View source for History of Australian cricket from 1876–77 to 1890

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
This article describes the history of Australian cricket from the 1876–77 season until 1890.
==Events==
An [[England national cricket team|England cricket team]] toured Australia and [[New Zealand]] in the winter of 1876–77 and, in March 1877, took part with [[Australia national cricket team|Australia]] in the first two matches to be designated as [[Test cricket|Tests]].
==Domestic cricket==
The 1876–77 Australian cricket season focused on the touring England team and featured no [[first-class cricket|first-class]] matches between the colonies. [[New South Wales cricket team|New South Wales]], [[Victoria cricket team|Victoria]] and [[Tasmania cricket team|Tasmania]] were unable to arrange fixtures as in previous seasons. Club cricket matches were played in most of the colonies.
In 1877–78, [[South Australia cricket team|South Australia]] in its inaugural first-class match defeated Tasmania by an innings and 13 runs at the [[Adelaide Oval]], this being the initial first-class match at that famous venue.  New South Wales defeated Victoria twice. At the [[Melbourne Cricket Ground]], NSW won by an innings and 6 runs. Then, in the initial first-class match at the [[Sydney Cricket Ground]], NSW won by 1 wicket.
The colonies continued to arrange matches against each other on an ''ad hoc'' basis through the 1880s.  For details of the matches, see: [[Intercolonial cricket in Australia]] and [[List of Australian intercolonial cricket matches]].
==Leading players by season==
The lists below give the leading first-class runscorers and wicket-takers in each domestic season.
===Batsmen===
* 1876–77 – [[Charles Bannerman]] (HS 165*) and [[George Ulyett]] (HS 94) scored 243 runs each @ 48.60
* 1877–78 – [[Nat Thomson]] 101 @ 33.66 (HS 73)
* 1878–79 – [[George Ulyett]] 306 @ 34.00 (HS 71)
* 1879–80 – [[Alec Bannerman]] 103 @ 25.75 (HS 52)
* 1880–81 – [[Tom Horan]] 318 @ 35.33 (HS 113)
* 1881–82 – [[Billy Murdoch]] 679 @ 61.72 (HS 321)
* 1882–83 – [[Alec Bannerman]] 434 @ 54.25 (HS 101*)
* 1883–84 – [[Billy Murdoch]] 567 @ 113.40 (HS 279*)
* 1884–85 – [[Billy Barnes (cricketer)|Billy Barnes]] 520 @ 43.33 (HS 134)
* 1885–86 – [[John McIlwraith (cricketer)|John McIlwraith]] 315 @ 78.75 (HS 133)
* 1886–87 – [[Arthur Shrewsbury]] 721 @ 48.06 (HS 236)
* 1887–88 – [[Harry Moses]] 815 @ 62.69 (HS 297*)
* 1888–89 – [[Harry Trott]] 507 @ 39.00 (HS 172)
* 1889–90 – [[Jack Lyons (cricketer)|Jack Lyons]] 254 @ 63.50 (HS 134)
===Bowlers===
* 1876–77 – [[Alfred Shaw]] 17 wickets @ 11.76 (BB 5–19)
* 1877–78 – [[Edwin Evans (cricketer)|Edwin Evans]] 18 @ 10.72 (BB 6–57)
* 1878–79 – [[Tom Emmett]] 44 @ 11.63 (BB 8–47)
* 1879–80 – [[William Cooper (cricketer)|William Cooper]] 12 @ 10.75 (BB 7–37)
* 1880–81 – [[Edwin Evans (cricketer)|Edwin Evans]] 32 @ 11.25 (BB 5–34)
* 1881–82 – [[Joey Palmer|Eugene Palmer]] 47 @ 21.55 (BB 7–46)
* 1882–83 – [[Joey Palmer|Eugene Palmer]] 51 @ 11.52 (BB 7–65)
* 1883–84 – [[Joey Palmer|Eugene Palmer]] 29 @ 17.51 (BB 6–72)
* 1884–85 – [[Bobby Peel]] 35 @ 19.22 (BB 7–27)
* 1885–86 – [[Fred Spofforth]] 18 @ 15.22 (BB 5–43)
* 1886–87 – [[Charles Turner (Australian cricketer)|Charlie Turner]] 70 @ 7.68 (BB 8–32)
* 1887–88 – [[Charles Turner (Australian cricketer)|Charlie Turner]] 106 @ 13.59 (BB 8–39)
* 1888–89 – [[John Ferris (cricketer)|John Ferris]] 36 @ 15.83 (BB 6–62)
* 1889–90 – [[Hugh Trumble]] 29 @ 14.20 (BB 8–110)
==International cricket==
'''''For information about the first Australian tour of England, see'' : [[Australian cricket team in England and North America in 1878]]'''
==International tours of Australia==
===England 1876–77===
The historic two-match series was drawn 1–1:
* [http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Scorecards/2/2077.html 1st Test] at [[Melbourne Cricket Ground]] – Australia won by 45 runs
* [http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Scorecards/2/2078.html 2nd Test] at [[Melbourne Cricket Ground]] – England won by 4 wickets
In addition, England played a [http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Scorecards/2/2075.html first-class match] against [[New South Wales cricket team|New South Wales]] at the [[Albert Cricket Ground]] in [[Sydney]].  This game was drawn.
All the other games played, mostly against odds, were not first-class.  This included the New Zealand leg of the tour.  England played 23 matches in total of which they won 11, lost 4 and drew 8.
For further details of this and the next three tours by England, see [[History of Test cricket from 1877 to 1883]].
====England squad====
[[James Lillywhite]] of [[Sussex CCC|Sussex]] was both the tour organiser and England team captain.  His party included five [[Yorkshire CCC|Yorkshire]] players: [[Tom Emmett]], [[George Ulyett]], [[Tom Armitage]], [[Allen Hill (cricketer)|Allen Hill]] and [[Andrew Greenwood]].  The other players were [[Harry Jupp]], [[James Southerton]], [[Ted Pooley]] (all of [[Surrey CCC|Surrey]]); [[Henry Charlwood]] (Sussex); [[John Selby (cricketer)|John Selby]] and [[Alfred Shaw]] (both of [[Nottinghamshire CCC|Nottinghamshire]]).
===England 1878–79===
* [http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Scorecards/2/2257.html 1st Test] at [[Melbourne Cricket Ground]] – Australia won by 10 wickets
The England team was otherwise known as [[Lord Harris]]' XI, after its captain, the tour having been organised by the [[Melbourne Cricket Club]].  In all matches, the team played 15, won 6, drew 6 and lost 3.  In five [[first-class cricket|first-class]] matches including the Test match, the tourists won 2 and lost 3.
No first-class matches were played in New Zealand but four first-class matches in addition to the Test match were played in Australia.  These were versus [[New South Wales cricket team|New South Wales]] (twice) and [[Victoria cricket team|Victoria]] (twice). A riot occurred when the tourists played New South Wales, which is more fully described in the article on the [[Sydney Riot of 1879]].
===England 1881–82===
* [http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Scorecards/2/2529.html 1st Test] at [[Melbourne Cricket Ground]] – match drawn
* [http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Scorecards/2/2532.html 2nd Test] at [[Sydney Cricket Ground]] – Australia won by 5 wickets
* [http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Scorecards/2/2534.html 3rd Test] at [[Sydney Cricket Ground]] – Australia won by 6 wickets
* [http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Scorecards/2/2535.html 4th Test] at [[Melbourne Cricket Ground]] – match drawn
===England 1882–83===
* [http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Scorecards/2/2662.html 1st Test] at [[Melbourne Cricket Ground]] – Australia won by 9 wickets
* [http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Scorecards/2/2663.html 2nd Test] at [[Melbourne Cricket Ground]] – England won by an innings and 27 runs
* [http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Scorecards/2/2664.html 3rd Test] at [[Sydney Cricket Ground]] – England won by 69 runs
* [http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Scorecards/2/2667.html 4th Test] at [[Sydney Cricket Ground]] – Australia won by 4 wickets
The England team, captained by [[Ivo Bligh]], was on its famous quest "to recover those Ashes", a reference to the famous RIP notice that was published in the aftermath of England's defeat by Australia at [[The Oval]] during the [[1882 English cricket season|previous English season]].  Originally, three Tests were arranged and England won two of these after losing the first.
'''''For details of this tour, see'' : [[English cricket team in Australia in 1882-83]]'''
===England 1884–85===
* [http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Scorecards/2/2912.html 1st Test] at [[Adelaide Oval]] – England won by 8 wickets
* [http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Scorecards/2/2917.html 2nd Test] at [[Melbourne Cricket Ground]] – England won by 10 wickets
* [http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Scorecards/2/2924.html 3rd Test] at [[Sydney Cricket Ground]] – Australia won by 6 runs
* [http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Scorecards/2/2926.html 4th Test] at [[Sydney Cricket Ground]] – Australia won by 8 wickets
* [http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Scorecards/2/2927.html 5th Test] at [[Melbourne Cricket Ground]] – England won by an innings and 98 runs
Further details of this and the next two tours can be found in the article [[History of Test cricket from 1884 to 1889]].
===England 1886–87===
* [http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Scorecards/3/3176.html 1st Test] at [[Sydney Cricket Ground]] – England won by 13 runs
* [http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Scorecards/3/3180.html 2nd Test] at [[Sydney Cricket Ground]] – England won by 71 runs
===England 1887–88===
* [http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Scorecards/3/3291.html 1st Test] at [[Sydney Cricket Ground]] – England won by 126 runs
'''''For details of this tour, see'' : [[English cricket team in Australia and New Zealand in 1887-88]]'''
{{Ashes Test series}}
{{Australian cricket seasons}}
{{International cricket tours of Australia}}
==Notes==
<references/>
==External sources==
* [https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Events/AUS.html CricketArchive — itinerary of Australian cricket]
==Further reading==
* Chris Harte, ''A History of Australian Cricket'', Andre Deutsch, 1993
{{DEFAULTSORT:1890}}
[[Category:Australian cricket in the 19th century|*]]
[[Category:Australian cricket seasons from 1850–51 to 1889–90|*]]