Jack Blackham

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Lore & Background

Blackham was born in the inner-Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy North, the son of newsagent Frederick Kane Blackham and his wife Lucinda (née McCarthy). He began working as a clerk for the Colonial Bank of Australasia. It is said that his thick dark beard, perceived then as a sign of an equable and reliable nature, reassured his customers. His brother-in-law was George Eugene "Joey" Palmer. 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. He 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. Australia's leading bowler Fred Spofforth refused to play in the match, because Blackham was preferred to Spofforth's New South Wales teammate Billy Murdoch. In the Test match, Blackham took three catches and made the first Test-Match stumping, when he dismissed Alfred Shaw off the bowling of Tom Kendall in England's second innings. In 1878, he represented his country for the first time overseas, as a member of the inaugural Australian cricket team to tour England and North America.

Reader's Guide

Jack Blackham's significance lies in his transformative role as a wicket-keeper. By standing up to the stumps against fast bowlers and eliminating the long-stop, he redefined the position and set a new standard for the craft. His nickname "prince of wicket-keepers" reflects the esteem in which he was held by teammates. Blackham played in Australia's first seventeen Tests, a total of 35 matches, making 800 runs at an average of 15.68 (highest score of 74) and dismissing 60 batsmen (36 caught, 24 stumped). He captained Australia in eight matches, winning three, though his nervous temperament meant he worried over small setbacks and could not bear to watch close finishes. His final Test at age forty ended in a famous ten-run loss on a "sticky dog" after rain, a defeat he attributed to the sun rather than the rain. Blackham was also a leading Australian rules footballer for Fitzroy Football Club in the Victorian Football Association (VFA) during the 1880s. In 1996, he was inducted into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame as one of ten inaugural inductees.

Did You Know?

• Blackham made the first Test-Match stumping, dismissing Alfred Shaw off Tom Kendall in England's second innings of the very first Test in March 1877.
• He was 22 years 308 days old on his Test debut, making him at that time the youngest Test player in Test cricket, 64 days younger than previous youngest Tom Horan.
• In his final Test, after winning the toss and making 74 runs in a partnership of 154 with Syd Gregory, Australia lost by ten runs on a 'sticky dog' after rain—Blackham said 'The sun beat us.'
• Blackham was also a leading Australian rules footballer for Fitzroy Football Club in the VFA during the 1880s.
• He was one of ten inaugural inductees into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame in 1996.