by Satish Sekar © Satish Sekar (June 20^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

Discovered

Jack Marsh was a joint world record-holder, or should have been recognised as such in 1894 for the 100 yards. The American John Owen Jnr set the time of 9.8 seconds in October 1890. He was the first amateur to break ten seconds, but Marsh threatened the record a year before matching it. However, Marsh’s run was not recognised by athletics’ governing bodies.

It was acknowledged as an Australian record by accident eight years later, but Marsh was already finished with top level athletics by then. The shenanigans of his trainer had gotten him suspended for fixing a race in Sydney in 1895. It was not an unusual fate for Aboriginal athletes at that time. He soon found another outlet for his sporting prowess – boomerang throwing. That resulted in his being discovered by officials of a local cricket club and he was persuaded to play that sport instead.

Excellence

He started playing for South Sydney in the 1897-98 season – it became the Sydney Cricket Club during it – and soon shone. The club’s secretary Alf Dent was a loyal supporter of the Aboriginal phenomenon and was rewarded with performances to match. Marsh topped the bowling averages in grade cricket between 1901-04.

Nevertheless, he played just six times for New South Wales and should have represented Australia, but controversy was never far away. He was a feared fast bowler with a supple wrist action and variation of fast and slower balls which gave him a control over his bowling that bamboozled batsmen – even the best of them. It also earned him enemies.

His first-class career was ludicrously short – just six matches. He dominated grade cricket and was a fine performer in state cricket too. He took the high-profile wickets of Australian great Victor Trumper for 1 in a colonial trial match in November 1900 – clean bowling him. Other greats Clem Hill and then captain and selector Monty Noble were also dismissed by Marsh, but this triumph was turned into a controversy that ultimately robbed cricket of his talent.

For The Good of the Game

Chucking (throwing) was a problem in cricket then – it still surfaces even now. Marsh had a beautiful bowling action and a supple wrist. He could bowl very fast, but he had also mastered slower deliveries. It was clear that a special bowler had been unearthed very quickly, but controversy soon surrounded this rare talent.

Marsh was caught up in the chucking controversy almost as soon as he started playing in grade cricket in November 1897 against Paddington. He was called for throwing by umpire William Curran and had little choice, but to take it. That would not last. It was a label that Marsh and his club knew would destroy his career and the next time it happened they were ready to deal with it.

Three years later he played in a trial against the New South Wales team. It should have been Marsh’s match. He took the wickets of the cream of Australian cricket, not just Trumper. Frank Iredale – already an Australian Test player – and Albert Hopkins who would make an impact in Test cricket later also fell to Marsh. Future captains Monty Noble and Syd Gregory were dismissed by Marsh as well.

Enraged

He was not allowed to celebrate what should have been his greatest performance so far. The umpire – Curran again – called him for throwing again. Marsh was enraged and was determined to prove his innocence and did so in a novel manner. He went to a hospital and had a splint fitted, which they certified made it impossible to throw. Marsh announced his intentions in the Sydney Morning Herald before bowling the next day.

The umpire resigned at the lunch break, believing that Marsh had challenged him to call him for throwing and had humiliated him. He had, but did it by proving that he was not a cheat. It was, after all, an umpire that had done it to him previously. With the Sheffield Shield matches coming up Marsh’s team knew they had to act to protect their star bowler from victimisation, or he would be vulnerable to being called a thrower repeatedly and forced out of the game.

Curran knew that Marsh was saying that he was not a thrower, but that the umpire would call him for it anyway. Curran was strongly criticised for resigning by the media and reprimanded by the First Grade Committee for his actions – deservedly. Marsh was not called for throwing in the second innings and took 6 for 125 against the best that the New South Wales team had to offer. He had proved that his bowling action was legitimate and that he was a very effective fast bowler.

That should have ended the controversy over Marsh’s bowling action once and for all, but he was still seen as an easy target and cricket needed one to control the throwers. It was going to be Marsh no matter what. He was an Aboriginal after all, so what did it matter if he had conclusively proved that he was not a chucker? Cricket had to outlaw throwers and Marsh was going to be sacrificed on the altar of fair play, regardless of his innocence.

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