Highlights from the SCG Museum Collection

All England Eleven vs Twenty-Two of NSW, 1862

The Sydney Domain featured in this rendition was one of the many places in our early colonial history where cricket could be played.


Captured here is a rendered impression of the cricket match played between the All England XI, (captained by H.H. Stephenson) and the NSW 22.


This professional cricket match proved to be a successful event as it was the first time an English team toured in Australia.


Signed Gerald Clarke Esq.

ALL ENGLAND V NSW, SCORECARD, 1862

Printed silk scorecard from the first English cricket tour of Australia in 1862. Referred to as H. H. Stephenson's XI.


England played a New South Wales cricket team at the Domain, Sydney.

The Heroes of Australia

When Australia toured England in 1880, they played one Test at the Oval. England won by five wickets, thanks largely to legendary batsman W.G. Grace, who made 152 in England’s first innings. Australia, 271 runs in arrears, was made to follow on but was redeemed by captain Billy Murdoch, who made a fighting 153no.

Black and white photograph of Australian cricketing greats, Billy Murdoch, Fred Spofforth, Harry Boyle and Alick Bannerman.

The Cricket Ground, Sydney. 1888

Rare photograph of the inter-colonial cricket match between NSW and Victoria at the then known Association Cricket Ground, January 1888.

New South Wales won by an innings and 35 runs.

Combined Australia v Lord Sheffield's English XI, 1892

Featured in this composition is a selection of original photographs that showcase the Members Pavilion enclosure and the then known Association Cricket Ground (Sydney Cricket Ground).


Featured towards the bottom of the composition are the team photographs of a Combined Australian Team and Lord Sheffield's English Team.


Across five days, over 63,352 spectators attended this match won by Australia. This was the first Test of five days in length and the first in Australia to use a six ball over.

The English Cricket Team of 1894-1895

Photograph of the English touring team taken in front of the Trustee’s cottage.

Featured in the middle of the back row is Mr Phillip Sheridan, managing director of the then newly named Sydney Cricket Ground.

Members Pavilions, Sydney Cricket Ground

Original photographic print of the Members Pavilion enclosure taken by the fashionable photographic house, Kerry & Co.

Images of the Sydney Cricket Ground, 1895-1898

In 1894 the Association Ground became the Sydney Cricket Ground. These images demonstrate the rapid development that occurred under the new name.

In 1896, Ned Gregory’s scoreboard, the Ladies Pavilion, and concrete cycling track were erected. In 1897 electric lighting was installed around the track.

Ned Gregory and the Sydney Cricket Ground

Ned Gregory was a professional cricketer and member of an Australian cricket dynasty. He played for Australia in the first Test at the MCG, his brother Dave Gregory was captain, two other brothers played for NSW, two of his sons played for NSW (one being the Test cricketer Syd Gregory) and his nephew Jack Gregory also represented Australia.


Although familiar with the grounds as a player, it was Gregory's work as caretaker of the Military and Civil Ground, and later first curator of the Association Ground and SCG, where he made his most significant contributions to cricket.

In the 1860s, Gregory became caretaker and his wife Ellen a charwoman or cleaner, at the grounds. They lived on-site in the stone caretaker's cottage, where their son Syd was born in 1870.


Under the management of the Cricket Association and the SCG Trustees, Gregory experimented with and laid the first Bulli soil wicket at the grounds in 1888. In 1896, he designed and constructed the first mechanically adjustable scoreboard on the Hill.


Gregory died in 1899, in the brick cottage that had replaced the original stone caretakers cottage.

Spofforth's Punch-Up

Has any player ever come to blows, on or off the field, with an opposing player during an Ashes Test?

Yes - and it happened in the Members Pavilion at the SCG. In January 1883, Fred Spofforth, the fiery Australian fast bowler, punched England’s batsman Dick Barlow, knocking him over a seat, after Barlow accused him of deliberately damaging the pitch.

This painting depicts the speed and ferocity that characterised the bowling of Fred ˜The Demon" Spofforth.

William Lloyd "Billy" Murdoch

In the lead-up to the first cricket Test in Melbourne in 1877, Fred "the Demon" Spofforth was furious to find that his Albert Club teammate, wicket keeper Billy Murdoch, had been omitted from the side in favour of Jack Blackham.

Concerned that Blackham would not be up to keeping to the pace of his bowling, Spofforth made his feelings known in a vibrant letter to Australian captain, Dave Gregory. Spofforth proclaimed, '...you have left out Murdoch so you might just as well draw a pen through mine..."

Gregory stuck to his original selections and neither Spofforth nor Murdoch took the field.

Shown here is a depiction of the cricketer William Lloyd "Billy" Murdoch in caricature. Known as being a well equipped wicket-keeper, Murdoch is featured holding a bat in a cavalier stance at the crease.

Design for New Scoreboard, Sydney Cricket Ground

The second scoreboard at the Sydney Cricket Ground was erected in April 1905. Utilising the original frame work of the original 1896 scoreboard, the updated scoreboard consisted of only minor updates to Ned Gregory's original design. Featuring a more ornate facade and improvements in delivering greater statistics for events, the scoreboard was a feature point during night time cycling meets, where it was illuminated by gas powered electric lighting.

In place for close to twenty years, the scoreboard was later removed and replaced in 1924 by the famous Robertson and Marks scoreboard, which stood until 2007.

Australian Cricket Teams Touring England

Set of 11 black and white team photographs and one composite card of Australian touring cricket teams from 1878 to 1909. Photographs have been mounted on card.

NSW v New Zealand, First Rugby League Match. Sydney Cricket Ground, 1911.

Depicted here is the first rugby league match to be played at the Sydney Cricket Ground. At the time rugby union was the dominant football code to use the SCG, which had refused to host a rugby league match since the break away football code formed in 1907. However, a celebration for King George V's Coronation Day at the Showground meant that the SCG was obliged to host the match.


Despite the low visitation of SCG Members, the attendance was 46,000 which at the time was the largest attendance at a rugby league match. Former rugby union skill Dally Messenger scored two tries, set up a third, converted three and kicked a penalty goal.


In recent years, Messenger has been honoured by the Trust with the naming of the Dally Messenger Stand, a plaque in the Walk of Honour and as a subject in the Basil Sellers Sports Sculptures Project.

Australia v England (First Test Match), 1920

Panoramic black and white photograph of the Sydney Cricket Ground taken from Paddington Hill. The picture captures game play of Australia v England in the first Test match held at the grounds, December 17-22, 1920.


Australia won the Test by 377 runs.

Australia v England (Firs Test Match), 1924

Panoramic photograph of Sydney Cricket Ground taken on December 20, 1924. Image captures game play between Australia and England in the opening Test match of the 1924-1925 series. Australia won by 198 runs.

Watercolour sketch of "Yabba" (Stephe Harold Gascoigne)

An original watercolour cartoon on beige mount board depicting a caricature of "Yabba" (Stephen Harold Gascoigne). Signed on the inside of Yabba's leg is 'Ian Clark'.


Below the figure is written, 'SYDNEY CRICKET GROUND HILL BARRACKER / STEPHEN GASCOINE / 'YABBA' / WELL KNOW TO VISITING ENGLISH CRICKETERS / BORN 1878 DIED 1942'.

South African Touring Soccer Team, 1947

Black and white panoramic of the Sydney Cricket Ground during a soccer match, featuring South Africa v Australia, (1st Test Match), held at the grounds on the 10th May 1947.

The Football Association Touring Team - England v Australia, 1951

Black and white panoramic view of Sydney Cricket Ground during a soccer match, featuring England and Australia national teams.

The picture is taken from the Noble Stand area and spans the ground from the Bob Stand on the left (with the Royal Agricultural Showground grandstand behind it), across the Hill (including Old Scoreboard), the Sheridan Stand and the old Brewongle Stand, to the Ladies Stand and a side-on view of the Members Pavilion.


Printed in white ink over the image in the bottom left-hand corner is the title, as above, then: '1st Test Sydney Cricket Ground May 26th 1951.

Doug Walters Stand Signage, 1985-2007

Doug Walters won the hearts and minds of cricket fans that regularly flocked to the Hill. Such was his popularity that in 1975, a fan by the name of Tom Bridges erected a tarpaulin banner proclaiming a shelter near the scoreboard to be the Doug Walters Stand.

In 1985, the Trust appropriately named the new hill stand the Doug Walters Stand.

IMAGE: Original signage salvaged by the SCG Museum during construction of the Victor Trumper Stand.

The Away Change Room Doors, c.2001

The SCG Members Pavilion Away Change Room previously housed a cupboard that contained essential supplies required by the Cricket NSW room attendants, such as band aids, towels, sport liniment and drinks.

In 2001, when attendant Rocky Harris inscribed a tribute to Jason Gillespie’s 8/50 for South Australia at the SCG, these doors took on a new life.


Amused players took to the tribute with enthusiasm, requesting their feats be recorded and signing against their achievements. A tradition was formed, with some players such as Geoff Marsh and V.V.S. Laxman returning to retrospectively stake their claim in SCG history.


Today, these doors feature a long list of Australian domestic and international first-class bowlers and batsmen. When the doors neared their capacity, a replica door panel was erected, with the original doors rehoused and proudly displayed in the Away Change Room for visiting teams, members and the general public to admire.