William (Billy)
Lloyd Murdoch (born 18 October 1854 in Sandhurst,
Victoria to Gilbert Murdoch and his wife Susanna (née
Fleigge) - died 18 February 1911 in Melbourne, Victoria)
was an Australian cricketer, probably best remembered
for captaining the Australian tours to England in 1880,
1882 (when the Ashes legend was born), and 1884. He
was widely regarded the finest Australian batsman of
his day, being bettered only by the English champion
WG Grace.
Early in the 1860s, the Murdochs
moved to New South Wales, and Billy played for the Albert
Club with Fred Spofforth. He made his first-class entry
in 1875, at the time regarded as the finest wicketkeeper
in Australia, and a highly-rated right-handed batsman.
He played in the second Test match ever played, the
1877 clash against England at the Melbourne Cricket
Ground (MCG). Later that year, he qualified as a solicitor
and opened up a practice, "Murdoch & Murdoch",
with his brother Gilbert. brother Gilbert
Murdoch established himself as one
of the era's greatest batsmen over the next few years,
leading Australia in several Test series against England.
Murdoch was never far from controversy.
His omission as wicketkeeper in the very first Test
resulted in Australia’s premier fast bowler Fred
Spofforth boycotting the match. In 1884 as Captain of
Australia he was involved in the players' strike, where
the Australian players refused to play unless they received
a greater share of the gate takings. He was also the
batsman whose contentious runout caused friction between
New South Wales and a visiting English team led by Lord
Harris which also caused a spectator riot.
His best Test performances more
often occurred in England where both his Test hundreds
were scored, 153 in the first Test in the old country
in 1880 at The Oval and 211 at the same ground four
years later. In England he was regarded as a superb
captain and enough of a gentleman to be invited to captain
Sussex, which he did for several seasons.
Murdoch was more of an off side
player whose drives and cuts were regarded as among
the best of his day but his leg side play as well as
his ability against good spin was not apparently as
good. Also, he was believed to be lacking against top-class
pace bowling on difficult wickets; if conditions, were
perfect, however, his batting often followed suit.
Later in life Murdoch settled in
England, and he and John Ferris became the first cricketers
to represent two nations at Test level when the two
former Australian team-mates represented England against
South Africa in Cape Town in March 1892.
Murdoch's standing as one of the
greatest first-class batsmen of his era were strengthened
by his statistics; 16,953 runs scored in 391 matches
at the average of 26.86 at a time when batting averages
were much lower than in modern times.
He died in Melbourne, Australia
in 1911. Present at the Test match between Australia
and South Africa, he was seized with apoplexy during
the lunch interval and died later in the afternoon.
His body was embalmed and brought back to England for
burial at Bethnal Green in the east end of London.
Wikipedia
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