The Antipodean Cricketer
On 8 January 1804 George Howe published the first account of a cricket match which was also the first account of any sporting event in Australia. Colonial cricket players included- the Australian newspaper editor, John Hardy, (1834) and George Cavanaugh, editor of the Sydney Gazette in 1836-9. This close connection between sport and the media in Australia continued.
The Australian of 9 August 1826 records a match of the Australian Club where the players ‘exerted all their most active faculties during the continuance of this manly and healthful diversion.' A match report published in the Australian on 6 July 1832 describing a Civilians v Military game, noted that "In my opinion the native youth shew qualities of cricket playing I never saw surpassed. Quickness of eye and foot, strength of arm in throwing, confidence in themselves, an ardent desire to win, and a good temper under defeat."
The inaugural first-class match was played between Victoria and New South Wales. The first of many English teams touring to Australia left Liverpool in 1861 but it was not until 1877 that an England versus Australia international match was contested - the first Test Match in cricket history. Australia won by forty-five runs, although English honour was restored in a return match a fortnight later. The Melbourne Cricket Club (MCC), Australia's oldest and most influential, was formed on 15 November 1838 and the MCC played its first game against the Military at a ground now occupied by the Old Mint building in William Street, Melbourne.
