I recently found a letter from Surrey in England written to me by David Frith, founding editor of Wisden Cricket Monthly and author of numerous cricket books.
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He had seen my letter in an English newspaper on April 19th 1971 requesting information on the history of Glen Innes for the forthcoming “Beardies Heritage” and he typed up this letter on a blue aerogramme.
…“Your letter in this morning’s Daily Telegraph reminded me of a freezing night I spent in the car on the outskirts of Glen Innes in 1957.
I survived, thawed out the following morning as I pressed on to Queensland, and have had a soft spot for the place ever since.
However to the point: I have recently written a book on a great 19th-century English cricketer Andrew Stoddart.
He went four times to Australia, and on the last tour, 1897-98 was the leader of the expedition.
The team played at Glen Innes (this might very well have been the first time an English cricket team had called there) and contemporary reports - which I have scanned religiously - reveal the town responded wonderfully to the visit of the Englishmen.
The playing field was quite primitive by all accounts but a large banner at the entrance proclaimed “New England Welcomes Old England”.
The ground was grassless! The wicket was matting and the local XXII wore brown pads and no batting gloves. They made 120 and 149 against Stoddart’ XI’s 386 for eight declared.
For the Englishmen, Tom Hayward scored 108, Druce 58, Jack Mason 53 not out. Archie MacLaren 40, Ranjitsinhji 31, George Hirst 32.
Their bowlers had a good time of it: Stoddart himself took 5/10 and 10/49, Johnny Briggs took 7/40 and 7/68.
For the Glen Innes XXII, the top scorer was Mereweather with 30 in the first innings and in the second, Broadbent 26 and Fitzgerald 47. It was a two-day match.
As a matter of interest Stoddart’s clever slow ball was christened hereafter the ‘Glen Innes pusher’!... ”
Northern Border Cricket Assoc Team: L-R Top Row: J Mitchell (GI), E Fitzgerald (GI), D Webster (GI), W R Goodman (GI), G B Thompson (GI), J Biddle (Dundee), A W Roberts (Inv) L-R 2nd Row: P P Abbott (GI Joint Sec), W Carney (T'field), Lewis Fakes (S'henge), J Adams (Inv), R Peberdy (Inv), H Harris (GI), C Lee (T'field), F J Thomas (GI Joint Sec). L-R Sitting: Hon John Wetherspoon (Glencoe), Cecil Bloxsome (GI Joint Capt),JHS Travers (GI Joint Capt), H J Mereweather (Inv), F J Sloman (Dundee), F McIlveen (Inv), L Sloman (Dundee) L-R Front: C Gibbons (Red Range), W Pike(Glencoe), F Broadbent (Dundee), H Carter (GI scorer)
