Sixty Years of Canadian Cricket - by John Hall and Robert McCulloch

Originally contributed to the Canadian Cricketer

The fly leaf is inscribed "To Mr. John Davidson with the authors' complements - Toronto, June 24th, 1895", and the book is "Entered according to Act of Parliament of Canada in the office of the Minister of Agriculture."

Apart from the scores, the book consists of reprints of press reports of the matches, and a number of reminiscent essays by varied contributors collected with a light editorial hand. Some sing the praises of the manly game, others advise how Canadian cricket can be improved, or dwell on the hospitality rather than on the cricket, or favour us with their views on the game - some of which now appear somewhat eccentric; Mr. Frederick Gale deplores the new and degenerate practice of scoring boundaries instead of having to run every hit.

The first Canadian records date from 1829, and by 1840 clubs were formed in Toronto, Guelph, Kingston, Woodstock, Montreal and Hamilton. The first match for which the score-card exists was between Toronto and Guelph in August 1835: it was played at Hamilton, Guelph won by 10 wickets, and after the match there was a "sumptuous dinner" at Burley's Hotel, where "the most perfect harmony and good feeling prevailed". the year 1836 saw the youth of Canada at cricket, when Upper Canada College formed a club, and the young cricketers "anxious to flash their maiden weapons, challenged the Toronto Club on condition that White (a Sussex man) should be one of their eleven". with White's assistance, Toronto were skittled for 19 and 25, and the College won by an innings. In a return match Toronto were again defeated, this time because "some of the eleven left the ground before the game was over."

In 1840 Canada was visited by the first time by a foreign team, the St. George's Club of New York, who beat Toronto by ten wickets before sitting down to a dinner at Ontario House at which six toasts were drunk with the result that "every unpleasant felling was eradicated, hospitality and good feeling having drawn the sting of disappointment'. Matches with American teams (New York, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia) became a regular feature, and between 1844 and 1894 there were twenty six contests between the United States and Canada, the US winning 16, Canada 8 with 2 drawn. The US victories included the unfortunate 1846 match which was "lost to Canada, as our eleven refused to play, after a dispute in which they were entirely in the wrong, the umpires rightly awarding the match to the US team". After this dispute, no matches were played until 1853! Canada had a run of three victories in the 1880's but in the nineties the Untied States established a clear superiority, winning by an innings and 222 runs in 1892 when their team included the redoubtable J.B. King of Philadelphia, thought to be one of the best bowlers in the world, and dismissed Canada for scores of 65 in each innings.

Meanwhile, cricket was spreading throughout Canada, though the vast distances and difficulties of travel continued to restrict the choice of opponents. British military garrisons played a prominent art from the 1830's onwards. In the 1880's Dr. Ogden raised a team of medical men from Ontario, who played several matches under the banner of the Sawbones Cricket Club. Winnipeg toured Eastern Canada in 1882, beating Toronto, London, Port Hope, Ottawa, and Montreal. Manitoba and the North West undertook an ambitious tour of Eastern Canada and the United States in 1890, with a fair measure of success, though the outstanding individual feat of the tour was the eight wickets for one run by C.Ellis for New Jersey in an innings of 61 by Manitoba.

The first English team to visit Canada was the professional All England XI, led by the celebrated George Parr, who played 5 matches in the month beginning 24th September, 1859. Parr brought with him the most illustrious professional cricketers of mid-19th century England: Wisden, Lillywhite, Tom Hayward (senior), Caffyn, Stephenson, and the curiously named Julius Caesar. They played teams of 22 from Canada, Lower Canada, and a mixed Canadian and United States team, and won all their matches by an innings or 10 wickets. John Wisden, who managed the team jointly with George Parr, took 14 wickets in one innings, 6 for 33 in another, and 29 wickets in another match.

In 1872 there was a tour by an English team led by R.A. Fitzgerald and including W.G. Grace and the famous A.N. Hornby of Lancashire. The visitors met teams of 22 from Montreal, Ottawa, and Toronto, and won every match by an innings. not surprisingly, the games were dominated by W.G. Grace, then in the prime of his youth. Grace's scores were 81 out of 255, 73 out of 201 and 142 out of 319. In 1878 a powerful Australian team, including Bannerman, Blackham, Murdoch and Spofforth, defeated 22 of Ontario and 22 of Montreal and District with equal ease: Spofforth the "demon bowler" taking 17 for 60 against Ontario, and 8 for 39 against Montreal.

In 1879 another professional team from England came to Canada, if anything stronger than George Parr's. This team was led by Richard Daft, the finest batsman in England before the arrival of W.G. Grace, and included Ulyett, Lockwood, Arthur Shrewsbury the celebrated stonewaller, George Emmett, Fred Morley, and Alfred Shaw "the greatest slow bowler in the world". Shaw lived up to his reputation, taking 178 wickets for 426 runs. Matches against 22 of Canada, 22 of Ontario, 22 of Western Ontario, and 17 of Hamilton were all won by an innings.

In 1887, the "Canadian Gentlemen" toured England under the captaincy of Dr. E.R. Ogden. After games in Ireland and Scotland, the Canadians undertook an amazingly energetic sequence of matches through the length and breadth of England, culminating in a contest against the M.C.C at Lord's. The M.C.C team was virtually of Test standard, the first five batsmen being A.J. Webbe, I.D. Walker, A.E. Stoddart, C.I. Thornton, and T.C O'Brien. Canada did well to hold the M.C.C. to a draw. In all Canada won 5 matches on the tour, lost 5 and drew 9.

The international catalogue, apart from continuing matches against US teams, concludes with a brief visit in 1893 by a distinguished Australian Eleven, captained by Blackham and including Bannerman, George Giffen, Trott and Trumble. For the first time they played on equal terms, and the Canadians did well to score 110 and 118 against 298 by the visitors.

The book ends with a list of all centuries scored by Canadian batsmen, from the 106 hit by the Hon. M.B. Daly for Halifax in 1858 to the record 238 not out made by Geo.S. Lyon for Rosedale in 1894. The Rev. F.W. Terry, with six hundreds to his name, was the most prolific scorer of centuries.

The book is liberally illustrated with photographs of Canadian teams and individual cricketer - all in static poses, as it would be a few years before action photos, pioneered by G.W. Beldham, came into common use. The pictures are an added attraction to a true collector's item.