However
- how many local Clubs can claim to have had an Australian Test captain play
for them? Not many, is the answer. But back in 1896, Kiama joined this small
collection of teams in adding another notch to the history of the Club.
 |
| Hugh Massie. Photo from Wikipedia |
Hugh Hamon Massie was the
28th Australian to play Test cricket. He played 64 first class matches between 1878 and 1888, including
nine Test matches for Australia between 1881 and 1885. His contribution to
Australia's victory at The Oval in August 1882, the famous win which started
the "Ashes" after the obituary for English Cricket was posted in the
Sporting Times a week following the match, is somewhat forgotten behind the
amazing bowling efforts of Fred "The Demon" Spofforth, who took 14
wickets in the match. After Australia had conceded a lead of 38 runs on the
first innings, it was Massie's wonderful innings that gave Australia a chance
at an unlikely victory. Opening the batting with Charles Bannerman, Massie
scored 55 runs in just 57 minutes, off 60 deliveries and including nine
boundaries. When he was dismissed Australia was 1/66, 28 runs to the good and
having put the Englishmen on the back foot. Massie's 55 was by far the highest
individual innings of the match, and remained his highest Test score.
In
February 1885, in what turned out to be his final Test match, Massie became the fourth man to captain Australia in a Test match when he captained
Australia to a famous victory in Sydney, winning by just 6 runs in a
series-turning result.
Hugh Massie's
Test record was 249 runs in 9 Tests at an average of 15.56; his first class
record in 64 games was 2485 runs at and average of 23.00, with a highest score
of 206 against Oxford University on the 1882 tour.
Massie
was also a banker with the Commercial Banking Company of Sydney Ltd, and it was
his links with this profession that brought forth his connection with the Kiama
Cricket Club. It was the third match of the new season for Kiama, and the highly
regarded visitor, who had been encouraged to holiday in the area by the local
bank manager, was invited to make an appearance for the 'Kiama' team - I say Kiama
team, because in 1896 there were three Clubs playing in the Kiama township,
those being the long established Kiama Cricket Club, the recently established Brighton
Cricket Club and the very newly established Claremont Cricket Club.
Massie's
appearance was a fillip for the team, and was reported enthusiastically in the
local newspapers:
IF Mr. H. H. Massie of brilliant batting fame in bygone days,
gets going on Saturday next against the Wollongong Cricket Club, the latter
will need to spread their fieldsmen out over the several points around Kiama.
We hope he will - just for the sake of a revival of old-time memories in the
cricket field. At practice on Tuesday last he hit one ball about 250 yards
before it alighted on Mother earth. [1]
Doubtless the beautiful weather was accountable in great measure
for the large gathering of spectators at the scene of the contest; but another
strong inducement which was probably as powerful as the other in that direction
was the inclusion in the Kiama team of the famous H. H. Massie, who in days
gone by was one of Australia’s most brilliant batsmen and who, while practising
with the local cricketers during the week he had been in the “City of the
Blowhole”, had proved that he still retained that wonderful driving power with
which in his younger days he was wont to delight the assembled thousands on
many historic battle fields. [2]
And
so it was that the match between the Kiama Cricket Club and the Wollongong
Cricket Club took place at Church Point on Saturday 3 October, 1896.
The match on Saturday last between the above clubs provided
possibly one of the most interesting games ever played on the Church Point.
Kiama lost the toss (which, by the way, they have done in all three matches
engaged in by them this season), and Wollongong elected to bat. [3]
The
milling spectators, a larger than normal crowd having been drawn at the
prospect of watching a former Australian batsman play, settled back down to
watch the Wollongong innings. No doubt they were not disappointed in the
batting display put on by Wollongong, though the ability of the Wollongong
innings to provide a good backbone was helped along by some deplorable fielding
on the part of the Kiama side. The son of the long-term servant of Wollongong
cricket, John Galvin, managed to be a thorn in his opponent’s side, scoring a
fine 37, a score that was equalled by his teammate Hamilton. The star of the
innings however was Jack Doyle, who managed to reach 106 before finally being
dismissed. Overall, the Kiama team spent a good portion of the afternoon
chasing leather.
The fielding by the Kiama team was again very poor... Doyle
gave two chances very early in his innings, and had either of them been
accepted the total would probably have reached little more than half the 210
runs made.... Hamilton and Galvin also batted well, particularly the former,
for their runs, though each of these batsmen gave chances which were not
accepted. [4]
The fielding of the home team was, to use the mildest
possible term, atrocious, no fewer than seven catches being missed [5]
It
was, by the end of this onslaught, necessary to even call upon the wiles of the
elder statesman visitor to roll his arm over. As it turns out, perhaps he could
have be called upon earlier, as his one over is a wicket maiden, picking up the
scalp of McLeod, bowled by his off break. Through the excellent spell of Dave
Whittingham (who has been the man who has encouraged Massie to join in today's
festivities) in taking four wickets for 16 runs, and Massie's wicket,
Wollongong lose their final five wickets for just 12 runs, and have to be happy
to reach the very defendable score of 210.
Now
comes the moment that the majority of spectators have turned up for. Walking
out to open the batting for Kiama are Hugh Massie, former Test captain, and
Jack McCaffrey, Kiama's captain and longest serving player. Both men are aged
in their forties - Massie is 42 and McCaffrey is 43 - and yet both are still
formidable with the willow in hand.
Massie and McCaffrey opened Kiama's innings, and the
spectators - who were very numerous - settled down in the expectation of seeing
something out of the ordinary performed by the former. They were not
disappointed. [6]
From
the very start, Massie batted freely. Though he had been favourably compared
during his career to his former teammate George Bonner, who was renowned for
his fast scoring and big hitting, no one could have expected the onslaught that
came here at Church Point. Though he was now 42 years old, his eye and timing
did not appear to have left him, and he took on the Wollongong bowling at will.
Jack McCaffrey had been the club's mainstay with the bat for many years, but
here he just took a backseat to the byplay.
Massie
drove handsomely at the first ball he faced from Hamilton, putting it close to
the crowd with a perfect straight drive for two runs. An over-correction from
the bowler saw the next ball whizzing away to the mid-wicket boundary for four,
before a further brace of two came from a cut shot of exquisite precision in
timing and power from the third ball of the over. The crowd rolled along with
the action, cheering loudly and clapping in excitement at the show that was
being put on. Massie continued forth, almost blithely ignoring where each ball
was pitched, and appearing to be able to place the ball precisely where he
wanted it to go, no matter where on the wicket it was aimed. The Wollongong
captain was soon doing exactly as had been suggested in the newspaper article
during the previous week - putting fieldsmen to the four winds in the hope of
being able to intercept one of the rockets that was emanating from Massie's
bat.
McLeod’s
first over was moved around for six runs, but it was Hamilton who was being
punished. His second over was absconded for eleven runs, and his third over punished
for another dozen runs.
The field had a very merry time, the ball being continually
driven by the ex-representative of Australia out of bounds and on to the rocks.
[7]
What
to do, what to do? Massie was proving to be a fearsome opponent, and the score
was rattling along. Some relief came when McCaffrey edged the final ball of
that fifth over to McLeod at slip, and was dismissed for four. The total stood
at 1/43, of which Massie had scored 37.
The
first two deliveries of McLeod’s third over were dispatched by Massie to the
boundary as well – the first a belting off drive that left the field of TWO
mid-offs floundering, the second hit straight so hard that it perfectly bisected
the two fieldsmen who had been positioned on that boundary just ten metres
apart. The crowd was beside itself, cheering and hollering and clapping until
their hands hurt. It was some of the most exhilarating cricket that had ever
been witnessed at the Church Point ground.
There
is no way of telling what the bowler McLeod was thinking of, but one can only
admire his bravery in deciding that the next ball was also going to be pitched
up full to the batsman. On its delivery, one can only imagine that Massie’s
eyes lit up once again, seeing yet another opportunity to inflict carnage upon
the scoreboard. However, this ball is not like the others he has faced, and as
it closes on the famous wielder of the willow, he sees too late that the ball
is fuller than the other deliveries have been. He jams his bat down hard, but
to no avail, and the terrifically delivered yorker has done its job, and
defeated the defence of the former Test batsman, whose stumps clatter to the
ground. The audible groans from the viewing public drown out the cheers of
triumph - and no doubt relief - of the Wollongong players.
Massie
walks off the ground to a chorus of cheers and hurrahs, having been dismissed
for 45 runs out of the total of 2/51. His innings contained eight fours, many
of which had to be retrieved from the rocks surrounding the Church Point ground.
His entire innings been completed in only 5.3 overs, and had lasted for only
eighteen minutes.
Despite
an excellent partnership between Caddell and Bellette, which at one stage had
Kiama at 2/123, and further good contributions from Sefton, Whittingham and
Palmer, Kiama fell short in their run chase, eventually being dismissed for
199, and a loss by ten runs on the first innings.
Though
he may not have been a “home grown” Australian Test representative, it is
nonetheless an exciting prospect to have such a well-credentialed player making
an appearance for your club, and putting on a display that does not disappoint
those that come to watch. If it was anything like the excitement I felt when I discovered
that the Kiama Cricket Club had within its ranks an Australian Test captain,
albeit from over a hundred years ago, then it must have been an exciting day
indeed upon Kiama’s Church Point ground.
[1]
"Snap-Shots". Kiama Independent and Shoalhaven Advertiser. Thursday 1
October 1896.
[2]
Match report. Illawarra Mercury. Tuesday 6 October 1896.
[3]
Match report. Kiama Independent and Shoalhaven Advertiser. Tuesday 6 October
1896.
[4]
Match report. Kiama Independent and Shoalhaven Advertiser. Tuesday 6 October
1896.
[5] Match
report. Illawarra Mercury. Tuesday 6 October 1896.
[6]
Match report. Kiama Independent and Shoalhaven Advertiser. Tuesday 6 October
1896.
[7] Match
report. Illawarra Mercury. Tuesday 6 October 1896.
