Ernie Parker

Cricket Parker was able to excel at both tennis and cricket because at the time tennis was mostly a winter game in Perth.

He represented Western Australia in first-class cricket between 1905 and 1910 in the years before Western Australia joined the Sheffield Shield competition. He was the first player to score a first-class century for Western Australia, when he made 116 in his second match. He also made 117 in only 82 minutes against Victoria in 1910.

War service and death Despite failing eyesight, which had affected his later sporting career, Parker enlisted in the Australian army in World War I. A gunner in the 102 Howitzer Battery, 2nd Brigade, he was killed by an enemy shell on 2 May 1918 in Caëstre, France.

A biography, Ernest Parker: Not a Love Story, by Max Bonnell and Andrew Sproul, was published by The Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians in 2024.

Grand Slam finals

Singles 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up) ResultYearChampionshipSurfaceOpponentScoreLoss 1909 Australasian Championships Grass Anthony Wilding 1–6, 5–7, 2–6Win 1913 Australasian Championships Grass Harry Parker 2–6, 6–1, 6–2, 6–3

Doubles: 2 (2 titles) ResultYearChampionshipSurfacePartnerOpponentsScoreWin 1909 Australasian Championships Grass J. P. Keane Tom Crooks Anthony Wilding 1–6, 6–1, 6–1, 9–7Win 1913 Australasian Championships Grass Alf Hedeman Harry Parker Roy Taylor 8–6, 4–6, 6–4, 6–4