Cricket Legends Sink Waverley. Trumper's Innings launches career
Eastern Suburbs Cricket Club Sydney | November 13, 2023
By Dennis Hourn
In early 1899 the Waverley District Cricket Club played its most important game since its entry into the Sydney grade competition in 1894/95.
The match, against the strong Paddington club, took place on 4 February and 11th February at Waverley Oval. Both clubs boasted test players including Victor Trumper, Monty Noble and Jim “Stumper” Kelly for Paddington and Syd Gregory, Frank Iredale and Sep Carter for the home side. There were also several current first class players in both teams. It was expected to be a match of the highest calibre.
The winner of this match was tipped to go on to win the premiership. Waverley had twice been runner up in the competition and expectations were high this would be the club’s breakthrough season.
The stakes were high and the game was the talk of the town being widely reported in the press and debated in the local community. Indeed the interest was so high over 4,000 turned up for day one. An incredible attendance given the population of the Waverley Borough at the time was estimated to be 13,500. It was also a record crowd to date for a Waverley Oval match.
The club committee decided to “throw the gates open” the loss of gate takings being replaced with a collection taken for ground improvements which yielded $12. The Sydney Morning Herald also despatched a special reporter and photographer to cover the match and photos show a healthy crowd on the western hill of Waverley Oval.
The match started on a controversial note and the press reported it as “an unusual incident”. At the toss by the Paddington captain Kelly, Gregory the Waverley captain, called “woman”, no doubt referring to the Queen Victoria inscription on one side of the coin. It was a repeat of the call at the very first toss in Sheffield Shield by Charles Bannerman when NSW played South Australia. Kelly complained it was a case of “Heads you win; tails I lose”. After much debate it was conceded the Waverley captain had the call and he chose to bat. After this “controversy” all club captains were instructed to call heads or tails at the toss.
Gregory might have preferred to call tails because on an excellent batting wicket, albeit keeping a little low at one end, the Waverley strong batting line up wilted against the crafty “medium pace and break back” bowling of Monty Noble who snared 8/60 of 31 overs including the wickets of Gregory and Iredale both caught and bowled. It bought Noble’s tally for the season to 49 wickets in just 6 games. Waverley were dismissed for a paltry 151 with only Gregory putting up any resistance scoring 61.
Paddington in reply were 1/86 at stumps with Trumper ominously poised on 36 not out after surviving a sharp stumping chance before he had scored. Trumper, despite coming off two consecutive grade centuries, was under pressure to perform given his rather disappointing first class season.
When play resumed the next Saturday 2,000 turned up more in hope than expectation. Despite Waverley’s total being quickly overhauled they were treated to a glimpse of the genius to come. Trumper dominated the strong Waverley attack smashing his way to 260 not out in what was described as a “brilliant, masterly and absolutely faultless innings”. At stumps Paddington had amassed 3 for 461 with Noble not out on 55.
Waverley’s first premiership hopes were dashed and had to wait three more seasons for success. But Victor Trumper’s 260 launched the career of the greatest player of cricket’s golden age. Three weeks after demolishing Waverley, Trumper further cemented his claims for a test cap with a majestic 253 against New Zealand. Trumper was subsequently a last minute addition as the 14th man to the 1899 ashes winning Australian touring team to England and as they say the rest is history.
The Western Hill of Waverley oval taken on day 1. There is interesting background to this photo in that the Sydney Morning Herald dispatched a special photographer with a camera capable of taking a stereoscopic view of the oval. The picture looks to me like it has been stitched together and then it was reproduced in the Monday's Herald after day 1. It created a bit of a sensation at the time. The crowd on day one was estimated at 4000 and the photo does show a rather packed hill.
