Howzat? Collingwood and cricket
On the morning of the first session of the First Test of the summer, Collingwood Forever looks back on the club's history with the summer game.
The Collingwood Cricket Club was formed on 18 June, 1906, and played its home matches at Victoria Park from 1906 until 1996, when it merged with the Camberwell Cricket Club to form the Camberwell Magpies. The club won four senior Victorian premierships.
According to Richard Stremski’s Kill for Collingwood (1986), William Beazley, president of the Football Club, took up the same role at the helm of the Cricket Club.
“The Football Club granted a major concession to the Cricket Club to facilitate its birth,” Stremski wrote.
“For his annual subscription of one guinea, each cricket club member received one adult and two ladies tickets; these tickets admitted bearers to Collingwood football matches as well” (Stremski, 1986, p. 51).
Collingwood Cricket Club’s most famed product was John (Jack) Ryder, who was born and raised in Collingwood and played for the club between 1906 and 1930. He represented Victoria on 177 occasions, and averaged 51.62 with the bat across 20 Tests for Australia.
Click here to read the full story of Collingwood's cricketing history on forever.collingwoodfc.com.au.
Our thoughts are with the Australian cricket team and the loved ones of Phil Hughes as his former teammates face India in the First Test at the Adelaide Oval on Tuesday morning.