Austin Diamond

Austin Diamond (10 July 1874 – 5 August 1966) was a cricketer who played for New South Wales in first-class cricket.^[1]

AUSTIN DIAMOND Austin Diamond born at Bank Side, Marsden, near Huddersfield in Yorkshire England on 10 July 1874. He passed away at (Yarallah) Concord Hospital, Sydney Australia on the 8th August, 1966 aged 92. He was one of 4 children. He came to Australia on a clipper in 1883 aged 9. His father Philip was an engineer at an Iron Foundry his mother was Isabella Hetherington. His brother George who also came to Australia did not marry. He became an Insurance Actuary at one of Sydney’s Insurance Companies. His sister Louise married Alec Aston and lived on a property called Morangerell, Bribbaree near Young in New South Wales. They only had one child a girl called Alene. She married Les McCaffery and they had two children, a girl Lesaline and a boy ??? His brother Harold went to America, (no information). Austin married Ada Baseley from Sangate in Brisbane. There is mention of an Auntie Biddy (possibly a child from a previous association)(speculation). Austin was instrumental in making the first tramline in Sydney at Balmain. He was an electrical engineer. He also set up a Sportsmen’s Unit (Cricket) in the Australian Army 1914-1918. “This special effort is being undertaken by Lieutenants Les Seaborn and Austin Diamond, under the auspices of the sportsmen’s branch of the State Recruiting Committee.” He was a Lieutenant in World War 1 in the 20th Battalion and went to France where he was gassed in the trenches and as a result lost his sense of smell. There are postcards that he sent from France to his children Charles born 1912 and Dorothy 1915.

When he lived in Burwood he captained a (rebel) tour of Canada and the United States of America as an unsanctioned cricket team in 1913 aged 40. It was organized by Edgar Mayne and without the patronage of the Board Of Control. Austin said the Board should encourage the development of cricket in Canada and the USA. August 10 (Sydney) 1905 - 1906 The NSW Cricket Association has lifted its ban on the 10 players suspended after they had agreed to play against England in a team sponsored by the Melbourne Cricket Club earlier this year. The players, Victor Trumper, Tibby Cotter, Monty Noble, Sunny Jim Mackay, Austin Diamond, Reggie Duff, Rev. Mick Waddy, George Garnsey, Hanson Carter and Bert Hopkins – would have formed quite a useful basis for an Australian team to say the least. He was formative in starting the Western Suburbs District Cricket Club. Austin and Ada lived in country NSW, Cowra, then Stuart Street, Manly and Chelmsford Road, Roseville. `In the early 50’s Austin moved in with his daughter Dorothy and her family of 2 boys and 3 girls in Murray Street, Lane Cove. “He came for a holiday and stayed for 16 years.” daughter Dorothy married William Halfnights, the children are Dorothy, William (d), Patricia, Elizabeth and John Halfnights (d). His first modern car was an Austin 70 and a few years later he bought another Austin 70, but a newer model. His son Charles Philip Diamond married Iris Elisabeth Jones, they had two sons Philip Hetherington Diamond (1943) and John Hetherington Diamond (1947). Philip married Anne Margaret Rutter they have 4 children, 2 boys Paul and Max and 2 girls Tara and Emily. John married Sandra Marie Schade and they had 2 boys Steven and Mark (Marcus).

News Paper Report of the day: “Although the clouds of war were gathering in Europe, Australia toured the United States and Canada in 1913 under the leadership of Austin Diamond, and played a staggering total of 53 matches, experiencing one lone defeat at the hands of the Germantown Cricket Club of Philadelphia. The side contained several giants of the game, including Charles Macartney, Warren Bardsley, Arthur Mailey and Herbert Collins. During a match against Vancouver, the Australians compiled 633 runs for the loss of 8 wickets, to record the highest innings total ever achieved in Canadian cricket. At the other end of the scale, The Winnipeg Cricket Association was dismissed for a meager 6 runs against the visitors from Down Under to register what is believed to be the lowest innings total in Canadian representative cricket. At New York in 1846, the Canadian side was bundled for a dismal 28 against the United States to record the lowest effort by the national side. The talented Charlie Macartney enjoyed as spectacular tour, scoring a total of 2,390 runs at an average of 45.92, which included seven centuries. In addition, he bagged 189 wickets at an average of 3.81 runs apiece. This outstanding personal performance may never be eclipsed, as it is unlikely tours of such magnitude will be contemplated in the future. With the coming of the Great War 1914-18, the fortunes of Canadian cricket further waned. The International Series with America ceased in 1912 and twenty years were to elapse before another major cricket tour of the country took place. Following the Great War, the Hon. Norman Seagram who came from a prominent Canadian family, gathered together a strong national side which included such Dominion stars as H. G. Wookey and C. R. (Sandy) Sommerville, and carried out a most successful tour of England during the 1922 season. In 1932 the Australians arrived under the captaincy of Victor Richardson. In later years, his grandsons, the Chappell brothers, Ian, Greg and Trevor were to become Australian cricket legends.

CRICKET CAPTAINS. The Arrow Newspaper - Saturday 22 December 1900 NO. 8 - AUSTIN DIAMOND. The captain of the old Leichhardt Club is fittingly captain of the new Leichhardt-Balmain Club. His name is Austin Diamond, the youngest of three brothers, and well known in Sydney athletic circles. Austin Diamond is a Yorkshireman. We are rather sorry for that, because he is such a jolly good fellow that we'd like to know him as purely an Australian. But he is now an Australian at heart, for he has lived out here long enough to have imbibed all that breezy belief in Australia, which marks most Australian born, and especially those who take to the athletic field. One of the youngest captains in Sydney, Austin Diamond has the always difficult task of leading a weak team. He is 26 years of age, and has seen big cricket played in both England and Australia. Being an observer, he has a shrewd idea of the game, and being level headed and big hearted, makes a very good captain, even of a very weak side; that is, compared with other sides in Senior cricket. Austin Diamond is of medium height, neatly built, sinewy and has the look of a man who feels he could place reliance upon when nerve and pluck are required. When he came to Australia first he was thoroughly English in all his cricketing sympathies, but he candidly admits that during his visit to England, from 1893 to 1896, his feelings changed. Out here for a year he thought Australians one-sided, but on returning to England, although he saw no Australian XI, there, he found that Englishmen were quite as keen in that way. And he is now an Australian. Austin Diamond came to Australia in 1882, but re-turned to England in 1893 and remained there for 2½ years. While at home he played with the Broughton Cricket Club, Broughton Cricket Club is in Salford, Greater Manchester. The first recorded match on the ground was in 1851, when Broughton played an All England Eleven. In 1856, the ground held its first, first class match when the North played the South. For the next few decades the Yew Street cricket ground rivalled Old Trafford as the focal point for Lancashire cricket and between 1856 and 1863, the ground held 6 first-class matches for the North, the last of which saw them play the South in 1863. The Gentlemen of the North used the ground in 1858 when they played the Gentlemen of the South, and once more in 1860 against the same opposition. A bowls section was formed in the 1860s, followed by lacrosse in 1875. After purchasing Yew Street from the Clowes Estate in the 1920s, Broughton Cricket Club added sections for hockey and tennis, and in 1945, rugby union. The final recorded match held on the ground for over 130 years came in 1880 when Broughton played the touring Australians during their 1880 tour of England. Shortly after this match part of the ground was sold for development, the ground was split into two parts and became mainly known as the home of the Broughton Rugby Union Football Club. In May 2014 Cricket matches again began to be played at the ground and with Leyland Cricket Club, Organised cricket in the town of Leyland can be traced back to 1848. The current club incorporates the proud history and traditions of BTR CC ( British Telecommunications Research Cricket club sold to the Plessey Company) (who were amalgamated in 2001) and Leyland Motors Cricket Club, who merged with Leyland & Farington Cricket Club in 2007 to create the club they have today. In Sydney Austin Diamond started with the Glenwoods, and a little later began his Senior career with the Glebe Club, for which he was at that time qualified, while residing where he still resides at Drummoyne. He has since done lots of excellent things both with the bat and in the field. He has had the honour of representing New South Wales both at cricket and baseball, and on the winning side, too. Like most of those who have taken to the Yankee national sport, he thinks it a splendid game. Austin was in rattling batting form in 1896-7 and 1897-8, but early in the latter season business necessitated his going to Fiji, where they do play cricket, but not quite the class of cricket we play here. In 1896-7 he scored practically twice as many runs as any other Leichhardt batsman, making 403, which included 88 v. Central Cumberland, 64 not out v. Redfern, 54 v. Waverley, 50 not out v. University, 44 v. Paddington, 42 v. Burwood, and 32 v. South Sydney. These were quite first-class. In the following season he was in even better form, having batted 40 v. North Sydney and 87 v. Redfern before leaving for Fiji, when at his top form, Austin is one of the finest fielders at mld-off we have ever seen. It is said that Jones, the fast bowler, Is the greatest mid-off in the world, but we doubt if he is a bit better than the Leichhardt-Balmaln captain. Austin Diamond is very smart in getting to the ball and picks up unerringly on either side. He will stop anything, no matter how hard the hit and his return is good. But he is flrst-class in any position. Put him at point, and he attracts your attention just as he does at mid-off. See him in a case of emergency taking wlckets, and you see one who takes the ball as though he were an everyday wlcket keeper, and a good one at that. He has a pair of hands to which the ball seems to cling — they are capable of catching anything. Austin has played in two or three trial matches with fair success. He made 26 for the Colts against the New South Wales XI, and 33 not out for the Next Eleven against New South Wales in the Bannerman Benefit match two seasons back. Last season in his first and only Inter Colonial, he scored 46 not out and 15 at Hobart against Tasmania, getting 61 for once out. With regular practice, Austin Diamond would be a good bat for any side. He is essentially a safe, sound bat rather than a brilliant and versatile one. He is both popular and highly respected in his club and out of it. He has lots of friends in and out of cricket and will always have them, for he is a jolly good fellow, as well as a jolly good cricketer

Austin Diamond Australia Full name Austin Diamond

Born July 10, 1874, Huddersfield, Yorkshire, England Died August 5, 1966, Roseville, New South Wales (aged 92 years 26 days)

Major teams New South Wales

Batting style Right-hand bat

Batting and fielding averages Mat Inns NO Runs HS Ave 100 50 Ct St First-class 35 56 5 1681 210* 32.96 4 4 36 0

Bowling averages Mat Balls Runs Wkts BBI BBM Ave Econ SR 4w 5w 10 First-class 35 - - - - - - - - - - - Career statistics First-class span 1899-1919

References