Dave Gregory

David William Gregory (15 April 1845 – 4 August 1919) was an Australian cricketer. A right-handed batsman, Gregory was the first Australian national cricket captain, leading the side for the first three recognised Test matches between England and Australia in March and April 1877 and January 1879. Gregory was also the captain of the New South Wales team, notably during the Sydney Riot of 1879 when he rebelled against an unpopular decision by Victorian umpire George Coulthard during a game against the touring English team.

David William Gregory was a man of striking appearance, he "looked like an Old Testament prophet not long out of training college." near Wollongong, the son of Edward William Gregory, a bootmaker, and his wife Mary Anne née Smith, who were married on 25 May 1835 at Sydney. He was educated at the St James Model School, Sydney.

Cricket career

His family came to include six other first-class cricketers: his brothers Ned, Charles and Arthur, and his nephews and nieces Syd, Charles, Louisa and Jack who lived nearby during his early life. (Ned would additionally become a curator of the Sydney Cricket Ground.) He first appeared for New South Wales in 1866, for whom he would play 38 matches until his retirement in early 1883. he managed five half centuries including strong knocks of 85 and 74 at Melbourne and Sydney. Of the former, it was noted that he was a "marvel of patience at first, and then followed a grand display of good, punishing power, combined with a splendid defence". His score was a record at the time for New South Wales, and the match also saw the debut of his brother, Arthur. Despite his low average, however, it is illustrative of the conditions of the pitches on which he played that he would reach double figures on several occasions when other members of his team failed. He would find success with the ball also, in his first match, he took 3/36 off 24.1 overs. In the 1st ever test match played at Melbourne he won the toss and elected to bat. His team won but he only managed 4 runs in 2 Innings. He enjoyed more success on his home grounds, scoring a career best 43 in the second Test against England in March 1877,

1st Test 1876–1877

Dave Gregory made his Test debut batting at No: 4 for Australia. Australia was 40 for 2. He joined Charles Bannerman (Australia No: 1) on 26 not out. They were the world's 1st ever Test 3rd wicket partnership. Dave Gregory was 31 years 334 days old, the youngest test captain at that time.

While touring England as captain in 1878 during Australia's first tour of England, however, he suffered on the host nations' wet cricket pitches, averaging only 11 with the bat in several matches often against teams of 18 or 22.

Gregory led Australia at Melbourne against England in January 1879, scoring 12 in his only innings. His Test career statistics remained below par, with an average of 20.00 across his three Test career, passing into double figures only twice,

Following what would be his last Test, Gregory captained New South Wales against the touring England team at the SCG in February. On the second day, 10,000 spectators witnessed England collapse. When the New South Wales team batted and Billy Murdoch was adjudged run out, no new batsman emerged. England players were sent to the pavilion, at which point it became clear that Gregory was insisting the match be halted while a new umpire was found. The ensuing disturbance became known as the Sydney Riot of 1879. While allegations of collusion with match fixers began, a number of spectators began to cross the pitch and had to be fended off by players armed with cricket stumps for over thirty minutes. The England team and Gregory's Australian side reached an impasse until Edmund Barton, then the other umpire, was able to calm Gregory down. While play was poised to resume, a further pitch invasion prevented this. In his obituary Wisden described Gregory's batting style thus: "Like many Australian batsmen in those early days, he had no grace of style to recommend him, but his defence was stubborn and he lacked neither pluck nor patience", and attributed his lack of successful scores to the pitches rather than his talent. He died in Turramurra, Sydney in 1919.