Flashback: Test cricket’s first double-centurion – Billy Murdoch

Australia’s Billy Murdoch (18 October 1854 – 18 February 1911) was the first-ever cricketer to score a double century in Test cricket history, a feat he achieved when he scored 211 against England at the Oval in 1884. Born in Victoria, Murdoch was raised in Sydney and played domestic cricket for New South Wales. He made his first-class debut in 1875, two years before his Test debut in 1877. Murdoch also has the distinction of being a part of the second-ever Test in cricket history.

Apart from being the first-ever double-centurion, Murdoch, who captained the Australian national side in 16 Test matches between 1880 and 1890, also has two more firsts named against him. Alongside Tup Scott, he recorded the first-ever double-hundred partnership in Test cricket, when the two added 207 for the third wicket against England at the Oval in August 1884. A month earlier, in July 1884, Murdoch became the first substitute fielder to take a catch in Test cricket at Lord’s, while fielding for the opposition (England).

“In his early days in Australia, Murdoch was the first-rate wicketkeeper and it was chiefly as a wicketkeeper that he secured his place in the Australian team of 1878,” the Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack notes about him.

“Murdoch’s career was sharply divided into two parts. Soon after the season of 1884, and following his marriage, he gave up first-class cricket, and little was seen of him in the field till in 1890 he paid his fifth visit to England,” it adds.

During his captaincy stint, he led Australia to four tours of England, one of which, in 1882, gave rise to The Ashes. In his 19-Test international career, Murdoch scored 908 runs with two centuries and a half-century at an average of 31.31. He had a prolific record in first-class, where, in 391 matches, he scored 16,953 runs, with 19 centuries and 85 half-centuries. In 2019, Murdoch was inducted into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame