Jack Blackham
Australia
Personal information
Full name	John McCarthy Blackham
Nickname	Prince of wicket-keepers, Black Jack
Born	11 May 1854(1854-05-11)
	Fitzroy North, Victoria, Australia
Died	28 December 1932 (aged 78)
	Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Height	1. The Australian cricket team is the national cricket team of Australia. Events 330 - Byzantium is renamed ''Nova Roma'' during a dedication ceremony but is more popularly referred to as Constantinople Year 1854 ( MDCCCLIV) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Common year Fitzroy North is a Suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is mostly in the Local Government Area of the City of Yarra Events 1065 - Westminster Abbey is Consecrated. 1308 - The reign of Emperor Hanazono, Emperor of Year 1932 ( MCMXXXII) was a Leap year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. Melbourne ( is the second most populous city in Australia, with a Metropolitan area population of approximately 3 76 m (5 ft 9+1⁄2 in)
Role	Wicket-keeper
Batting style	Right-hand
Bowling style	-
Test debut (cap 2)	15 March 1877: v England
Last Test	20 December 1894: v England
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1874–1895	Victoria
Career statistics
	Tests	FC
Matches	35	275
Runs scored	800	6395
Batting average	15. Cricket wicket keeperjpg|thumb|300px|A wicket-keeper in characteristic position ready to face a delivery This is a list of cricketers who have played at least one Test match for Australia. Events 44 BC - Julius Caesar, Dictator of the Roman Republic, is stabbed to death by Marcus Junius Brutus, Year 1877 ( MDCCCLXXVII) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common The England cricket team is the national cricket team which represents England and Wales. Events 69 - Vespasian, formerly a general under Nero, enters Rome to claim the title of Emperor. Year 1894 ( MDCCCXCIV) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common The England cricket team is the national cricket team which represents England and Wales. The Victorian Bushrangers is an Australian cricket team based in Melbourne, that represents the state of Victoria. Test cricket is the longest form of the Sport of Cricket. It has long been considered the ultimate test of playing ability between cricketing nations First-class cricket refers to the class of Cricket matches of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players and officially adjudged first-class by Batting average is a Statistic in both Cricket and Baseball measuring the performance of cricket batsmen and baseball hitters, respectively 68	16. 78
100s/50s	0/4	1/26
Top score	74	109
Balls bowled	0	312
Wickets	0	2
Bowling average	n/a	69. A delivery or ball in Cricket is a single action of Bowling a Cricket ball towards the Batsman. In the sport of Cricket the word wicket has several distinct meanings Meanings of wicket Set of stumps Primarily the wicket Bowling average is a Statistic measuring the performance of bowlers in the Sport of Cricket. 00
5 wickets in innings	0	0
10 wickets in match	0	0
Best bowling	n/a	1/8
Catches/stumpings	37/24	274/181
As of 11 March 2008 Source: [[1]]

John McCarthy Blackham (11 May 1854 — 28 December 1932) was a cricketer who played for Victoria and Australia. An inning, or innings, is a fixed-length segment of a game in any of a variety of Sports &ndash most notably Cricket and Baseball during For other uses see Stump (disambiguation Stump is a term used in the Sport of Cricket where has three different meanings Events 1425 BC - Thutmose III, Pharaoh of Egypt, dies (according to the Low Chronology of the 18th Dynasty 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Events 330 - Byzantium is renamed ''Nova Roma'' during a dedication ceremony but is more popularly referred to as Constantinople Year 1854 ( MDCCCLIV) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Common year Events 1065 - Westminster Abbey is Consecrated. 1308 - The reign of Emperor Hanazono, Emperor of Year 1932 ( MCMXXXII) was a Leap year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. Cricket is a bat-and-ball team Sport that originated in England and is now played in more than 100 countries The Victorian Bushrangers is an Australian cricket team based in Melbourne, that represents the state of Victoria. The Australian cricket team is the national cricket team of Australia. A specialist wicket-keeper, Blackham played in the first Test match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in March 1877 and the famous Ashes Test match of 1882. Cricket wicket keeperjpg|thumb|300px|A wicket-keeper in characteristic position ready to face a delivery Test cricket is the longest form of the Sport of Cricket. It has long been considered the ultimate test of playing ability between cricketing nations The Ashes is a Test cricket series played between England and Australia. Such was his skill in the position that he revolutionised the art of wicket-keeping and was known as the "Prince of wicket-keepers". Late in his career, he captained the Australian team, but his nervous disposition was not suited to leadership.

Early life

Blackham was born in the inner-Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy North, the son of newsagent Frederick Kane Blackham and his wife Lucinda (née McCarthy). Blackham became a bank clerk, and held a position in the Colonial Bank of Australasia for many years. National Australia Bank (or NAB) is the second largest financial institution by market capitalisation in Australia after Commonwealth Bank. ^[1] It is said that his beard, seen then as a sign of an equable and reliable nature, reassured his customers.

Cricket career

Blackham was included in the first eleven of the Carlton Cricket Club as a batsman at the age of sixteen. He first appeared for the Victorian team in 1874, and remained an automatic selection as the team's wicket-keeper for over twenty years. He was a member of the first eight Australian cricket teams to visit England.

Blackham was one of the first wicket-keepers to stand up close to the stumps, even to the fastest bowlers, wearing gloves that Jack Pollard describes as "little more than gardening gloves". He eliminated the need for a long-stop, and Pollard says that ". . . in England on one of his trips there a group of clergymen complained that he was a danger to the wellbeing of cricket, encouraging as he did the abolition of long-stop, the clergy's traditional fielding spot in village teams. "

Blackham was selected for the very first Test match, held at Melbourne in March 1876/77. Test cricket is the longest form of the Sport of Cricket. It has long been considered the ultimate test of playing ability between cricketing nations Melbourne ( is the second most populous city in Australia, with a Metropolitan area population of approximately 3 Year 1876 ( MDCCCLXXVI) was a Leap year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Leap year Year 1877 ( MDCCCLXXVII) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Australia’s leading bowler Fred Spofforth refused to play in the match because Blackham was preferred to Spofforth's New South Wales team-mate Billy Murdoch. Frederick Robert "Fred" Spofforth (born in Balmain in the outskirts of Sydney on 9 September 1853, died in Surrey, The New South Wales Blues (referred to as the Speed Blitz Blues for sponsorship purposes are an Australian first class cricket team based in William (Billy Lloyd Murdoch ( 18 October 1854 – 18 February 1911) was an Australian Cricketer, who captained the Australian In the Test match, Blackham took three catches and made the first Test-Match stumping.

Described by team-mates as the "prince of wicket-keepers" and one of Australia's first cricketing heroes, "Black Jack" Blackham (nicknamed for his dark beard) was Australia's regular wicket-keeper from 1877 to 1894.

His final Test

As a right-hand batsman, Blackham was a useful lower-order player. At the age of forty, he played his last Test Match at the SCG against Andrew Stoddart's English team. The Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG is a sports Stadium in Sydney. Andrew Ernest Stoddart ( 11 March, 1863 – 4 April, 1915) was an English Cricketer and Rugby union player As Blackham spun the coin on that opening morning, "Stoddy" remarked, "Someone will be swearing directly, Jack. I hope it's you. "

Blackham at the stumps

It was not: Blackham won the toss and elected to bat, and made 74 runs in a partnership of 154 with Syd Gregory, who scored 201. Sydney Edward Gregory ( 14 April 1870 &mdash 1 August 1929) sometimes known as Edward Sydney Gregory, was a Cricketer This helped Australia on its way to a massive (and apparently unassailable) total of 586. Ater England followed on, Blackham's men were eventually left to make just 176 in the final innings to win. They had scored 113 for the loss of just two wickets at the close of play on the fifth evening, but it rained hard during the night.

Jack Blackham's Test career batting graph.

Blackham's veteran team-mate George Giffen, however, slept right through the storm and was blissfully unaware of it when he got up the following morning, a bright and sunny one. George Giffen (27 March 1859 &ndash 29 November 1927 was a Cricketer who played for South Australia and Australia. Giffen greeted his captain cheerily at breakfast but was met with a face as "long as a coffee-pot". Blackham told him what had happened and forecasted ominously the danger as the Australian team travelled to the ground, the carriage leaving deep furrows in the moist turf. Blackham was right to be so concerned: on a horrific "sticky dog", his side eventually collapsed to 166 all out, losing the match by ten runs. At the close, with the Englishmen celebrating, "Blackham walked up and down the balcony like a caged tiger, muttering 'Cruel luck - cruel luck'. . . . In short, the team were thoroughly cut up seeing victory thus snatched away. . . . 'The rain beat us,' said some of them. "

"No!" retorted the Prince of Wicketkeepers. "The sun beat us" - which was probably closer to the mark.

Blackham injured himself in this match and never played Test cricket or kept wickets again.

Summary

Caricature of Blackham created for the historic 1878 Australian tour of England

In his 35 Tests, Blackham made 800 runs at an average of 15. 68 (highest score of 74), and dismissed 60 batsmen (36 caught, 24 stumped). In 45 matches for Victoria he scored 1600 runs at 22. 85, with one century (109 in 1884), and dismissed 451 batsmen. Hhowever, his value as a batsman cannot be judged by averages, as he was often at his best when the game was at a critical stage. He was not a success as a captain as he worried too much when off the field. After his retirement in 1895 a match for his benefit was arranged and an annuity was bought with the proceeds.

He captained Australia in eight matches, winning three. His nervous temperament meant that he worried over small setbacks, and could not bear to watch close finishes.

Blackham later invested his earnings from his tours of England, without success. A life-long bachelor, he died in Melbourne, Victoria. Melbourne ( is the second most populous city in Australia, with a Metropolitan area population of approximately 3

References

• Pollard, Jack, Australian Cricket: 1803-1893, The Formative Years, Sydney, The Book Company, 1995. Jack Ernest Pollard OAM ( 31 July 1926 &ndash 25 May 2002) was an Australian sports journalist writer and (ISBN 0-207-15490-2)
• Pollard, Jack, Australian Cricket: The Game and the Players, Sydney, Hodder & Stoughton, 1982. Jack Ernest Pollard OAM ( 31 July 1926 &ndash 25 May 2002) was an Australian sports journalist writer and (ISBN 0-340-28796-9)
• Robinson, Ray, On Top Down Under: Australia’s Cricket Captains, Sydney, Cassell, 1975. Rayford Harold Robinson (born March 26, 1914, Stockton New South Wales, died August 10, 1965, Stockton New South Wales (ISBN 0-7269-7364-5)
• Serle, Percival (1949). "Blackham, John". Dictionary of Australian Biography. The Dictionary of Australian Biography, published in 1949, is a reference work by Percival Serle containing information on notable people associated with Sydney: Angus and Robertson.  

See also

• List of Australian Test cricketers

External links

• Cricinfo Article on Jack Blackham