Introduction:
As throughout most of the British Empire, cricket took solid root in the Australian colonies. A total of seventy-five intercolonial matches were played on the Australian continent between 1851 and 1892. Cricket was played as early as 1825 in Van Diemen’s land, later rechristened Tasmania. The colony was also the site of the earliest first-class cricket to be played in the Australian colonies.[1] The first intrastate game between North and South was held at the geographical mid-point at Oatlands on the 20th of April 1850.[2] When “Tasmania” defeated Victoria in Launceston in March 1854 by 8 wickets it was termed ‘the conquering match’ as each had previously won an intercolonial match on their own ground.[3] While Tasmania had begun as one of the ‘strongest cricket colonies’, it was excluded from the inaugural Sheffield Shield competition in the 1892-93 season.[4] In fact the state did not join the competition until the 1977/8 season.[5] So exactly what factors retarded the development of cricket in Tasmania during the Nineteenth Century? I have identified several potential candidates: elitism, aversion to professionalism, resistance to round arm bowling, rivalries between North and South, population and poverty. Do any of these adequately explain the stifled progress of the sport in Tasmania?
While the game of cricket was diffused across most of the British colonies, among all the territory that was once held by the British, it appears to have failed to take root in North America, specifically the United States and Canada. That was also despite evidence of early popularity in both countries and its enduring success in the Caribbean. Sociologists Jason Kaufman and Orlando Patterson have argued that the success of its diffusion was dependent on two main factors: use of the sport as a hegemonic tool and popularization by cultural entrepreneurs.[6] Additionally then, is it possible that the reasons for the sport’s overall failure in North America could shed some light on its qualified success on the island state?
A game of cricket by Francis Hayman 1743, British Museum, Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
Elitism:
From its inception, cricket was both a creation and a creature of the social elite and this elitism could be managed in order to include or exclude. Kaufman and Patterson allude to the ‘hegemonic’ power of the game of cricket. The British appreciated its capacity to “discipline and civilize men”. If diffused in an inclusive manner, the game appears to have been very effective in allowing the colonized to pay ‘symbolic homage to British cultural and political hegemony’. The game could also allow those who suffered various forms of social and economic stratification to find a way above or around them. This may have been one of the reasons they in turn argue that the sport was diffused so successfully in the ‘West Indies’. While this kind of inclusive diffusion could be seen as indoctrination, it was however much more positive than its counterpart.[7] There is little evidence of this occurring in Tasmania, as the Derwent Club found it difficult to secure a permanent ground before 1843. Their first two grounds were confiscated by the government, the first to be used as a drilling ground for troops and the second was required for a road after extensive improvements had already been made. Finally, the Director General of Roads obliged and transferred the first ground to them for the 1843-4 season.[8]
The game of cricket was undeniably very often a game used by the social elites to exclude. Its early adoption into English public education reflects its role as a socialization agency emphasizing specific values and behaviours. With the introduction of professionalism, a practice called ‘stacking’ became common, which allowed the elite and the professionals to co-exist but at the same time remain segregated in relation to everything from separate change rooms to listing on score cards. Kaufman and Patterson argue however that while exclusive elements were transplanted into the culture of the game in the Australian and New Zealand colonies, the elites themselves were limited in their capacity to insist on exclusivity in these European settlements because of both their size and isolation. The process of diffusion of the sport was still essentially top down though, although the extent to which the elites could ‘cultivate their Englishness’ through acts of exclusion were qualified. But they tried. The Melbourne Cricket Club reportedly employed a grounds man specifically to eject non-members from the club grounds.[9] The South Australian Cricket Association (SACA) in the 1870s had a policy of preventing the poor from attending games at the Adelaide Oval until intervention from parliament ensured there was facility for those who could not afford the cost of admission to attend in ‘the outer’.[10] At the same time, there appears to be little evidence that the mainstream were excluded from engaging in the sport, although they likely had little involvement in its government.[11]
Aversion to professionalism:
The biggest controversy of the early period appears to have been acceptance of the professional player. The game had originally found popularity among the social elites in England who found they could gamble on the outcome and that inevitably led to the engagement of professionals to secure better results.[12] However, it was often thought that the game departed from being a gentlemen’s preserve when professionalism was permitted; instead it became one led by publicans, associated with various social vices.[13] Indeed, Joseph Bowden, owner of the Lamb Inn in Hobart (perhaps qualifying as one of Kaufman and Patterson’s cultural entrepreneurs?) organized one of the first cricket matches there on Easter Monday 1826 in the Domain. It involved a match between gentlemen from the Counties of Sussex and Kent against the choice of the whole island with a stake of 50 guineas![14] Despite the clear potential of the sport on the island, Northern and Southern cricket interests remained doggedly opposed to the inclusion of professionals for decades. This was despite some of the more successful players representing the mainland colonies increasingly being drawn from the ranks of professionals. For instance, Gideon Elliott had originally played for Surrey and had migrated during the gold rushes.[15] Australian born Tom Wills played for Kent and the MCC while away in England for his education before returning and representing Victoria.[16]
One of the central negative outcomes of diffusion identified by Kaufman and Patterson is the danger of ‘status insecure first-adopters’ capturing the game for themselves, for which they credit the failure of cricket to succeed in North America. While the sport had also become popular there during the mid-Nineteenth Century, it was effectively eclipsed by the sport of baseball at the turn of the century. While the potential reasons are clearly numerous and complex, (ranging from the climate to a dislike of the slow nature of play) they explain:
Over time, the sport’s snooty image took a toll on the popularity of cricket among Americans at large, an image the elites sought to cultivate, In contrast to the robust English tradition of “gentlemen and players”, American cricket clubs strictly forbade professionals from play, even if it meant bitter defeat at the hands of travelling English and Australian teams.[17]
The same reluctance to hire professionals was evident in Tasmania during the same period. When the Tasmanian side was totally routed by the visiting Victorians in the first intercolonial match of 1858, it was clear that the Victorian side reflected a sporting culture that prized first class play, rather than one that still viewed the game as merely a preserve for gentlemen. The contrast between the sides was evident not only in the disparity between the ratio of runs for wickets but also in the high level of maiden overs produced by the Victorian bowlers.[18] Tasmania not only lacked round arm pace bowlers but, perhaps as a consequence of not allowing them to play in the state, also lacked batsmen with the ability to play them. In contrast professional players by their nature normally had experience of many types of conditions and styles of play and it is likely that their contributions as both players and coaches may have prevented such overall poor performances as were witnessed in those matches.[19] There appears to be some level of symmetry between the decline in the competitiveness of teams in Tasmania and North America during the Nineteenth Century as a result of attitudes to professionalism.
Resistance to round-arm bowling:
At the time of initial settlement in Australia in the late Eighteenth Century, all bowling in the developing game of cricket was underarm. It was a very informal game involving smoking on the field. Round arm bowling became increasingly popular in England throughout the 1820s. It was originally devised by John Willes of Kent but first used to devastating effect in the local game by leading exponents William Lillywhite and James Broadbridge. The style was declared legal by the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) at Lords in 1828. Colonial players and enthusiasts were able to follow the English game only by virtue of newspaper coverage. The development in the style of play was likely transmitted to the antipodes in that way. One of the early pioneers of the style in New South Wales was Captain Edward Ward. Ward was particularly noted for his jerky style of delivery.[20] The change in the nature of the game necessitated the use of gloves and pads, however primitive. William Still in May 1834 became the first player in Australia to make use of these items, presumably in order to deal with the increasing pace of the ball as a result of round arm bowling.[21]
The game developed concurrently in Van Diemen’s Land. The very first game of cricket in Tasmania may have been played at Christmas in 1814 as The Reverend Robert Knopwood makes a reference to it in his famous diary.[22] The Hobart Town Cricket Club was inaugurated on 27 October 1832. Subsequently the Launceston Cricket Club which survives to this day was formed in 1843 and several other regional clubs also began to form at this time including Sorell, Richmond and New Norfolk.[23] However, before the 1850s, the round arm style bowling was simply not part of the game in Van Diemen’s Land. The accepted style in Van Diemen’s Land in this period remained ‘lob bowling’ which involved tossing the ball high in an attempt to beat the batsman with an arc that could hit the stumps. This style of bowling was no longer used anywhere else in the cricketing world.[24]
It was only a matter of time before the new style of play crossed the strait. Melbourne was settled by pioneers from Tasmania between 1834-5. A match between ‘Port Phillip’ and a Tasmanian team was proposed and organized in Launceston in 1850 and Governor Denison granted the Launceston club land near the racecourse for the purpose. Somewhat reluctantly, the Hobart club dispatched players to help fill out the local side. However due to an administrative bungle the Victorians did not arrive when expected in June 1850.[25] The game was reorganized and took place between 11-12 February 1851. There is some indication that the locals were unprepared for the pace of round arm bowling as there were no runs scored in their first innings for almost four overs![26] This was Australia’s initial first class match and the local team won by 3 wickets. A rematch was proposed for Melbourne and this began in late March 1852. This time the Victorians won by 61 runs. Despite some controversy over the Victorian use of professional players, relations between the two colonies and their teams remained cordial.[27]
It was the next two intercolonial matches between Tasmania and Victoria in 1858 that was to draw attention to the lingering issue of round arm bowling. Victoria only had to bat once in the first encounter of the tour: Tasmania produced a mere 33 in their first innings and 62 in their second falling short of Victoria’s tally of 106 by 11 runs! The Tasmanians were hounded in turn mercilessly by the pace of Gideon Elliott and Tom Wills. Elliott tore through the Tasmanian batting order in the first innings finishing with eight wickets. Wills was the star of the fielding side the next time the Victorians took the field taking five wickets. In response to what the Sydney Morning Herald later declared an ‘ignoble defeat’, the Launceston Examiner lamented that: ‘we have not one round arm bowler with command of pace in the whole country’.[28] The Hobart Town Daily Mercury reported that: ‘The round hand bowling seemed to astonish the nerves of the Launcestonians’.[29]
Victorian Cricket team 1859, Gideon Elliott far left & Tom Wills far right, Uncredited, Public domain, via Wikimedia commons
The carnage continued in the rematch held in Hobart in March at the Domain led again by Elliott and Wills. In their second innings already on the second day and before a local crowd of an estimated 2000 people, Tasmanian batsman Jamieson was struck on the leg three times in the second over and afterwards required a runner. Tasmania finished their second innings with a tally of just 25 runs.[30] This game was actually later classified as the initial first class game to be held in Hobart wherein Elliott finished with match figures of 7 for 25 yet still only supporting Tom Wills who finished with 11 for 35. Jack Pollard in his analysis of these games has argued that these poor performances by the Tasmanian team can be directly attributed to an inability to play round arm bowling – a method that was still considered on the island to be ‘unsportsmanlike’. Perhaps as a direct result of these poor performances, Tasmania did not accept further invitations for another intercolonial match for several years, while the other colonies benefited from such competition.[31]
Regardless, the intercolonial matches between 1851-8 and the match with the ‘All England team’ in 1862 had served to increase awareness of the modern round arm style of play. The technique made the local game more dangerous and demanding and it was asserted that it drew on the ‘convict element’. This likely contributed to those among the local gentry (referred to as ‘passengers’) who could not play well being slowly weeded out from the game. The method was only slowly accepted on an official level in the state. Tom Hogg was no-balled for ‘lifting his arm above the shoulder’ in an 1863 senior match. His action was the subject of much scrutiny and fear, but he became the first Australian player to dismiss W. G. Grace.[32] It is difficult to understand how the administrators of the game in the colony could expect their players to remain competitive on any level if they could not embrace this fundamental change in the nature of the game. Perhaps they did not and that was the reason Tasmania did not participate in any intercolonial cricket for several years, content to enjoy an insular gentleman’s paradise while the world moved on?[33]
Rivalries between North and South:
From the inception of colonization of the island from 1804, there was a demarcation line established between the North and the South at the 42nd parallel. Both of these separate colonies, based on the Tamar River in the North and the Derwent River in the South, were answerable to the Governor in Sydney. It was not until 1813 that the administrations of both were fused. Lingering tensions between the two though are often attributed to (perceived?) inequities in the allocation of services. It is generally agreed that this rivalry has affected the administration and government of the island on all levels.[34]
North and South rivalries may have hampered the development of a co-ordinated and efficient administrative system in the colony. The Derwent and Launceston clubs did all the organizing of inter-colonial matches. Jack Pollard specifically singled out rivalries between the Northern and Southern forces of the game as the reason that there wasn’t another intercolonial game involving Tasmania after 1852 until 1858.[35] The resumption of inter-colonial competition does appears to coincide with the amalgamation of three Southern clubs (the Derwent, Break O Day and Wellington) into the Southern Tasmanian Cricket Club in 1858.[36] Even so, the first ever English tour of the Australian colonies in the 1861-2 season led to a disappointing encounter in Hobart. Significantly the local team of 22 was comprised of 11 players from each end of the colony and even then, the visitors won by four wickets.[37] In comparison, a crowd of 500 in Launceston were privy only to an hour’s exhibition play![38]
Roger Page has argued that that North and South interests ‘clashed bitterly on any and every issue’ in the 1860s and 1870s.[39] The Southern Tasmanian Cricket Association (STCA) was formed in 1866 and arguably instigated some professionalism in relation to the administration of the game in the colony.[40] The treatment or behaviour or both of Tasmanian James Alexander Ferguson during the 1877 tour to Adelaide and Melbourne was a symptom of the simmering tensions between North and South. The trip was organized by the SCTA, but three Northerners from Launceston were included in order to make it a ‘Tasmanian’ team. Ferguson fell out with team management during the trip and was refused a place, although he did play as substitute. The ill feeling continued during two matches in Victoria staged on the way home. The Launceston Cricket Club took Ferguson’s side in relation to a dispute over travelling expenses. Relations between North and South broke of entirely between 1877-8.[41]
The standard of the game at least did rise in the second half of the Nineteenth Century as organization, pitches, equipment and play steadily improved. But the process was gradual, too gradual. Part of this improvement at least could be attributed to the formation of the Northern Cricket Association in 1886 which helped to remedy a perceived imbalance of authority and influence.[42] Aside from the clear damage inflicted by an innate conservatism among administrators, rivalries between North and South were officially acknowledged as being instrumental in retarding the development and success of the game in Tasmania. Ric Finlay has posited that insistence on ‘equal representation’ from both North and South historically led to sides not being wholly selected on merit.[43] Persistent rivalries then were regarded as the main reason Tasmania refused to join the Australian Board of Control on its formation in 1905. Consequently, the Board and the Victorian Cricket Association in turn encouraged the formation of the Executive Cricket Council of Tasmania in 1907. Tellingly, this body was comprised of six delegates, three from both the North and the South. Subsequently the Council was able to send a representative delegate to the Australian Board of Control to represent the state’s interests.[44]
Population and poverty:
The problems inherent to a small population and poverty are intertwined in Tasmania. Between 1851-2 the male population of the colony dropped by 33% and this had an immediate impact on the economy. The demographic dive caused wages to rise, caused spiraling inflation and saw land use fall by 18%. While the population drain soon after halted it is reasonable to argue that both socially and economically, the colony never fully recovered from this set back.[45] Historian Jack Pollard identifies one of the main factors in the retardation of the game in Tasmania as the effects of the gold rush.[46] While the impact of the gold rushes on the economy was probably more self-evident, there was effectively also smaller pool of men from which the sport had to draw on. The enlistment of men during the First World War and subsequent casualties similarly weakened the available pool to the extent that the 1916-7 domestic season was the last to be held until the 1935-6 season.[47] Ric Finlay identifies a ‘crippling poverty’ that decimated the potential for the sport effectively until the post-war period. Attempts to allow the state to both engage on an interstate level and play competitively consistently floundered during this period.[48] Tasmania grapples with the problems associated with a small population to this day and to some extent still, its competitiveness relies on imported players from other states and overseas.[49] At the same time over the next few decades the state produced several players of note, some even selected for the national team, including Burn, Bailey, Eady, Nash, MacDonald, Badcock and Windsor.[50]
Tasmanian team that played South Africa in Hobart in 1932, Uncredited, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Conclusions:
There were indeed several central factors that held back the development of the local game of cricket in Tasmania during the Nineteenth Century and they likely included elitism, aversion to professionalism, resistance to the adoption of round arm bowling, rivalry between Northern and Southern strongholds of the game, population and poverty. However, none of these were the central cause of the decline: conservatism. In fact, its arguable that the first three factors were symptoms of this all-pervading conservatism. The only factors that consistently rivalled the problem of conservatism across the entire history of cricket in the state were North South rivalry as well as the perennial issues of population and poverty. The mistrust and animosity between Northern and Southern cricket organisations appears to have further damaged the potential of the game in the state. When all that was combined with both the debilitating issues of a small (and often declining) population as well as sustained poverty, it is probably not surprising that Tasmanian cricket fell far behind the cricketing standards of the other Australian colonies and therefore failed to join the Sheffield Shield competition from its inauguration in the 1892-3 season.
Although the government authorities in early colonial Tasmania did not seem to recognise the hegemonic power of the sport, it still developed an enduring popularity with the mainstream population. While the subsequent management of the sport by the social elite in the Nineteenth Century was not focused on exclusion, it was selfish in the sense that it attempted to preserve the game in a genteel form and thereby slowed its natural development into a professional competitive sport. Despite their actions, they unrealistically expected other colonies to pander to their preoccupation with amateurism, sometimes with humbling results! This was unfortunate considering the ‘promising start’ made by the colony as a hub of cricket from around 1826. There is some symmetry then between the course of cricket in Tasmania and North America. The game was arguably captured by self-interested elites in both places which served to stifle its development to varying degrees. In contrast, it was to be ‘far-sighted administrators’ in the 1960s who reformed the state game in co-ordination with the Australian Cricket Board that allowed restricted entry into the Sheffield Shield in 1977 and full membership in 1982.[51] If we return then to the ugly two match intercolonial series held in Launceston and Hobart in 1858, wherein Tasmania was routed by Victoria, the response printed in the Mount Alexander Mail seems particularly astute:
We hope that the Tasmanians will be taught one lesson, and that is, not to allow any one set of men to have the right of assuming responsibility of challenging a neighbouring colony to a contest in which the character and reputation of Tasmania are involved.[52]
- Dr. Colin Woollcott Mallett, 17 December 2022.
References
Primary
Newspapers:
Argus
Courier
Hobart Town Advertiser
Hobart Town Daily Mercury
The Independent
Launceston Examiner
Mercury
Mount Alexander Mail
Sydney Morning Herald
Secondary
Books:
Finlay, R. Island Summers, A History of Tasmanian Representative Cricket, St. David’s Park Publishing, Hobart, 1992
Moyes, A. G. Australian Cricket: A History, Halstead Press, Sydney, 1959.
Page, R. A History of Tasmania Cricket, L. G. Shea Government Printer Tasmania, Hobart, 1957.
Pollard, J. The Formative Years of Australian Cricket 1803-1893, The Book Company, Sydney, 1995.
Journals:
Kaufman, J. & Patterson, O. ‘Cross-National Cultural Diffusion: The Global Spread of Cricket’, American Sociological Review, vol. 70, no. 1, 2005, pp. 82-110.
Online Materials
Finlay, R. ‘Cricket’ in The Companion to Tasmania History Online, accessed on 05 October 2022.
Hollingsworth, J. ‘North-South Relations’ in The Companion to Tasmanian History Online, accessed on 29 September 2022.
Lane, T. ‘Sport Thought: Revisiting Tasmania’s days of cricketing glory’ in The Sydney Morning Herald Online, 09 March 2019.
Mandle, W. F. ‘Thomas Wentworth Wills (1835-1880)’ in The Australian Dictionary of Biography, accessed on 03 October 2022.
Rimon, W. ‘Gold Rush in Victoria’ in The Companion to Tasmanian History Online, accessed on 29 September 2022.
[1] John Pollard, The Formative Years of Australian Cricket 1803-1893, The Book Company, Sydney, 1995, pp. 21, 94.
[2] A. G. Moyes, Australian Cricket: A History, Halstead Press, Sydney, 1959, pp. 16-7. The Northerners won that match by 12 runs!
[3] Courier 08 March 1854, p. 2.
[4] A. G. Moyes, op.cit.., p. 243. After Lord Sheffield’s tour of the colonies in the 1891-2 season, he donated a sum to the Australian Cricket Council who had the Sheiffield Shield trophy made. The initial competition consisted of New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia.
[5] Ric Finlay, ‘Cricket’ in The Companion to Tasmanian History Online, accessed on 05 October 2022.
[6] Jason Kaufman & Orlando Patterson, ‘Cross-National Cultural Diffusion: The Global Spread of Cricket’, American Sociological Review, vol. 70, no. 1, 2005, pp. 82-84, 97-9. In sociology, diffusion theory seeks to explain how a concept is transmitted, adopted and acculturated by a recipient group and the sport of cricket is used in the paper as a case study.
[7] ibid., pp. 91, 99.
[8] A. G. Moyes, op.cit., p. 15.
[9] Jason Kaufman & Orlando Patterson, op.cit.., pp. 93, 100-1.
[10] John Pollard, op.cit., p. 65.
[11] In fact, one game that was advertised in The Independent on 14 December 1843 gave notice that a game involving ‘22 commoners’ of Launceston! A. G. Moyes, op,cit., p. 16.
[12] Jason Kaufman & Orlando Patterson, op.cit., p. 91.
[13] John Pollard, op.cit., p. 58-9.
[14] Hobart Town Advertiser 24 March 1826, p. 4 accessed on 03 October 2022. There is reportedly evidence of a previous match in an ‘anonymous report’ organised by Bowden for 1 March 1825 held on ‘Stanley’s field’ on Elizabeth Street Hobart between Liverpool and Bathurst Streets. It consisted of a match between the military and civilians and was won by the former by 15 runs. Refer to Roger Page, A History of Tasmania Cricket, L. G. Shea Government Printer Tasmania, Hobart, 1957, p. 9.
[15] John Pollard, op.cit., p. 27, 99.
[16] W. F. Mandle, ‘Thomas Wentworth Wills (1835-1880)’ in The Australian Dictionary of Biography, accessed on 03 October 2022.
[17] Jason Kaufman & Orlando Patterson, op.cit., p. 97.
[18] Launceston Examiner 27 February 1858, p.2 accessed on 03 October 2022.
[19] John Pollard, op.cit., p. 37.
[20] ibid., pp. 2, 9, 12, 20, 29.
[21] A. G. Moyes op.cit., p. 5.
[23] A. G. Moyes, op.cit., p. 15.
[24] John Pollard, op.cit., p. 29.
[25] ibid., pp. 27-8.
[26] A. G. Moyes, op.cit., p. 19.
[27] John Pollard, op.cit., pp. 96-7.
[28] Sydney Morning Herald 4 March 1858, p.2 & Launceston Examiner 27 February 1858, p. 2 accessed on 03 October 2022.
[29] Hobart Town Daily Mercury 27 February 1858, p. 3. The reference to ‘Launcestonians’ seems odd as according to the Argus, three of the team were from the South – almost suggesting that a Hobart based team would be better prepared (?). See: 27 February 1858, p. 5. It also seems clear from the first article that the arrangements for the rematch that was to occur in Hobart had not yet been set. Both accessed on 03 October 2022.
[30] Hobart Town Advertiser 06 March 1858, p. 2.
[31] John Pollard, op.cit., pp. 98-9.
[32] ibid., pp.28-9, 35-6.
[33] A mindset reflected in the comment in the Launceston Examiner’s coverage which stated: ‘…we think it would have been better if the Victorians had not availed themselves of such skill, if only on the ground of not making the match on( e ) sided.’ See: 27 February 1858, p. 2 accessed on 03 October 2022.
[34] Judith Hollingsworth, ‘North-South Relations’ in The Companion to Tasmanian History Online accessed on 29 September 2022.
[35] John Pollard, op.cit., p. 98.
[36] A. G. Moyes, op.cit., p. 17.
[37] Mercury 21 February 1864, p. 4. The English team returned to the state in 1874 with W. G. Grace. A good summary of both these tours can be found here: Examiner, 28 January 1908, p. 2.
[38] Ric Finlay, Island Summers, A History of Tasmanian Representative Cricket, St. David’s Park Publishing, Hobart, 1992, p. 8, 13. This practice of fielding local teams of 22 was continued on the English tour of Australia in 1873-4. At total of 14 of the 22 made ducks in their first innings!
[39] Roger Page, op.cit., p. 29.
[40] A. G. Moyes, op.cit., p. 17.
[41] Ric Finlay, Island Summers, A History of Tasmanian Representative Cricket, op.cit., pp. 14-7. More would likely be known and understood of this whole affair (for instance why Ferguson played at Ballarat and not Beechworth?) if not for a fire at the Pavillion in 1950 which destroyed the club’s records. Refer to Roger Page, op.cit, p. 5.
[42] A. G. Moyes, op.cit., p. 17.
[43] Ric Finlay, Island Summers, A History of Tasmanian Representative Cricket, op.cit., p. 1. Furthermore, he argues that insistence on duplication of facilities in both the North and the South along with competition over the hosting of home games have persisted to the present day and resulted in an overall failure to attract the kind of sponsorship that mainland states enjoy.
[44] John Pollard, op.cit.., pp. 31-3 & originally related by A. G. Moyes, Australian Cricket: A History, Halstead Press, Sydney, 1959, p. 25.
[45] Wendy Rimon, ‘Gold Rush in Victoria’ in The Companion to Tasmanian History Online accessed 29 September 2022.
[46] John Pollard, op.cit., p. 94.
[47] A. G. Moyes, op.cit.., pp. 16-17.
[49] Tim Lane, ‘Sport Thought: Revisiting Tasmania’s days of cricketing glory’ in The Sydney Morning Herald Online, 09 March 2019. Indeed, our first state Captain was former England and Lancashire player Jack Simmons who led the state to an unexpected victory in the Gillette Cup in January 1979.
[50] A. G. Moyes, op.cit., p. 31. We’ve continued to punch above our weight per capita in terms of producing talented cricketers in the post war game including national stalwarts David Boon and Ricky Ponting.
[52] Mount Alexander Mail 15 March 1858, p.3. Ouch!
