You will never hear of the 1912 Australian cricket team as one of our best ever. In actual fact, it has the reputaion of being one of our worst performed and behaved teams sent overseas.
It shouldn’t have been that way. Had things been different, the 1912 team might have been remembered as one of our best ever.
Although the problems go as far back to at least 1906, if not before, they reached a crushing head in the summer of 1911-12. The newly formed Australian Board of Control (ABC) were attempting to do just that – gain “control” of the game of cricket in Australia, and oversee any tours.
Previously, tours had been arranged by the players and their trusted managers and/or benefactors. Naturally, the leading players resisted and resented this new usurper on the scene.
A distracted and demoralised Australian team lost to a very good England team 4-1. But the series should have been closer, and could have otherwise been remembered as one of the all-time great Ashes series. Alas, it wasn’t, at least not for Australia.
In 1912, an “ahead of its time” triangular tournament between England, Australia and South Africa had been arranged to be played in the UK, with the three countries playing each other three times.
What might have been remembered as a great carnival of cricket was destroyed firstly by the “civil war” in Australia, a declining and aging South African team, and lastly, by one of the wettest summers in British history.
The fallout from the war between the players and the ABC was that six leading players declared themselves unavailable – skipper Clem Hill, Victor Trumper, Warwick Armstrong, Vernon Ransford, Sammy Carter and Tibby Cotter. To make matters worse, leggie Ranji Hordern (of Hordern family stores fame) declared himself unavailable.
It’s reasonable to suggest that five of the above (Hill, Trumper, Armstrong, Carter, Cotter) are among the best 50 players to represent Australia. Hordern might have also made that list if he played more than seven Tests.
The team to England was led by Syd Gregory, a 42-year-old veteran recalled to lead the team. However, ordinarily, he wouldn’t have even made the touring team. A composite team including the withdrawals, gives an idea of how strong Australia could’ve and should’ve been.
Victor Trumper, age 35, right bat
Warren Bardsley, 30, left bat
Clem Hill (c), 35, left bat
Warwick Armstrong (vc), 33, right bat & leggie
Vernon ransford, 27, left bat
Charlie Macartney, 26, right bat/slow left armer
Charlie Kelleway, 26, right bat/right fast medium
Herbert (Ranji) Hordern, 29, right leggie
Hanson (Sammy) Carter, 34, keeper & right bat
Albert (Tibby) Cotter, 29, right fast
Bill Whitty, 26, left fast medium
Roy Minnett (12th man), 24, right bat
The top seven were flexible and interchangeable in the batting order. There were batters down to No.10. Also, there are six frontline bowlers – three pace and three spin. As it was, only Bardsley, Macartney, Kelleway, Whitty and Minnett of the above team travelled to England.
England were the only one of the three teams to have their best players available. Their composite best XI was quite formidable. We will never know if they would have beaten Australia’s best, all available and clear of mind.
Jack Hobbs, Wilfred Rhodes, Charles Fry(c), Reggie Spooner, Frank Woolley, Johnny Hearne, Frank Foster, Johnny Douglas (vc), Tiger Smith(wk), Sydney Barnes, Harry Dean, Gilbert Jessop(12th man).
The England team batted effectively down to No.8, and had four pacemen and three spinners to call on. Young Foster could have been a great all-rounder, but lost an arm in an industrial accident soon after this series.
Johnny Douglas’ initials were JWHT and he was dubbed “Johnny Won’t Hit Today” by Australian barrackers on account of his stubborn batting. Although 39, Barnes was still a formidalbe bowler and Fry returned at age 40 to captain the team.
South Africa were in decline, having beaten England in both 1905-06 and 1909-10 at home. Leading opener Johnny Zulch was unavailable, with eight players over 30. Young batsman Herbie Taylor was a future great.
Herbie Taylor, Louis Tancred(vc), Dave Nourse, Aubrey Faulkner, Gordon White, Frank Mitchell(c), Sibby Snooke, Buck Llewellyn, Tom Ward(wk),Reggie Schwarz, Sid Pegler, Louis Stricker (12th man).
SA batted down to No.8, and had seven bowlers to call on – four pace and three spin.
There you have it: a potentially great “far-sighted” tournament ruined by Australian in-fighting and withdrawls, South Africa’s decline and the English weather.
JohnB
Guest
Bart King. Reputedly a lot better than quite good. Supposedly the civil war had a big part in baseball becoming more popular than cricket - large groups of men brought together, playing sports to pass the time. Baseball requires only pretty basic equipment and can be played on a pretty rough field - not so cricket (and, off the topic a little, that ability to play on any open area with just a ball is a big advantage to soccer over rugby in many places).
sheek
Guest
Thanks Monty, Those poor Union soldiers. Survived the war only to die in an unfortunate incident. Philadelphia cricket was quite strong around the 1870-80s. They had a bowler, King I think his name was, who was quite good. Indeed, it might be an interesting story why the Brits didn't engage the Americans better in both cricket & rugby, before the Yanks went their own way with baseball & (American) football.
Monty String
Guest
SHEEK - Excellent post as usual. It's great to have a resident historian on cricket and rugby. Incidentally, for anybody contemplating a move to or a sabatical in the States, be assured you don't have to give up watching either game. Contrary to legend, there's an amazing amount of cricket played over here with university clubs competing in regular comps as far south as Alabama all the way to Yale in Connecticut. Not sure if the Aussie 1912 team was THE disaster team, but the Titanic tragedy - again contrary to legend - does not hold the record for the greatest passenger ship mishap. That goes to the Sultana, a Mississippi paddlewheeler taking captured Union troops back north at the conclusion of the Civil War in 1865. A boiler blew near Memphis, the steamer, incredibly overloaded, caught fire, and over 1,800 men perished. 1865 was the year Dr. W.G. Grace made his debut in first class cricket. 13 years later, the good doctor and his MCC team met disaster at Lords when Spofforth skittled them (six for four would you believe). This early Aussie team also played two matches in the US - drawing with the Philadelphian team and tussling with the Oakland CC in Oakland, California. You mentioned Jack Hobbs. He wrote a great cricketing yarn that appealed to schoolboy readers of the Champion etc. It's called Between the Wickets. Somewhere in Sydney there's bound to be a copy for sale, but you'd have to do some sleuthing.
JohnB
Guest
Sheek, hence saying he was legitimately excluded! Mentioned more as an excuse to in turn mention the unique 2 hat-tricks in one game snippet.
sheek
Guest
JohnB, At the risk of well & truly killing any debate over the respective merits of Hordern & Matthews, even the test stats heavily favour Hordern! HV Hordern: 7 tests, 46 wickets, 23.36 average, 46.6 strike rate. TJ Matthews: 8 tests, 16 wickets, 26.18 average, 67.5 strike rate. Like I said, given more tests, Hordern was probably good enough to be counted among our best 50 cricketers.
sheek
Guest
JohnB, Yeah, Matthews would have toured as the second string spinner to Hordern. Matthew's two hat tricks were against South Africa, who were only a shadow of the team of 2 years prior. I do think when both were at their best, Hordern was better, by a country mile. This is most definitely born out by their first class bowling records. HV Hordern (NSW): 33 matches, 217 wickets, 16.79 average, 23 x 5-WI, 9 x 10-WM. TJ Matthews (VIC): 67 matches, 177 wickets, 25.46 average, 8 x 5-WI, 1 x 10-WM. Hordern played half as many matches as Matthews, & took 6.5 wickets per match to Matthews' 2.5. Also at nearly 10 runs fewer per wicket. No comparison really.....
JohnB
Guest
And your composite team legitimately excludes the Tom Matthews who took 2 hat tricks in the one game in that tournament! Gideon Haigh's book on Warwick Armstrong is very interesting about this whole period when Ashes tours to England ceased being commercial ventures by a consortium of players and became something organised between "controlling" bodies.