell, Tom Horan, George Giffen, Jack Blackham, Joey Palmer, Edwin Evans, Harry Boyle, Fred Spofforth

For the first time ever, there were no debuts in a Test match. England perhaps wished there were, as after they won the toss and batted, everything collapsed for them. Giffen had three wickets, but the star of the show was Edwin Evans who took 4/7 from 6 overs. Ulyett scored 17, top scoring as England crashed to 99 all out.

Massie and Bannerman added 67 for the opening wicket, but Australia seemed headed down the same drain when they lost 5/10 to crash to 5/77. George Giffen disagreed. He bludgeoned 11 fours in his 51 to get the Aussies to 167 almost on his own, and give them a good shot. Alfred Shaw and Billy Bates both had three inexpensive wickets.

England's second innings had more staying power but not a terribly greater amount of runs. This was largely down to Dick Barlow, who played one of the most impressive stonewall innings in cricket history. As the Aussies probed, he survived 175 balls for his 30. Palmer dismissed him finally, but the stars of the innings were Edwin Evans again (3/27) and George Giffen (2/11 from 10.3 overs). England set Australia 60 to win from their 127.

Australia did struggle a little early, losing the openers cheaply, but Billy Murdoch wanted the game over. He scored 39 of the 60 runs off his own bat, and Australia took a 2-0 lead in the Ashes.

99 (Ulyett 17, Evans 4/7, Giffen 3/27) and 127 (Barlow 30, Evans 3/27) lost to 167 (Giffen 51, Bates 3/10, Shaw 3/21) and 3/60 (Murdoch 39*, Shaw 2/11)
MOTM: George Giffen

 

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Australia vs England
3 March
Sydney

Lineups:
- Dick Barlow, George Ulyett, John Selby, Billy Bates, Arthur Shrewsbury, Billy Midwinter, Tom Emmett, William Scotton, Alfred Shaw, Dick Pilling, Ted Peate
- Hugh Massie, Alick Bannerman, Billy Murdoch, Percy McDonnell, Tom Horan, George Giffen, Sammy Jones, Jack Blackham, Joey Palmer, Edwin Evans, Harry Boyle
Debuts: Sammy Jones

Australia made the only change of this game - Fred Spofforth was unavailable, and rather than recall Tom Garrett, they gave a Test debut to Sammy Jones. They also won the toss and batted, and Jones played a key role - coming together with wicketkeeper Jack Blackham at 6/61, the pair added 62, with Jones top scoring in the innings with his 31. Australia found the pitch challenging, with none of the English bowlers easy to hit, but the hardest were Shaw and Midwinter, who took three wickets each and both had economy rates under 1.2 RPO.

England took a first innings lead by 25 runs as they scored 160 in response. Again, it was the seventh wicket partnership that delivered - Billy Bates played a lovely hand with his 48, and he found support from William Scotton, who made 35 of their 73-run stand. England were 6/52 beforehand, and that was largely because of Harry Boyle, who got rid of Barlow, Selby and Shrewsbury cheaply on his way to 4/40.

Australia stumbled to 120 in the third innings. None of their batsmen showed much fluency - top scorers Massie (32) and Giffen (25) ground their way there, the only reliably scorer being Alick Bannerman for his 17. Four cheap wickets apiece went to Barlow (4/10 off 6) and Peate (4/18 off 15), while Midwinter didn't take any wickets this time but DID concede just five from his seven overs.

England's chase was marked by consistent wickets falling, and a reasonable total would have spelled doom as only George Ulyett got to 20 (and was then immediately out). However, the target was 96, and that was simple enough, even with Giffen (3/24 from 15) bowling brilliantly.

135 (Jones 31, Shaw 3/17, Midwinter 3/20) and 120 (MAssie 32, Barlow 4/10, Peate 4/18) lost to 160 (Bates 48, Scotton 35, Boyle 4/40) and 8/99 (Ulyett 20, Giffen 3/24)
MOTM: Billy Bates

 

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Australia vs England
10 March
Melbourne

Lineups:
- Dick Barlow, George Ulyett, John Selby, Billy Bates, Arthur Shrewsbury, Billy Midwinter, Tom Emmett, William Scotton, Alfred Shaw, Dick Pilling, Ted Peate
- Hugh Massie, Alick Bannerman, Billy Murdoch, Percy McDonnell, Tom Horan, George Giffen, Tom Garrett, Jack Blackham, Joey Palmer, Harry Boyle, Fred Spofforth

Australia recalled Tom Garrett and reinstated Fred Spofforth, with Evans and Jones making way. The Aussies also won the toss and bowled. They then took four early wickets to leave England in a bind. George Ulyett was not among them, though, and he applied himself to carry his bat AGAIN for the second time this series. No ton, though, as aside from Billy Midwinter, he got no support. That was because the recalled Garrett, plus Harry Boyle, ran through the British batsmen, taking four wickets each. England were left on 159 on a pitch that had more in it.

Australia's 195, in response, perhaps didn't entirely prove it. Hugh Massie and Percy McDonnell were the keys, adding 56 together and both setting Test high scores. George Giffen also hit five boundaries, before Dick Barlow cleaned up the Aussie tail, his 3/31 being the leading English bowling performance.

England crashed to 8/54 in their reply. Alfred Shaw and Dick Pilling were able to survive Harry Boyle, though, and added 61 runs together to give England just a sniff. They were eventually all out for 116, with Boyle matching his first innings 4/19 in the second and the Aussies needing just 81 to win. A target that they got to for only the losses of Murdoch and Horan, to take the series 3-1.

159 (Ulyett 94*, Boyle 4/19, Garrett 4/27) and 116 (Pilling 30, Boyle 4/19) lost to 195 (Massie 43, McDonnell 37, Barlow 3/31) and 2/81 (Murdoch 37, Shaw 1/7)
MOTM: Harry Boyle