Features / ss Great Britain
Remembering when England’s cricketers travelled to Australia on the SS Great Britain
England’s first tour of Australia in 1861 paved the way for the Ashes tour of 2021 currently taking place down under.
The tourists of 160 years ago travelled to Australia on the SS Great Britain from Liverpool to Melbourne, with the ship now permanently dry-docked in Bristol recreating one of the cabins of the cricketers playing the first ever Test matches.
The first England vs Australia cricket tour was also the first time that the term ‘hat-trick’ was used for three wickets with three consecutive balls, and the first example of sports sponsorship.
is needed now More than ever
On board Brunel’s famous ship, the first All England XI injured a passenger with a cricket ball during their practises on deck, with EM Grace – brother of WG Grace – treating his teammates to champagne whilst moaning in his diary about the promenading women who “made my head ache”.
The tour was conceived as a Victorian PR stunt and paid for by sponsorship from two Melbourne-based English wine merchants, Felix William Spiers and Christopher Pond, who had failed to persuade Charles Dickens to conduct a lecture tour of Australia so turned their attention to cricket.
Twelve players made up the Eleven of All England or HH Stephenson’s XI after the English captain, Heathfield Harman Stephenson, and each received £150 (worth about £7,000 today), alongside first class passage and all expenses paid.
A cabin in the SS Great Britain has been recreated to show how England’s cricketers might have travelled to Australia – photo: Martin Booth
The voyage aboard the SS Great Britain took 66 days, with one player becoming so sea-sick that he was unable to play when they reached dry land when one-quarter of the population of Melbourne watched the first game.
After playing to huge crowds across the country, the tourists returned home on the SS Great Britain.
One member of the English team stayed in Australia, however, with Charles Lawrence opening a sports shop in Sydney and becoming coach at the Albert Club.
Lawrence went on to play for New South Wales against the second English cricket team to tour Australia, which also travelled on board the SS Great Britain in 1863.
Main photo: SS Great Britain Trust
Read more: Explore the history of the Cricket World Cup at the SS Great Britain
Listen to the latest Bristol24/7 Behind the Headlines podcast:
Our top newsletters emailed directly to you
