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Billy Murdoch – Part 2 – with Richard Cashman & Ric Sissons
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In Part 2 of this episode on Australian cricket legend Billy Murdoch, Tom and Murdoch's biographers, Richard Cashman and Ric Sissons, discuss his captaincy tactics, his friendship with WG Grace, his legacy and delayed inclusion in the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame.
Richard Cashman is a sports historian based at the University of Technology Sydney. He is the author of 12 cricket books as well as his memoirs, Cackyhander: Writing on Cricket, Sports History and the Olympic Games. He has won the Australian Cricket Society Literary Award on three occasions: for his book on Australian cricket crowds, and his biographies of Fred Spofforth & Billy Murdoch, the latter co-written with my other guest.
Ric Sissons grew up in England, playing and watching cricket in Derbyshire. He is the author of eleven cricket books including The Players, which won the English Cricket Society’s Silver Jubilee Literary Award in 1988. His most recent books are: The Glory & The Dream: The 1903-04 MCC Tour of Australia and the so-called Golden Age; J T Tyldesley in Australia; And – with Peter Schofield – When the Kangaroo met the Eagle. The 1913 Australian tour of Canada and the United States.
In 2019, Richard and Ric published Billy Murdoch: Cricketing Colossus. Visit Walla Walla Press for a copy.
If you'd like to support Tom and this podcast, you can donate $5 by buying him a coffee. Visit: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/GoldenAgeOfCricket
CREDITS:
Presenter & Producer: Tom Ford
All music used in podcast comes from the University of California Santa Barbara’s remarkable collection of wax cylinder’s from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, which are free to download and use. You can donate to the upkeep of these recordings via their website.
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Transcript
Introduction to Billy Murdoch's Later Life and Career
00:00:07
Speaker
Welcome to part two of this episode of the Golden Age of Cricket podcast dedicated to the later part of the life and career of former Australian captain Billy Murdoch. My name is Tom Ford. We return now as I'm joined by Murdoch's biographers Richard Cashman and Rick Sissons.
Controversy Over Murdoch's Return to Australia
00:00:34
Speaker
So after his first season with Sussex in 1893, he returns to Australia with Jemima in the Australian summer, 1993-94, for the first time since they've moved to England. Reading your book, we learn about his application to play for New South Wales in a shield match against Victoria.
00:00:56
Speaker
became controversial, didn't it? Why was this so controversial? Because he wasn't actually living in New South Wales. I think they came back to Australia. Every time they came back to Australia, Watson had stipulated that Watson owned this vast amount of property. He'd invested in all
00:01:21
Speaker
manner of things, but he stipulated that none of this property could be sold until 20 years after his death. So that was all these legal issues, lots of court cases, and that was why they came back in 1993-94, and why they then came back prior to his death in 1909-1011. They were based in Melbourne,
00:01:45
Speaker
And the issue arose, I think that is the question of why it should be, it wasn't in New South Wales anymore, it was born in New South, or in Bendigo, why should it be allowed to play in New South Wales? There were other precedents, like Jim Phillips, who played, who was out.
00:02:03
Speaker
England, the MCC, and later an umpire, he used to come back and play. So there were precedents of people coming back and playing. He was always very strongly pro-New South Wales. He'd always said, even when they lived in Melbourne, that he would never play for Victoria. He always felt that he was from New South Wales, and that's who he would play for. But that was around 1889, after he started playing cricket again, after what was the death, he was never any question he was going to play for anybody but the New South Wales.
Murdoch's Leadership at Sussex
00:02:31
Speaker
So we have touched on this already, but he's captaining Sussex in England. Sussex are a weak side at this point in time in the early 1890s, mid 1890s, around the mid
00:02:47
Speaker
1890s there, batting stocks are boosted by the arrival of Ranjit Singhi and CB Fry, but their bowling continues to be a worry. Murdoch recruits the 40-year-old Alfred Shaw, rather rotund Alfred Shaw, who history remembers as the first bowler of a ballwind test cricket
00:03:10
Speaker
Why do you think he recruited such an aging bowler? I mean I think even after a few seasons Shaw just can't bowl anymore because Murdoch's driving him into the ground literally and even Murdoch has to take up bowling. What do you think this says about Murdoch as a captain? Was he you know in terms of the using his bowlers was was he a good captain on that front do you think?
00:03:36
Speaker
I think Murdoch recruiting Shaw was bizarre and Shaw wants into play is even more bizarre by this point. Shaw hasn't played for some time. He's employed by Lord Sheffield who's then of course the president and patron of Sussex and Murdoch has to get permission of Lord Sheffield's Shaw to play for Sussex.
00:03:59
Speaker
So it wasn't a foregone conclusion he would play and he barely played in the end. It was just too hard for him. He complains about the fact that he had long periods and that he had sore feet and in the end he just quit. It was just all too much for him really.
00:04:18
Speaker
It was an odd decision, really, but then maybe it was just a reflection of the poor state of... Because Murdoch repeatedly says after Shaw bowls to him in the net, you've got to come and play for Sussex, you've got to come and play because Shaw was involved in Sussex cricket through Lord Sheffield. And in the end, Shaw reluctantly agreed. It didn't last long. I think he only played one season and then only a small number of matches.
00:04:43
Speaker
But also because Murdoch bowled him for long periods. This old man bowling dozens and dozens of overs was ridiculous.
00:04:53
Speaker
Do we have any indication, I assume there isn't any footage of, I don't think there's footage of Murdoch batting. Do we have any idea of what sort of bowl on Murdoch was? His bowling records are small. I think he took something like 10 first class wickets. But as I mentioned, he had to take up the bowling for Sussex because their stocks were so low. What do we know about his bowling?
00:05:19
Speaker
As I understand it was a sort of medium paced round arm bowler, certainly no photographs of him bowling. I think, you know, I used to play in club cricket and open the bowl and get a few wickets and so forth, but not much of a bowler, frankly, that seems pretty clear. Probably better as a wicket keeper. Yeah, of course he was a very good wicket keeper early on, wasn't he?
00:05:39
Speaker
So let's hurry along to, say, the late 1890s. He's still playing for Sussex, but 1899 in particular was his annus horribilis.
Challenges in 1899: Form, Family, and Finances
00:05:53
Speaker
His form slumped terribly. His mother died. You mentioned before that his mother moved with them to England.
00:06:01
Speaker
And of course he continues to have all sorts of financial issues and he gives up the Sussex captaincy as well. So he's 45 years old at this stage. What sort of man was he sort of internally? How did he cope during tough times? Was he a resilient individual?
00:06:25
Speaker
Well, when his mother died in 1899, he just stopped playing cricket, period. His mother didn't live with them. She lived separately in Knightsbridge with a servant. And, you know, this is a woman whose background was, you know, a daughter of a convict.
00:06:42
Speaker
work to work. Initially, Susanna Flegg presented herself as a completely different person than what she was originally. Murdock was obviously very close to her. The fact that he wanted to be buried with her is very symptomatic of that. So that death of his mother in 1899 must have obviously rocked him because he stopped playing cricket all together halfway through the season.
00:07:07
Speaker
What does that show about him? Was he resilient to all, given the circumstances of his mother? I think it shows he was a great character to stop playing cricket, actually, that this was more important to him than playing county cricket. I think he was, overall, a pretty resilient person, particularly in his younger days. An optimistic person. He had a good sense of humour.
00:07:34
Speaker
but perhaps he was tested as he got older and as he put on more weight and drank a lot as well and so life got tougher for him.
Friendship with W.G. Grace
00:07:47
Speaker
So the following year in 1900, he joins London County Cricket Club, which of course is also headed up by the great W.G. Grace, who ends his career with... Gloucestershire? Is it Gloucestershire? Yes, I think so.
00:08:06
Speaker
Now, if you look up photos of Billy Murdoch at this time, there are a number of fantastic photos of him and Grace together. They seem to have formed this wonderful friendship, even though they were on-field adversaries a decade earlier when they were both at their peak. How do you explain this friendship? How did it come about? Did Grace actively recruit?
00:08:35
Speaker
The great former Australian captain. What can you tell us about it? I think the friendship goes back a long way. I think it was around in 1880, when Ray Scott, 152, and Murdoch. With a couple of last-week partnerships, Scott, 153. And I think they had a great respect for each other, and they were the two best batsmen in the world.
00:09:02
Speaker
Yeah, I think that's absolutely right. Long standing and socially. I mean, it's interesting socially too because Grace is a doctor. He's not really part of the establishment. He's not a Lord Harris or Lord Hawker.
00:09:19
Speaker
uh by count this or whatever so he's always a slight bit of an outsider he's obviously tolerated because he's an amazing player and he's the face of the game and Murdoch is very much like that too he's a bit of an outsider he's a you know he qualified as a great qualified as a doctor so they're quite socially honest sort of
00:09:38
Speaker
class level quite similar. They're both quite funny and entertaining. Later on, you know, Murdoch always had funny quips and sayings. When he was writing the Daily Mail, he often called players funny, you know, like Tibby Cotter, he always used to call him Terror Cotter. Not the Terror, but Terror as in a pot, Terror, T-R-R-8, Cotter C,
00:10:02
Speaker
So he's quite funny and gregarious. And I think, yeah, the pair of them loved that sort of life of playing cricket, country house cricket, playing club cricket. If they decided golf got popular, they decided to take up golf. Grace was a terrible golfer, but Murdoch wasn't bad. They decided to take up bowls together, and both were really good at bowls. So Crystal Palace, where London County was,
00:10:30
Speaker
bowling club and they got involved and sort of took that over. I think they just had a really good time, these two sort of famous middle-aged cricketers. I'd love to stay up late and drink and socialise. Did Grace do that? Well, of course, Grace notoriously when he came here with Lord Sheffield
00:10:49
Speaker
said to rank, you know, 3,000 pounds worth of wine. Yes. Late night sociability. Yes. I think the story Grace used to, certainly in his later years when he put on a lot of weight, he was drinking whiskey and soda before going out to batting, I think.
00:11:06
Speaker
This is a question without notice, but do you also think they possibly shared a similar view of money and cricket? Grace was the most famous shamature of them all. He certainly used cricket as a way of making money. Did Billy, we know he had financial issues, but did he also try and extract money from cricket?
00:11:30
Speaker
I think he always was trying to do that, but he failed like he would have liked to have been Secretary of the MCC because he could have got 300 pounds a year and they weren't having a bar of that.
00:11:40
Speaker
period when he's playing for London County, after that, he starts to write for the Daily Mail. There's a cricket correspondent, so they were paying him for it. He only managed to do that for a season. It sort of peters out, begins enthusiastically when the... Got shorter and shorter. Yeah, the article's got shorter and shorter. Initially, he's very keen. It's the 1905 Australian side coming, and he's writing to the Daily Mail, and then that sort of peters out. We had the trip to South Africa.
00:12:06
Speaker
there for money. So there is a parallel with Chris. Yeah, definitely. And just on that, Rick, was he a good writer? You know, you mentioned he came up with these nicknames of players as such, but is his observations of cricket good? As far as we know, he didn't have a ghost writer. This is actually murder. All this material himself. He was and he
00:12:31
Speaker
I think that the articles that appeared in the Daily Mail are quite interesting, you know, when he comments on... So the Daily Mail got him to Limerick so he could get on board the ship with the Australians. So he became the first person to talk to the 1905 Australian team. There's some quite interesting observations about
00:12:49
Speaker
you know, the Australian players, you know, that Clem Hill, he thinks Clem Hill is going to retire very shortly because he only seems to be interested in stock-broking pages of the newspapers. And then he also tells the Australian players that, you know, the best bowler in England is a bowler from Derbyshire. I think he said it was Arnie Warren. I think it was Warren.
00:13:14
Speaker
which was really pressing because he only ever played one test and he got a trumper out in both innings and then he drank to him and got on the piss and Lords never selected him again. But you know, so there were quite interesting observations. He didn't pull any punches. He told JB, he told Jack Hobbs that he needed to improve his fielding. He said that in the papers. This was a very young Jack Hobbs at that point. So they're quite interesting articles. I wouldn't say they're not.
00:13:41
Speaker
It's not Neville Cardes, but it's entertaining. And they're certainly useful for the biographer to find how he views the next generation and whether there's that, you know, cricket was better in my day sort of approach. I don't know if there's much reflective sense in his writing.
00:13:58
Speaker
We don't get a sense of how Murdoch looks at all of us. And they increasingly became matches closer to home. They obviously got fed up with wrestling. It's funny when you said they do Peter out, and they've gone shorter, and they obviously prefer to watch a match at the Overlaw Lords than having to travel to Cheltenham.
00:14:22
Speaker
So he finally retires in 1904, which coincides with London County losing its first-class status. It didn't have full first-class status, but it was given first-class status for various games, but they finally, they lose everything and he decides to retire. Grace, I think, goes on for a few more seasons, playing the odd Nat here and there. What did
00:14:47
Speaker
retirement or certainly his non cricket playing days look like for Murdoch.
Murdoch's Life Post-Cricket
00:14:53
Speaker
How did he occupy his time? Well this is a bit tricky, not a lot of information on that. I mean in 1905 he wrote for the Daily Mail and then we know that he ends up back in Australia
00:15:04
Speaker
nine or 10 because of the court case. What happens between those two? Well, it's difficult to know. The children are now all growing up in schools or of left school. One of the boys is at Repton, and 1904 was planned for Repton, the same side as Jack Crawford, the most, considered to be the greatest, most prestigious, qualified schoolboy who went on to play for Surrey whilst
00:15:31
Speaker
at Repton. So, you know, he's got a son who's doing well at Repton in his last year. What happens in 1906 and that other period? Well, we know that he and Jemima went to Europe. It's the odd snippet here and there where someone said he was in Paris. Didn't you go to the races? Went to the races. Did some pigeon shooting down south of France. But it's all very patchy. It's just the odd. There are no letters that give us any indication of what
00:16:01
Speaker
doing at this point and it's just the odd snippets in newspapers they were seeing this or there or they were back in Australia I think in 1909 so I think you know they did the grand tour Europe that seems pretty clear they could obviously manage to do that I mean even though they all seem struggling financially they're still pretty well off I mean they've got a thousand pounds a year for the children
00:16:26
Speaker
and they've got 600 pounds a year. Just a lot of money in that period. They could live really well. But we lose sight of them in this period. Murdoch's a solicitor.
00:16:39
Speaker
There is not, unfortunately, a big cache of Murdoch letters, which is a great pity. Like turn-ups. Well, that would be amazing, wouldn't it? Were you aware of this before you dove headfirst into a Murdoch biography? You've each individually danced around Murdoch's life with your other.
00:17:00
Speaker
research, were you aware of the dearth of letters before you started researching? Because these letters often for a biographer are the basis of a biography. I think it's very rare you find
00:17:21
Speaker
caches of letters. I remember Peter when Thomas wrote the biography of Arthur Shrewsbury, he was well embarked on that. And then a relative just dumped a load of letters on his desk. I mean, wow, what a treasure trove that one. So I think in the period that we've been working in, it is quite rare to find
00:17:42
Speaker
large collections of letters from any letters yeah any letters either to or from people it's very hard to find them maybe they'll turn up one day someone will clear out that possibly yes the Murdoch letters revealed
00:18:00
Speaker
In crime shall be his name, In letters bold of bright and strong, For the nation's crown of fame.
00:18:22
Speaker
Which, you know, it makes you think why is there very little, you know, is it because Murdoch didn't care? Was he not a collector? Did he have no sense of austerity? I mean, or was it perhaps the subsequent generations who tossed it all out? I mean, you've got other cricketers like a Trump where there's a lot of memorabilia and people look far and wide for his bats and caps. But from what you're saying, there's little in existence now of, of Billy.
00:18:51
Speaker
I don't think he tossed it out. I don't think he had a good reflective sense of what he was and what enterprise he was involved in. And I don't think he wrote much in letters or certainly in articles.
00:19:12
Speaker
It's a good point. I mean, we have to remember in the 1880s, 90s, there's not that sense that there is now of keeping bats and caps. I mean, there probably wasn't the market that there is now for these items for collectors and such. So they often, I mean, we know stories of Trump and things, you know, giving his bats away after one knock and using some schoolboy's bat and then giving a bat to him sort of thing. It was a different time, that's for sure. And look at Trump.
00:19:41
Speaker
Oh, because of Trump's diary of the... Is it 1902 or 1899 tour? And then look at the diary, it says, batted with duff. That's the entry for a whole page. Made it with duff for a whole page. It was like, okay, that was a bit of a disappointment. It was a beginning sense of the value of memorabilia because in the 1882 tests, Blackham got the ball.
00:20:10
Speaker
Yes. And subsequently that's appeared. And I think Blackham then put it up for auction in his lifetime. I think I've read this somewhere to raise funds for... It was mounted on something. Yeah. And it was to raise funds for something like a new stand at the MCG or something. And it made a huge amount of money. So, you know, you're right on that front.
00:20:34
Speaker
Richard. Also going back to the previous discussion about what Murdoch was doing post cricket during this time the JB Watson estate. So just to explain when he died it was stipulated after 20 years. So in 1909
00:20:57
Speaker
Up until then, the trust would allow say Billie and Jemima to have, was it £600 to live off? And then 20 years after the death, it was finally, the lands were sold or valuated. Buildings in Melbourne, large, you own large parts of central Melbourne. Yeah, were finally sold and then disseminated amongst the remaining children, Jemima being one.
00:21:22
Speaker
So finally the Murdoch family comes into all this money, I assume. A few years before he died. Just before, yes. Maybe the shock killed him. So is this finally the resolution that he's looking for in terms of financial stability?
00:21:42
Speaker
Well, if it was, he didn't live long to enjoy it because he died. Jemima went back to England in 1917 or 18. She ends up in an asylum. She dies not long after that. One of her daughters dies around the same time.
00:21:59
Speaker
A couple of the boys, one joins the Royal Australian, sorry, the RAF. Another one dies in the late 20s, having gambled most of the family money away. So the family sort of disintegrates really after that. He took his last name. Yeah, he gassed himself, unfortunately, in south of France.
00:22:29
Speaker
After all this attempt to get part of this enormous wealth, what happens, the family just doesn't die, Jemima goes into an asylum, children have various tragic endings.
00:22:56
Speaker
So returning to his death, which is how you started the book, 1911 at the MCG.
Death and Recognition at MCG Test Match
00:23:03
Speaker
It's the Test Match Australia in South Africa, I think. He dies during the lunch break. What was Murdoch's reputation in Australia at that time? Was he revered? Was he, would have he been welcomed into the long room as the Australian champion that we now consider him to be?
00:23:23
Speaker
I think he was recognised and I don't know whether he was revered because he left Australia. There's a funny article in the Melbourne Leader, I think that Felix
00:23:39
Speaker
Tom Horan wrote about I was walking down Melbourne, I bumped into Billy Murdoch. But the fact that Murdoch clearly hadn't come back and with a great family, it wasn't being invaded and celebrated. I bumped into him by chance and then he'd gone. But it was definitely Billy Murdoch. He says I sort of recognised Murdoch, it was definitely Murdoch.
00:23:59
Speaker
But the fact he was in the pavilion, I suppose, Melbourne, some acceptance of him. But he didn't come back for the cricket? No. So it probably would have been a quite low key.
00:24:15
Speaker
There is a wonderful photo. I think you and I have discussed it online, Rick. I think taken at this, maybe one of the, I think maybe in 1909, he was back for something and he's sitting, I think outside the MCC and there's a team photo of former players, George Giffen's there and Harry Trott, I think he's there and he's sitting front row center like Grace Wood. He's got a straw hat on and it's probably one of the last photos of him taken actually.
00:24:45
Speaker
It's lovely and it's readily available online. Gentlemen, the next section of the podcast is going through his statistics. I'm just going to read them out afterwards so we can discuss them. There's not much to talk about on the bowling front. I mentioned earlier, I think he took 10 first-class wickets.
00:25:04
Speaker
But overall, so I'll go through his test record. He played 19 matches, 34 innings. He was left not out on five occasions. He scored a total of 908 runs with a high score of 211. So his overall test average was 31.31.
00:25:24
Speaker
He scored two centuries in his test career and 150 and he took 14 catches. As is often the case with cricketers from this time, his first class record is much more substantial. So he played 391 matches, 679 innings, scored a total of 16,953 runs with a high score of 321 famous innings.
00:25:52
Speaker
His first class average was 26.86 and he scored 19 centuries. Interestingly he scored 85 fifties. So again this is the era before mega huge scores. He'd often reach 50 and then get out.
00:26:11
Speaker
But it's also the era of uncovered wickets. Exactly. It's much harder than to go on from 50 to 100 or even bigger scores because the wickets were much more difficult. And from what I've read, particularly in the 1870s and 80s, the wickets were really bad. This was before they had curators and so wickets would off. And this is the case in England and Australia.
00:26:38
Speaker
But you'd imagine in Australia with the heat that the wickets were unruly, batsmen were often hit terribly hard. And so it is still a very impressive record. And I did just a little analysis of his career.
00:26:56
Speaker
after 1890 so he returns and he's batting average only dips slightly so it goes from first class record overall is 26.86 and then after 1890 it's 23.3 so as I mentioned earlier he's now living in England playing first class cricket and there's a lot more matches finally gets his eye in and he can still
00:27:20
Speaker
Just a comment on what I found is that he only played 19 tests in 13 years. And his average 31, I think,
00:27:34
Speaker
It's up there. I mean, the sort of, for modern listeners, you expect a good or great batsman these days to be above 50, I suppose. That's the benchmark. But we have to think of this in the 19th century standards. And it is quite comparable. I know Trump and Clem Hill, who are the next generation, theirs are in the high 30s.
00:27:57
Speaker
So it sneaks up at this point. But as we've been saying, this is a different time with wickets. Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. So in summary, as we reach the end of this podcast, let's talk about his legacy.
Why Was Murdoch's Hall of Fame Induction Delayed?
00:28:15
Speaker
What was astounding to me is that at the time of you writing this book and published in 2019, Murdoch wasn't in the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame.
00:28:26
Speaker
He is now, that's been corrected. But why do you think for such a giant of the game it took so long for him to be placed in the Hall of Fame? Prejudice against an Anglo-Australian and the fact that he he he always turned his back on Australian cricket from the point of view some Australians
00:28:48
Speaker
Yeah, I think it was interesting. One of the reasons he got in the Hall of Fame actually was this book we wrote. That really was part and parcel of the lobby. I mean, we didn't write this book to get him in the Hall of Fame. But the fact that this book became available and people then began to understand what a significant person he was, the small committee that makes these decisions, which I think is in Melbourne, does have the benefit of Gideon Hay on it. I assume he's still on it. And Gideon obviously has a lot of love and understanding for this whole period.
00:29:18
Speaker
That certainly helped get him into the Australian Hall of Fame, which it also said early, you know, out of mind and forgotten. Plus, you know, sort of view, it's always been difficult to, this Australian Hall of Fame, people's perceptions, oh, there was cricket before Bradman. Oh, yes. There was cricket before Trump. Yeah, you know, these people, it's hard to get recognition for them, you know.
00:29:44
Speaker
I have to say, I think cricket, more than other sports, actually does recognise some of the early pioneers quite well. I know from... It started too. It certainly has. I know from other... I mean, I have a particular love of Australian rules football and...
00:30:00
Speaker
The the early pioneers of the game are still completely forgotten in terms of Hall of Fame and official recognition Cricket from the start. I mean, I think when the Hall of Fame started in 96 1996 Bob Orth was there and Trump are of course and they have over time recognized some of these 19th century greats, but I was still astounded that Murdoch wasn't a one of the first
00:30:28
Speaker
inducted he should have been alongside Spofforth really as the as the captain of the side that started the Ashes but also his first class record is is excellent. But look at the Sydney cricket ground this is the ground where Murdoch's home ground where he made some of his great innings. Is there any recognition of the SCG of Billy Murdoch? Well there's only the plaque in the dining room along with the other great players but
00:30:57
Speaker
That's it. And any attempt, why doesn't the SCG have Murdoch Gates like Lords has Grace Gates? A player, there's no statue of Billy Murdoch. So it's just... Well, if this book instigated him being inducted into the Hall of Fame, maybe this podcast can start a campaign for maybe a stand or is that too much? Maybe a statue at the SCG. I mean, there was even a struggle with the Trump stand, you know, there was debate about whether the
00:31:27
Speaker
Trumpistan should be named after Trump. Any recognition would be great, even if it was something that needs to play over his statue at the SCG. Is there anything in England for his time in England? Sussex have... No, not that I'm aware. We got the Inner West Council had some recognition. Oh, that's true, yes.
00:31:56
Speaker
Yes, there's a display there in Gladstone Park because Gladstone Park in Balmain was where, you know, it's what is said Spoffeth and Murdock used to play and also used to be called Pigeon Park. They used to shoot pigeons there. Murdock grew up for a time in Balmain and Spoffeth grew up in Gleed. They did go to school together. Spoffeth was...
00:32:22
Speaker
And they played either with or against each other. So they were very strongly identified with the Balmain area. So yeah, the Inner West Council have put a display in the park, which is really nice. They've done that. So final statements on Murdoch. How should we remember him today?
00:32:44
Speaker
The man who helped establish him and smothered the ashes tradition, very instrumental, starting that great tradition in cricket. But also Australia's first world-caste advancement, a score of big hundreds, and someone who helped
00:33:05
Speaker
Australian cricket on the international map and helped with that victory in 1882 establish the viability of international test cricket. Yeah, absolutely. I agree 100%. Just said nothing to add. That's exactly spot on. Lovely.
00:33:23
Speaker
One final question, and this is a question I ask all my guests. What would Billy Murdoch think of modern cricket, whether that be the white ball T20 women playing cricket? Was he someone who adapted to the changes in cricket or was he a traditionalist?
00:33:46
Speaker
I mean, it's always really hard, you know, across generations of epochs and eras. That's why I think it's always very difficult when people say, oh, so-and-so is a better batchman than so-and-so. But I think Billy would be quite conservative as a person. So I would think I find it hard to believe he'd enjoy BBL or IPL. Women's cricket.
00:34:18
Speaker
He was a great lover of cricket and I think he might have even enjoyed some of the new forms of cricket.
00:34:31
Speaker
probably meant a kind of traditional cricket. The money that splashed around today would have sold some of his financial issues. He would have put his hand up straight away to go to the IPO. I would have imagined. Gentlemen, thank you both. Book is still available. I am going to mention this in my
00:34:54
Speaker
But no, please. The book is available in paperback, and we also have some limited edition signed copies. And they're signed by one of Billy's descendants, two authors. Two of the descendants, two great-grandchildren. And Joyce. Yeah, and they've got a great grandson in London. Remember, we got inside them, and you and I. So yes, the book.
00:35:22
Speaker
is available. How did they get it Richard? Go to the website. Walla Walla Press.
00:35:29
Speaker
Well, I would encourage everyone to do that. Having read it myself, it's an excellent read, but it's also excellently researched. I've got the footnotes and got some great pictures in it. And credit to you both, having just learned what you said earlier that it did, you think, campaign silently for his induction into the Hall of Fame.
00:35:53
Speaker
Billy Murdoch's cricketing colossus from 2019 is still available. Please do go out and get it. It's well worth a read. So thank you gentlemen both.
00:36:05
Speaker
Thank you, Tom. It's great to talk to you, and if we were going to write the book again, it'd be great to have this conversation. We would have had a lot more ideas to insert into the book. Absolutely. Well, you've both written on other subjects from this period, so you're welcome back at any time. My name is Tom Ford. Thanks for listening. Until next time, it's bye for now.