Charles John Eady (29 October 1870 – 20 December 1945) was an Australian sportsman, lawyer and politician.

Charles Eady
Cricket information
BattingRight-handed
BowlingRight-arm fast
International information
National side
Test debut (cap 73)22 June 1896 v England
Last Test28 February 1902 v England
Career statistics
Competition Test First-class
Matches 2 43
Runs scored 20 1,490
Batting average 6.66 22.92
100s/50s 0/0 3/6
Top score 10* 116
Balls bowled 223 6,562
Wickets 7 136
Bowling average 16.00 23.13
5 wickets in innings 0 12
10 wickets in match 0 5
Best bowling 3/30 8/34
Catches/stumpings 2/– 45/–
Source: Cricinfo, 12 October 2022

Life and career

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Eady was a cricketer who played for Tasmanian clubs and representative sides in the era before Tasmania was accepted into the Sheffield Shield and other competitions.[1] He also played in Test cricket twice for Australia becoming the only cricketer to play his only two test matches, one in the 19th century and one in the 20th century.

A big man, standing six feet three inches or 1.90 metres tall, Eady was an all-rounder: a hard-hitting right-handed batsman and a right-arm fast bowler. He made 116 and 112 not out for Tasmania against Victoria in 1895 and was picked for the tour to England in 1896. But he failed to do himself justice, scoring just 12 runs in the Lord's Test match, though he picked up four fairly cheap wickets. He made one more Test appearance in 1901–2, again with little success.

Eady's chief claim to being remembered is a remarkable innings played in a club match between the Tasmanian club Break o' Day and the Wellington club, which was another Tasmanian team and not the current side from New Zealand, in 1902, when he scored 566 from a total of 911.[2][3][a] This is the third highest score in any form of cricket, behind Pranav Dhanawade's 1009 not out in 2016 and A. E. J. Collins' 628 not out in 1899. Eady also took all 10 wickets for 42 runs in an innings for South Hobart versus East Hobart in 1906.

Eady later served as president of the Australia Board of Control, later Cricket Australia and was also President of the Tasmanian Legislative Council from 1944 to 1945.[5]

Eady was also an outstanding Australian rules football player, and served two terms totalling 25 years as President of the Tasmanian Football League.[6]

On 23 October 1903 he married Florence Guesdon in Hobart. She was the daughter of William Guesdon.[7] When he died on 20 December 1945 he was survived by daughter, his wife having died nine months earlier.

Notes

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  1. ^ Team score given as 908 in Wisden 1946[4] but other sources such as CricketArchive and The Cricketer record it as 911.

References

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  1. ^ "Charlie Eady". www.cricketarchive.com. Retrieved 4 October 2011.
  2. ^ "Break o' Day v Wellington, Tasmania Cricket Association Ground, Hobart on 8th, 15th, 22nd March, 5th April 1902". CricketArchive. Retrieved 17 April 2024.
  3. ^ "Obituary". The Cricketer. 1946. p. 75. Retrieved 17 April 2024 – via CricketArchive.
  4. ^ "Obituary". Wisden Cricketers' Almanack (1946 ed.). Wisden. p. 439.
  5. ^ "Mr C. J. Eady, Politician and Sportsman, Dies at 75". The Mercury. Hobart, Tasmania. 21 December 1945. p. 4. Retrieved 21 August 2011 – via National Library of Australia.
  6. ^ Cardosi, Adam. "Neglected heroes – The sad case of the Australian Football Hall of Fame/". australianfootball.com. Retrieved 14 March 2014.
  7. ^ Valentine, Barbara (1981). "Eady, Charles John (1870–1945)". Eady, Charles, in, Australian Dictionary of Biography. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press. Retrieved 15 April 2022.
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Tasmanian Legislative Council
Preceded by President of the Tasmanian Legislative Council
1944–1945
Succeeded by
Preceded by Member for Hobart
1925–1945
Served alongside: Propsting/Strutt, Murdoch/McKenzie/Gaha/Tyler/Lonergan
Succeeded by