by Satish Sekar © Satish Sekar (June 24^th 2010)[1]

Editor’s Note

The issue of racism in sport remains pertinent. We have covered this and other issues for several years. The story of Aboriginal cricket is important and still relevant especially with the 74^th Ashes series looming.

The Editor

A Gross waste of Indigenous Talent

Given Montague (Monty) Noble’s bias against him, and the fact that he was the captain of Jack Marsh’s state team, New South Wales, it was patently obvious that the Aboriginal Marsh had no chance of wearing the famous green cap as he could not get selected for his state – a convenient excuse to deny him international recognition.

Without the support of his state – Noble ensured there was no chance of Marsh getting that – Australia’s other selectors accepted that Marsh could not be considered for international cricket. It was a terrible waste of a rare talent. Marsh only played one match for New South Wales that season – against Queensland. But Marsh was not the only Aboriginal cricketer who was discriminated against through the convenient prism of ‘chucking’.

New South Wales’ match against Queensland was interesting as it pitted Marsh against Albert (Alec) Henry – another Aboriginal. This was the first time that two Aboriginals had played against each other in state cricket in Australia. They dismissed each other. However, Henry had problems with umpires calling him for throwing too.

Swansong

Marsh was overlooked again in the 1902-03 season at state level, apart from one match – the last first-class match of his cricketing career. It was against Queensland again. He took five wickets in the match, which contributed to his team’s victory. He represented his state once more against the Australians, taking the wicket of Australian great Clem Hill[2].

Nevertheless, Marsh dominated grade cricket – he was the leading wicket-taker from 1901-04, claiming 158 victims at an average of just 10.94.

Two years after Archibald (AC) MacLaren forced Marsh’s exclusion from the Bathurst match he was selected for the fixture. Without MacLaren laying down the law, Marsh was selected to face Sir Pelham Warner’s England side. His variation of pace bamboozled England’s batsmen, including Warner. Marsh took 5 for 55.

It proved to be his swansong.

---

[1] This article was first published in the Magazine in 2009. We publish it again as the issues that it raises remain pertinent.

[2] Hill was one of the most talented batsmen Australia ever produced. In 49 Test Matches between 1896 and 1912 he scored 11 centuries – he missed four more by 10 runs, meaning he was out for 96, 97, 98 and 99. In Australia’s Sheffield Shield, Hill scored a then record of 6274 at an average of 52.28 and in 1900, his average was an incredible 103.33 which included a superb unbeaten 360 for South Australia against New South Wales. Hill scored 3412 runs in Test cricket – a record at the time. He captained Australia ten times, never drawing – winning five and losing the other five.

Hill’s début as captain was against South Africa at the Sydney Cricket Ground in 1910 – he scored 191 in a match the hosts won by an innings and 114 runs. He played in Noble’s first match as captain, scoring a half-century, but despite an unbeaten 185 from Victor Trumper, England still won the match by 5 wickets after Len Braund hit 102 and Reginald Foster (for more information on Foster see Great Friends and Victims of Bernard Bosanquet Part Three athttps://empowersmag.com/empowersmagwp/2025/04/19/great-friends-and-victims-of-bernard-bosanquet-part-three/). Foster, also known as ‘Tip’ scored a then world record 287 on his début – it remains the highest score on début in Test Cricket.

He played for Worcestershire, dying aged just 36. He remains the only person to have captained England at both cricket and football. He only played 8 Test Matches despite a very healthy average of 46.30, which was almost five runs higher than his first-class average. Foster played for Corinthians and England at football. He only appeared 5 times for England between 1900 and 1902, but played in CB Fry’s only international and led England against Wales in his final international in 1902.