History of Test Cricket From 1890 To 1900 - Stoddart's Tour of Australia 1897-98

Stoddart's Tour of Australia 1897-98

Stoddart's tour of Australia in 1897-98 ended in an emphatic victory for Australia by 4 Tests to 1. The tour matches before the Tests were well attended, with 69,195 attending the game against New South Wales, of whom 32,253 attended on the Saturday, but attendances tailed off later.

The first Test was delayed, at the instigation of the SCG to allow time for Ranjitsinhji to recover from tonsillitis and because Andrew Stoddart's mother had died. In the event, Stoddart did not play, but Ranjitsinhji did, although he did drop down to seventh in the batting order. England were captained by Archie MacLaren for the first time. The Test was dominated by an innings of 175 by Ranjitsinhji. There was a moment of controversy when Australian batsman Charlie McLeod was run out by Bill Storer when he left his crease after being bowled by a no-ball, when his deafness prevented him from hearing the umpire's call. England won comfortably by 9 wickets.

In the second Test, Stoddart was fit to play, but chose not to do so when he heard Ranji was fit again. He watched the match from the pavilion, watched by the girls below. It was suggested that he was looking for a new wife, "Whose wife?" being one reply. McLeod scored 112, getting revenge on England, who were well beaten by over an innings. There was controversy here, when Australian bowler Ernie Jones became the first Test bowler to be called for throwing. This was after Ranji had criticised Jones' bowling in the press. The third Test was won with the help of Joe Darling's 178. Darling reached his century with the first six scored in Test cricket without the aid of other throws. To get this achievement he had to hit the ball out of the ground.

In the fourth Test, Clem Hill's 188 helped Australia to a comfortable win. And they also won the fifth Test comfortable, thanks to a career-best performance from Tom Richardson, won took 8 for 94 in the first innings of his last Test match. Joe Darling became the first man to score three centuries in a Test series with 160 out of Australia's 276 runs they needed to win.

Throughout the tour Ranji and Stoddart had made disparaging comments about Australian crowds in the Australian press, which ensured the matches were played amongst great rancour. Stoddart wrote, "I shall, in all probability, never visit this country again with a cricket team, and what I have said has been purely for the good of the game, for the sake of the players in this country, and of English teams coming out here in the future." Stoddart never did tour Australia again, although at the tour's end Ranji did send an apology, and his popularity did not suffer so much as a result.

England in Australia 1897-98. Match length: Timeless. Balls per over: 6. Series result: Australia won 4-1.