William Whitridge a young driving force behind 1871 start for South Australian cricket association
William Whitridge (seated at left) as manager of the South Australian cricket team to play in Sydney in 1892. Back row (from left) J. Noel; A. Wilkinson; W.F. Giffen; H.L. Haldane; W. Slight (mmpire). Middle row: W.O. Whitridge; W.E. Delaney; J.J. Lyons; J. Reedman; C.W. Hayward. Front row: F. Jarvis; G. Giffen (captain); A.H. Jarvis; H. Blinman.
Image by Mora Studio, courtesy State Library of South Australia
William Whitridge has been called the father of South Australian cricket, driving an association to be formed to run district and intercolonial cricket in 1871.
Adelaide cricket languished after first cricket match played near Thebarton on the parklands next to the later police barracks “between Eleven Gentlemen of the Royal Victoria Independent Club and Eleven Gentlemen of Adelaide” in 1839, with Great Tom o' Lincoln Hotel proprietor Robert Bristow turning on entertainments such as footracing and climbing the greasy pole while dispensing a “pleasant tipple for country heat and dust”.
Norwood club president W.H. Bundey, with a friend, in 1851-52, started the Union club, named after the Adelaide hotel. With 80 members and three teams at Marryatville, and “having beaten both city and country clubs, it was resolved to challenge an eleven of the whole province”. The Union team (Dobson, Miller, Uren, Baker, Futcher, Beazley, Lodge, Wood, Tunbridge, W. Hill and Carter) won convincingly by 97 runs but sunk after that.
Another 1850s club was the Universal with a ground near the Kent Town Hotel; in 1858, J.H. Barrow was president, F.B. Carlin vice-president, A.M. Harris honorary secretary and J. Chittleborough treasurer.
But, by 1862, Adelaide and suburbs had about five clubs with unfenced grounds and rock-hard pitches. They did had a code of ethics forbidding swearing and profane language. William Whitridge, born in 1853 in Kensington, went to Adelaide Education Institution and shone in games against rival St Peter’s College.
Whitridge started work with the South Australian Register newspaper (for 42 years) and joined a cricket team that used part of Victoria Square, Adelaide, for a practice pitch. When the government set aside a cricket ground (Adelaide Oval) in the parklands, Whitridge was, at 18, a major impetus behind an association in 1871 to run district and interstate matches.
As a bowler for South Australia, Whitridge in 1877-78 and 1878-79 had averages of 5.24 and 4.09. In one match against Victoria he took eight wickets for 10 runs, though there were rumblings about his action.
Whitridge represented South Australia on the Australian Cricket Board in the 1890s, with John Creswell and Mostyn Evan. He umpired one Test match between Australia and England at Adelaide Oval in 1892. Whitridge compiled and edited The South Australian Cricketer's Guide, first published in 1877 and was the Australian correspondent for several foreign publications.