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HISTORY OF AUSTRALIAN DEAF CRICKET

The Early Pioneer Games

The first interstate cricket match amongst the adult Deaf pioneers was triggered off at a meeting held in July 1894, by the Victorian Adult Deaf Cricket Club, the outcome of which was to send a cricket team under the management of Mr. J. E. Muir (VIC) to South Australia in December 1894. The visitors were captained by him and the home team by E. Salas (SA). The one day match took place on December 26th and resulted in a win for Victoria on the first innings.

The honor pf representing their states in the First Australian Adult Deaf Pioneer Interstate Cricket Match fell to :

Victoria
J.E. Muir (Capt & Manager)		W. Bessmeres	L. Downes	M.L. Miller	A. Collins
S. Ward	G. Damman	G.H. Reynolds	J. Playne	J. Boortz	W. Lawson

South Australia
E. Salas (Captain)		J.W. Davis	S. Hall	W.B. Grace	E. Thompson
A. Maggs	Sugar	H. Henderson	S. Lawrie	W. Bostock	P. Simpson

New South Wales made their first appearance in the Interstate Pioneers Deaf Cricket Games when they visited Melbourne and played a two day match on Wesley College ground, December 26th & 27th 1895. The Victorians won this game outright and New South Wales were represented by:

New South Wales
L. Miller (Captain)		W. Molloy	J. Poolcock	F. Booth	Cameron
G. Wilbow	Northcote	Doran	Woods	Woorhouse	J. Tyrell

From then on, single interstate Games were the vogue until 1903. Perhaps by this time the strenuous and exhausting effort of travelling by these hardy old-timers and considering the primitive means of transport in those days together with the possible financial strain in playing an interstate game on average of once every 18 months which left its mark on the early Deaf cricketers, for we find an interval of eight years before they had sufficiently recovered to commence the seventh interstate match in 1911 and a further lapse of six years to the next game. The first triangular interstate game was played on the Albert Park Cricket Ground, Melbourne from 24th to 29th December 1917. Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia were the contesting teams. The match was won by the Victorian side. The Final Pioneers game was played on the Onley Oval, Adelaide, South Australia, December 1922. New South Wales won outright by nine wickets against South Australia.

The E. J. D. Abraham Shield

S.Phillip (N.S.W) was elected Hon Secretary and drafting of the conditions, etc, for the Shield Competition was left in the hands of the New South Wales representatives for approval or revision. Mt Abraham was thanked sincerely for his kindness in donating the Shield and Medals for the competition.
The first meeting of Interstate representatives for the Interstate Cricket matches was held in the Adelaide Deaf Mission, Wright Street, Adelaide, on the 28th December 1922. Chairman was A. C. W. Cox, Superintendent of SA Deaf and Dumb Mission.
State representatives were Messrs F. J. Martin, W. Abott, and A. Rankine (SA), Messrs S. Phillips, Landsdown and Mollov (NSW) and Messrs W. A. Patterson, F. Reed and J. M. Johnston (VIC).
It was at this meeting on the motion of S. Phillips (NSW), seconded by J. M. Johnston (VIC) that the E. J. D. Abraham Shield was accepted for competitive cricket amongst the interstate Deaf Clubs.
It was further decided that the first match for the Abraham Shield take place in Melbourne during the Christmas holiday period 1923-1924 and the shield to be a perpetual trophy.
The Shield competition was to be under the control of the newly formed Australian Deaf Cricket Association of which J. M. Johnston (VIC) was elected its first Honorary General Secretary and Treasurer.
This were the preparation completed and we owe our thanks to those energetic young men who gave their time and their talent to the formation of the Abraham Shield Competition in which many of us (by then) have participated or have enjoyed watching.
No doubt, as you read these lines many happy memories will come back to you.
The first Abraham Shield Games were held in Melbourne, 1923 and from then on regular intervals of approximately two years until 1954; from this time there was a lapse of ten years.
Sydney saw the revival of the games during the Christmas period of 1964.
The last game of the E. J. D. Abraham Shield was played in Canberra in 1996-97 which were won by NSW.

The Webby's Cup

The Webby's Cup competition was formed after the closure of the E. J. D. Abraham Shield with a whole new set of rules where each team participates in a 50 over game. The preceeding Shield games were played by one team batting first and they could bat all day for no result, unless the bowlers were able to get them all out and try to force a result, all within a day.
The Webby's Cup was named in honor of Mr. John Webb who has worked tirelessly for many years under the auspices of Australian Deaf Cricket Association and now called Deaf Cricket Australia Inc. He was DCA's first Life Member and has contributed enormously towards Deaf cricket.
The inaugural Webby's Cup competition took place in Perth in 2001 and was won by NSW, defeating QLD in the final. Nowadays the Webby's Cup competition coincides with the Australian Deaf Games which are held once every 4 years, with the exception of a stand-alone tournament held in Adelaide in 2006-07 won by NSW.