Eady Charles Image 1 Tasmania 1895

Description

Hobart, Tasmania born all rounder Charles Eady played for Tasmanian clubs and representative sides in the era before Tasmania was accepted into the Sheffield Shield and other competitions.

A big man, standing six feet three inches tall, Eady was 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 Australia’s tour to England in 1896. But he failed to do himself justice, scoring just 12 runs in the Lord’s Test match in June 1896, though he picked up four fairly cheap wickets, recording his best Test performance of 4-69. He made one more Test appearance for Australia at Melbourne in March 1902, again with little success.

Eady’s chief claim to fame 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 not out from a total of 908. 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.

In 43 first class matches Eady scored 1,490 runs at an average of 22.92, with a highest score of 116 among 3 centuries and 6 half centuries. With his bowling, he took 136 wickets at an average of 23.13 a piece, with a best performance of 8-34 and 12 five wicket innings, also taking ten wickets or more on 5 occasions. He also took 45 catches in those matches.

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

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