text: joe darling joseph " joe " darling cbe ( 21 november 1870 – 2 january 1946 ) was an australian cricketer who played 34 test matches as a specialist batsman between 1894 and 1905 . as captain , he led australia in a total of 21 tests , winning seven and losing four . in test cricket , he scored 1657 runs at an average of 28 . 56 per innings , including three centuries . darling toured england four times with the australian team — in 1896 , 1899 , 1902 and 1905 ; the last three tours as captain . he was captain of the australian cricket team in england in 1902 , widely recognised as one of the best teams in australian cricket history . he was a stocky , compact man and a strong driver of the ball , playing most of his cricket as an opening batsman . he was a patient batsman and was known for his solid defence , but he was able to score quickly when required . in sydney in 1897 – 98 , he scored 160 in 165 minutes , including 30 boundaries to assist his team in defeating the english . he was the first man to score 500 runs in a test series and was also the first to score three centuries in a series . his captaincy was disciplinarian in nature but his teammates respected his broad cricket knowledge . even tempered with a strong personality , he was a stickler for fair play on the field . his teammates gave him the nickname " paddy " due to a supposed resemblance to the australian boxer , frank " paddy " slavin . his cricket career was interrupted several times due to his obligations as a farmer , first growing wheat in south australia , and later as a wool - grower in tasmania . he was a member of several bodies dedicated to agriculture in tasmania , including the responsible authority for the royal hobart show . he was a pioneer in activities such as rabbit eradication and pasture improvement . he entered politics in 1921 , standing as an independent in the tasmanian legislative council , where he was a forceful speaker . he retained his seat in the tasmanian parliament until his death following a gall bladder operation in 1946 . early life and career darling was born on 21 november 1870 in glen osmond , south australia , the sixth son of john darling , a grain merchant and his wife isabella , née ferguson . he was educated at prince alfred college , where he took an interest in cricket . at the age of 15 , he scored a record 252 runs in the " inter - collegiate " match , the annual fixture against fierce rival st peter 's college . his future test team mate , clem hill , would later beat this record , scoring 360 . not long after , he was included in a combined south australian / victoria xv that played the australian xi in 1886 . he made only 16 runs , but the manner in which he made them saw senior players hail him as a future champion . his father , disapproving of darling 's fondness for sport , sent him away from his cricket and australian rules football teams to spend twelve months at agricultural school . later , darling worked in a bank for a time and before his father appointed him manager of one of a wheat farm . working on the farm added size and strength to an already stocky and athletic frame . he was selected for the south australian team at age 19 , but his father would not allow him time off the farm to play . after two years in the bush , darling returned to adelaide and cricket . he opened a sports store on rundle street , adelaide and was soon selected to represent south australia in inter - colonial cricket . he made his first - class cricket debut against new south wales at the adelaide oval ; scoring 5 and 32 as south australia won the match by 237 runs . the next season , against the touring england team captained by andrew stoddart , darling made 115 , his maiden first - class century . test career consolidation the first test of 1894 – 95 against england , at the sydney cricket ground , saw darling make his test debut . in an innings where australia make 586 runs , including centuries for george giffen and syd gregory , darling was dismissed for a golden duck , bowled first ball by tom richardson . he played in all five tests in the series , scoring 258 runs at an average of 28 . 66 per innings . he was included in the australian team to tour england in 1896 , where he topped the scoring aggregates for the tour with 1555 runs at an average of 29 . 90 , including three centuries . wisden cricketers ' almanack stated that darling " proved himself perhaps the best of present - day left - handed batsmen " during the tour . england won the series two tests to one . andrew stoddart brought another team to australia to contest the ashes in 1897 – 98 . australia won the series comfortably , four tests to one . darling started the season poorly , scoring a duck and one against the tourists for south australia in a match in which team mate clem hill scored a double century . darling went on , however , to dominate the series with the bat . his maiden test century , 101 in the first test at the sydney cricket ground after australia was made to follow - on , was the first made by a left - hander in tests . it was not enough to prevent england winning by nine wickets . in the third test in his home town of adelaide , darling scored 178 runs and australia won the match by an innings and 13 runs . he reached his century by hitting johnny briggs over the eastern gate and into the nearby park . this is the only time in ashes tests where a player has reached 100 with a hit out of the ground . during this innings , he also became the first player to hit a six in a test in australia ( prior to 1910 , a six was awarded only if the ball was hit out of the ground ) . he later also hit the first six in a test in england . returning to sydney for the fifth and final test , darling scored 160 runs from 253 scored in total . he batted for 165 minutes , hitting 30 boundaries as australia successfully chased 273 in the fourth innings . his first 100 came in 91 minutes ; at the time , the fastest test century scored . by the end of the season , darling became the first player to score 500 runs in a series and the first player to score three centuries in a series . captaincy darling was chosen by his team mates as captain for the 1899 australian team touring england . the team was one of the strongest seen in england to that time , with the cricket reference book wisden stating , " by common consent the [ 1899 australians ] formed the strongest combination that had come from the colonies since the great side captained by mr. w. l. murdoch in 1882 . " and that " darling proved himself one of the very best captains that ever took a team into the field . " the australians lost only three of the 35 matches they played on the tour , winning 16 and another 16 finishing in draws . the only test to reach a decisive result was the second test at lord 's , where australia won by ten wickets due in part to centuries by hill and victor trumper and a ten wicket haul by fast bowler ernie jones . aside from hill , darling was seen by wisden as the best batsman among the australians . wisden claimed , " up to a certain point the responsibilities of captaincy seemed to tell against darling , but during the last weeks of the tour he played marvellous cricket . " over the tour , he scored 1941 runs at an average of 41 . 29 , topping both the averages and the aggregate for his team , and was named as one of the wisden cricketers of the year . darling 's deeds as a cricketer had reconciled his father to his sporting endeavours , but not to his sports store operation . in 1900 , his father purchased " stonehenge " , a sheep station covering 10 , 000 acres ( 4 , 000 ha ) in central tasmania and ordered darling to run the property on pain of exclusion from his will . darling complied with his father 's wishes and moved his family to the remote station , 34 kilometres ( 21 mi ) along a dirt track from the nearest town , tiny oatlands . darling stood out of first - class cricket for nearly two years . it was not until december 1901 that darling was convinced to return by the melbourne cricket club to captain the australians against the touring english for the first three tests only . the english , captained by archie maclaren , won the first test in sydney convincingly by an innings and 124 runs . the second test in melbourne was played on a rain - affected pitch . maclaren won the toss and sent australia in to bat on the " sticky wicket " . within three hours , both teams had been dismissed ; australia holding a lead on the first innings of 51 runs . realising the danger the pitch held to his leading batsmen , darling re - ordered the batting line - up and opened the batting himself alongside hugh trumble . the pair held out the english for 90 minutes ; darling considered his 32 runs one of his best innings . nevertheless , barnes managed to grab five wickets in the final half - hour to leave the australians 5 / 48 when stumps was called . twenty five wickets fell in the day 's play . importantly , australia had a 99 - run lead and batsmen of the calibre of hill , trumper , reggie duff and warwick armstrong still to bat . the next day , on a perfect pitch , the australian batsmen established a match - winning lead , eventually winning the test by 229 runs . in the third test in adelaide , australia became the first team to score over 300 runs to win the fourth innings of a test match . darling , along with hill and trumble , led the record making run chase ; darling scored 62 runs . hugh trumble captained the final two tests as darling returned to his farm . australia won both tests and the series to retain the ashes . return to cricket darling agreed to once again lead the australian cricket team in england in 1902 . in what was a very cold and wet summer , the australian team won a close fought series against the strong english team two tests to one . given the strength of the opposition , this australian team is often referred to as one of the best australian teams ever assembled . the team included players of the calibre of trumper , hill , armstrong , trumble and monty noble ; all of whom would be later included in the australian cricket hall of fame . the team lost only two matches during the tour , with wisden saying , " no travelling team ever strove harder for victory or more completely subordinated all personal considerations to the prime object of winning matches . they formed a splendid all - round combination " . the first test at edgbaston finished in a draw . rain saved the australians after they were dismissed for only 36 in their first innings ; wilfred rhodes took seven wickets for only 17 runs . rain again ruined the second test at lord 's when the final two days were washed out . the third test , the only test match played at bramall lane , saw australia win by 143 runs due in part to a century by hill and noble taking 5 / 51 . darling was dismissed twice by barnes without scoring , the first test captain to make a " pair " . australia won the fourth test at old trafford by three runs ; trumble took ten wickets for the match . the last batsman , fred tate , came in with england needing eight runs to secure victory . darling brought the field in and trumble prevented rhodes scoring from the last three balls of his over . this left tate to face jack saunders , who dismissed him with the fourth ball of his over to win the match for australia . england won the fifth and final test at the oval by one wicket . chasing 263 , england were 5 / 48 when gilbert jessop scored a century in 75 minutes to help england to victory . the star for the australians was trumper who scored 2 , 570 runs , easily beating darling 's own record for a colonial batsman in an english season set in 1899 . so important was trumper to the australian team that darling , who had previously checked that all the australians were on board the carriage to the ground , was later simply to ask " is vic aboard ? " before giving the driver the go - ahead . darling himself had a mixed tour with the bat . darling started the tour in a way that promised great things , but he did not keep up his form and fell a good deal below his standard of 1896 and 1899 . his tremendous hitting power , however , was several times of the utmost value , and very likely in a season of hard wickets he would have had as good a record as ever . on the return trip to australia , the touring team stopped to play three tests against south africa , the first between the two nations . australia won the series two tests to nil , but darling 's own form was poor . in successive innings , darling made 0 , 14 , 6 , 4 and 1 . after the tour , he returned to stonehenge and took a two - year break from first - class cricket . in his absence , monty noble captained the australian team against the touring english in 1903 – 04 . final tour and retirement before the australian team to tour england in 1905 was selected , darling returned to first - class cricket for south australia . he won selection in the touring squad and was named as captain . a weaker australian bowling attack saw darling resort to defensive measures throughout the tour . these measures included directing armstrong to bowl his leg breaks down the leg side , where darling had placed up to seven fielders . these measures , unpopular with the english public , saw 19 matches on the tour finish in draws , three more than the 16 matches won by australia . wisden said , " leaving aside duff 's long score at the oval , darling was the finest batsman on the side in the test games , playing superb cricket under very trying conditions . " at old trafford in the fourth test , he made 73 out of 105 in less than ninety minutes . his innings included thirteen boundaries , all but one of them being drives . despite his efforts , england still won the test by an innings and 80 runs . after losing six tosses against his english opposite number stanley jackson during the summer , darling decided on a different approach before the scarborough festival match late in the tour . at the toss , he approached jackson stripped to the waist and suggested , in fun , a wrestle for choice of innings . the 1905 tour was darling 's last test cricket foray , as he claimed that continuing to tour was unfair to his wife . he retired from first - class cricket during the 1907 – 08 season . in his first - class career , darling made runs , including 19 centuries at an average of 34 . 52 . in club cricket in adelaide , joe scored heavily . he averaged 144 for east torrens cricket club in 1899 – 1900 , 98 . 66 for adelaide cricket club in 1896 – 97 and 86 . 20 for sturt cricket club in 1904 – 05 . he continued to make runs in tasmanian club cricket right through middle age . in 1921 , he made 100 runs in an hour , including 29 in one eight - ball over playing for claremont cricket club . at age 52 , he made 133 not out during a successful run chase where his team , break - o ' , made 6 / 219 in 90 minutes . he was contemptuous of the newly formed australian board of control for international cricket matches ( now known as cricket australia ) , who he saw as attempting to remove control of international cricket tours from the players . he would often refer to cricket administrators as " dead heads " . he later represented the tasmanian cricket association as a delegate to the board of control . outside cricket following his retirement from big cricket , darling returned to his tasmanian sheep station , where he was involved in a range of agricultural activities . he pioneered measures to eradicate rabbits , an introduced pest then in plague proportions throughout australia . he was an active member of organisations such as the tasmanian stock holders and ' association and the royal agricultural society of tasmania , the organising body of the royal hobart show . darling imported south australian merino rams to improve his flock , and his wool topped the hobart sales on several occasions . he also introduced subterranean clover to tasmania . in 1919 , darling moved from stonehenge to claremont house , around which the hobart suburb of claremont later formed . he was elected to the cambridge electorate in the tasmanian legislative council in 1921 as an independent . he retained his position in the parliament until his death in 1946 . in parliament , one of his colleagues was charles eady , his teammate from the 1896 tour of england . darling was recognised by his colleagues as a forceful , no - nonsense speaker . in the 1930s , he won an exemption from land tax for small farmers , and toward the end of his parliamentary career , a royal commission was appointed to investigate charges darling had made regarding maladministration . the findings of the commission , released after his death , saw a government minister and two others found guilty of accepting bribes . darling was made a commander of the order of the british empire ( cbe ) in the 1938 new year honours in recognition of his work as a member of the legislative assembly . darling married alice minna blanche francis , a wheat farmer 's daughter from , south australia in 1893 . together they raised 15 children : ten sons and five daughters . after surgery for a ruptured gall bladder , darling died in hobart on 2 january 1946 . he was buried at cornelian bay cemetery after a congregationalist ceremony and was survived by his wife and twelve of his children . style and personality darling had a stocky , compact build , standing 5 feet 8 inches ( 1 . 73 metres ) and weighing 12 stone 12 pounds ( 82 kg ) . his teammates thought his dark hair , blue eyes and moustache were similar to the boxer , frank " paddy " slavin , and he answered to the nickname " paddy " during his time in cricket . his time working on his father 's farm had developed his strength . during his first game for south australia , he was challenged to a naked wrestle by the fast bowler and ex - miner ernie jones , an informal initiation into the team . to his team mates ' surprise , darling managed to defeat the much larger jones . the left - handed darling was a strong driver of the ball who showed the batsman the full face of the bat . when necessary , he was a dour defender of his wicket . his fellow players thought that was sometimes unnecessarily defensive in his approach to batting and that he was at his best when driving hard . his south australian and australian team mate george giffen thought that no australian 's cut shots travelled faster past point . darling is a remarkable combination of stolidity and power . his driving , whenever he choose to let himself loose , is tremendous , and no left - handed batsman , at any rate in our time , has possessed quite such a defence . he always gives one the idea of being a great natural hitter , who has rigorously schooled himself to play the steady game . darling holds the record for the most innings in a complete test match career ( 60 ) , without being dismissed lbw . darling had a strong personality and an independent outlook . those who knew him well thought him destined to be a leader in whatever he undertook . he shunned strong drink and tobacco and found it difficult to tolerate overindulgence in alcohol . normally even - tempered , he did show displeasure at the heckling from the crowd at lord 's at his obstinate defensive effort in the face of an australian batting collapse . he was a stickler for fair play , but his actions against the english batsman ks ranjitsinhji would today be seen as gamesmanship . during the bowler 's approach and after the bowler had looked at the field , the australian fielders moved behind ranjitsinhji 's back . this worried the indian prince when playing his leg glance and eventually saw him left out of the english team . the journalist ray robinson wrote that " of all australian captains he came closest to being a disciplinarian " . regardless , his team mates continued to select him as captain , trusting in his knowledge and understanding of the game . on a wet day during the 1899 tour , a delay in play saw some of the australians accept an invitation to the player 's tobacco factory in . while away , the weather cleared and play began with darling leading a team of five australians and five substitutes onto the field . darling later called a team meeting that saw the culprits fined ₤ 5 for breaching team rules . his approach to the hard - drinking ernie jones was similarly tough . to ensure that the fast bowler would not drink to excess , he selected jones as twelfth man in a match against an english county team . when jones refused to play , a team meeting saw him facing expulsion from the team . darling spoke to him privately and made it clear that without an apology to his team mates and a promise to curb his drinking , he would be on the next boat bound for australia . the firm and prompt action had a lasting effect on team discipline during his time as australian captain . wisden noted that " as a captain he inspired his men to reveal their best form . " as a captain he was a reformer , suggesting rule changes that included making six runs the reward for clearing the boundary rather than the entire ground , and using of sawdust to fill holes in bowler 's run - ups . test match performance