Charles Bannerman

For Sir Charles Bannerman, 8th Baronet, see Bannerman Baronets.

Charles Bannerman

Personal information
Full name	Charles Bannerman
Born	3 July 1851(1851-07-03) Woolwich, Kent, England
Died	20 August 1930(1930-08-20) (aged 79) Surry Hills, New South Wales, Australia
Batting style	Right-handed
Bowling style	Right-arm leg spin
Role	Umpire, coach
International information
National side	Australia
Test debut (cap 1)	15 March 1877 v England
Last Test	4 January 1879 v England
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1870 – 1888	New South Wales
Umpiring information
Tests umpired	12
Career statistics
Competition	Test	FC
Matches	3	44
Runs scored	239	1687
Batting average	59.75	21.62
100s/50s	1/0	1/9
Top score	165*	165*
Balls bowled	0	137
Wickets	–	0
Bowling average	–	–
5 wickets in innings	–	0
10 wickets in match	–	0
Best bowling	–	–
Catches/stumpings	0/–	20/–
Source: [1], 20 August 1930

Charles Bannerman (3 July 1851 – 20 August 1930) was an Australian Test cricketer, a right-hand batsman, who played domestic cricket for New South Wales.

Bannerman was born in Woolwich, Kent, England, son of William Bannerman and his wife Margaret, née Murphy. Not long afterwards the family migrated to New South Wales. He joined Warwick Cricket Club in Sydney.^[1] He first played first-class cricket in 1870-71, and came to prominence by scoring 81 and 32 not out against Victoria in 1874. He played in the very first Test match, held at Melbourne in March 1877, and had the honour of facing the first ball ever bowled in Test cricket (the bowler being England's Alfred Shaw). Dropped before he reached double figures, he went on to 165 when he was forced to retire hurt, his finger being broken by a ball from George Ulyett. This was not only the first century scored in a Test match, but remains, more than 130 years later, the highest score by an Australian batsman on debut.

Also, his 165 runs, out of Australia's total of 245, is still the highest proportion (67.35%) of a completed innings in a Test match. No other Australian exceeded 20 in either innings, as Australia won this historic match by 45 runs. For his feat, spectators at the match collected £83/7/6 to present to him.

Bannerman faced the first ball in Test cricket and scored the first Test century

Bannerman played in the next two Tests, and in his brief Test career he scored 239 runs at an average of 59.75. On the first official tour of England in 1878 he topped the averages and scored the first century by an Australian in England, but no Test matches were played on this tour. He had a first-class batting average of 1,687 runs at 21.62. He retired after the first three Tests, officially through ill-health, but it was suggested that he could not cope with celebrity status, and that gambling debts and alcohol left him impoverished.

Between 1887 and 1902 he stood as umpire in 12 Test matches in Australia. His first match was between Australia and England in Sydney on 28 January to 31 January 1887, won by England by 13 runs after scoring a paltry 45 runs in their first innings. His colleague was Henry Rawlinson, standing in his only Test match. His last match, at Melbourne in 1901/02 season, was also a close low-scoring affair, with Australia winning by 32 runs. On this occasion his colleague was Bob Crockett standing in the first season of a long and illustrious Test umpiring career.

In two of the matches in which Charles Bannerman officiated, his brother Alick was a player. No accusations of bias could be made - Alick scored only 23 runs in four innings.

In the fifth Test in the 1897/98 series Bannerman turned down a confident LBW appeal against Australian batsman Joe Darling when the match was in a tense situation. The LBW seemed obvious but the bowler had run in front of the umpire who was unsighted and had to reject the appeal. Darling, then on 50, went on to 160, winning the match for Australia. After the game Bannerman lodged an official complaint against the English wicket-keeper who had accused him of cheating, and the player was rebuked.

In 1922-23 season the first radio broadcast of a cricket match anywhere in the world was a match played as a benefit for Charles Bannerman, from which he received £490. He died in Sydney, Australia survived by his widow Mary Ann, née King, two sons and three daughters; three of the children were the issue of his first marriage to Ellen, née Neale.

See also

• History of Test cricket (to 1883)
• List of Australian Test cricketers
• Australian Test Cricket Umpires
• List of Test umpires

Notes

1. ^ M. Z. Forbes (1969). "Bannerman, Charles (1851 - 1930)". Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 3. MUP. pp. 86–87. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A030086b.htm. Retrieved 2008-02-02. 

References

• Pollard, Jack, Australian Cricket: 1803-1893, The Formative Years. Sydney, The Book Company, 1995. (ISBN 0-207-15490-2)
• Pollard, Jack, Australian Cricket: 1893-1917, The Turbulent Years. Sydney, The Book Company, 1995. (ISBN 0-207-15468-6)
• Pollard, Jack, Australian Cricket: The Game and the Players. Sydney, Hodder & Stoughton, 1982. (ISBN 0-340-28796-9)

External links

• Player profile: Charles Bannerman from ESPNcricinfo
• The breakup of Bannerman's hundred

Records
Preceded by First holder	World Record - Highest individual score in Test cricket 165 not out vs England at Melbourne 1876-77	Succeeded by Billy Murdoch

Persondata
Name	Bannerman, Charles
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	3 July 1851
Place of birth	Woolwich, Kent
Date of death	20 August 1930
Place of death	Surry Hills, New South Wales