Sam Cosstick

Samuel Cosstick (1 January 1836 – 8 April 1896) was an important figure in developing cricket in Victoria in its formative years. He is well known for umpiring in the second ever Test match, played between Australia and England in Melbourne, 1877.

Biography

Cosstick was born at Croydon, Surrey, England. He was attracted to Victoria by the gold fever of the early 1850s and joined the Melbourne Cricket Club on arrival. There he was employed as a ground bowler, bowling in the nets to the members for hours at a time for a salary of £150 a year.

Cosstick was a right-hand batsman and right-arm medium-fast roundarm bowler. He played 18 matches for Victoria from 1860 to 1876. As a batsman he scored 315 runs at an average of 9.84 with a highest score of 36. He took 106 wickets at an average of 9.41, with best figures of 9 for 61. He took five wickets in an innings 11 times, and ten wickets in a match on 5 occasions. He also took 14 catches. In 1869 Cosstick took 6 wickets for 1 run against Tasmania.

In the match between Eighteen of Victoria and the All-England Eleven led by H. H. Stephenson played at Melbourne in January 1862 – the first international match played in Australia – Cosstick made 8 and 11, and took 1 wicket for 31 runs for a team that was decisively beaten by an innings in spite of its advantage in numbers.

W. G. Grace brought out an English team in the 1873-74 season, and Cosstick’s bowling, along with the batting of Bransby Cooper and John Conway and the bowling of Frank Allan and Harry Boyle were responsible for the visitors’ defeat by an innings by Eighteen of Victoria. Impressive though the result was, a newspaper correspondent wrote "any numbskulls who talk about Eleven Victorian natives playing this Eleven of England are prattling about what they don’t understand."

In Sydney, playing for a Combined Fifteen of Victoria and New South Wales, the crowd urged Cosstick to return to the crease after he was given out. He did so, claiming that the wrong umpire had given him out. With three batsmen at the wicket, Grace led his team from the field until Cosstick abandoned his protest.

At the age of 41, Cosstick umpired in the second ever Test match, played between Australia and England in Melbourne on 31 March to 4 April 1877. His colleague was Richard Terry.

Cosstick died at West Maitland.

External links

Player profile: Sam Cosstick from ESPNcricinfo

References

Pollard, Jack, ‘’Australian Cricket: 1803-1893, The Formative Years’’. Sydney, The Book Company, 1995. (ISBN 0-207-15490-2)

Australian first-class cricket season leading run-scorers (1850–51 to 1899–00)

1850–51: Hamilton 1851–52: Hamilton 1852–53: – 1853–54: Cavenagh 1854–55: – 1855–56: Driver/McKone 1856–57: Gilbert 1857–58: Wills 1858–59: Lewis 1859–60: Wills 1860–61: Bryant 1861–62: Caffyn 1862–63: D'Arcy 1863–64: Lockyer 1864–65: – 1865–66: N. Gregory 1866–67: Cosstick 1867–68: Wardill 1868–69: Phillips 1869–70: Gordon 1870–71: Loughnan 1871–72: Thomson 1872–73: Arthur 1873–74: – 1874–75: C. Bannerman 1875–76: D. Gregory 1876–77: C. Bannerman 1877–78: Thomson 1878–79: Ulyett 1879–80: A. Bannerman 1880–81: Horan 1881–82: Murdoch 1882–83: A. Bannerman 1883–84: Murdoch 1884–85: Barnes 1885–86: McIlwraith 1886–87: Shrewsbury 1887–88: Moses 1888–89: Trott 1889–90: Lyons 1890–91: Giffen 1891–92: Lyons 1892–93: Giffen 1893–94: Giffen 1894–95: Ward 1895–96: Donnan 1896–97: Lyons 1897–98: Hill 1898–99: Trumper 1899–00: Trumper

Leading run-scorers: 1850–51 to 1899–00 1900–01 to 1949–50 1950–51 to 1999–00 2000–01 to 2011–12 Leading wicket-takers: 1850–51 to 1899–00 1900–01 to 1949–50 1950–51 to 1999–00 2000–01 to 2011–12

Sam Cosstick

Biography

See also

External links

References