The unique feats of the ‘Darling of Cricket’

By K.R. Nayar

Joe Darling was the darling of the players in his squad. Very few may know that this former Australian captain was the first left-hander to hit a Test century, the first batsman to crack a six, and the first to score 500 runs in a Test series. He was a darling to his wife, and together they had 15 children.

The dictionary meaning of ‘Darling’ is ‘a person who is a very much loved or liked’. In cricket, there was one such person who achieved many landmarks being the darling of the players in his team. He was born on November 21, 1870, and his name popped up on my screen while screening for some cricket details that I was looking for.

 The man whom everyone addressed as Darling was Australian captain Joe Darling, who captained them to victory over arch rivals England in 1899 and 1902.  He is the pride of all left-handed batsmen since he was the first left-hander to crack a century in Test cricket when he scored 101 against England in the first Test at Sydney in 1897.   Despite his century, England won the match by nine wickets. England emerged triumphant mainly because of Indian-born KS Ranjitsinhji, who used to play for England, cracked 175 runs.

In the third Test, Darling hit another century, a knock of 178,  to ensure an innings and 13 runs win over England at Adelaide. In that Test match he recorded another feat to his credit. He became the first batsman to hit a six in Test cricket. In fact, he reached his century with a six. Those were the days when a batsman had to hit the ball out of the ground to get six runs, or it would be considered as only a four.

Interestingly, Darling achieved this feat at the Adelaide Oval, which his father John Darling, as a member of the Legislative Council of South Australia, had helped in the construction and inaugurated it too. In the 1897-98 Ashes series, he became the first batsman to score 500 runs in a Test series when he piled up 537 runs.

There are many more interesting events related to Darling. In 1905, he captained a match on November 21, which also happened to be the birthday of England skipper Stanley Jackson. This was the first time in the history of cricket that two opposing captains shared the same date, month and year of birth. Jackson was always lucky with the toss, and in 1905 he won all tosses in the five matches of the series. 

 Like his father, Darling also entered politics after his cricketing days. He was a brilliant speaker and stood as an independent candidate in Tasmanian Legislative Council and won the seat, which he kept till his death in 1946.

Another interesting aspect about Darling is that he was also a darling to his wife Alice Minna Francis, who was 23 years younger to him. Together they had 15 children - ten boys and five girls!