Ellis John Image 1 Victoria 1926

Malvern, Melbourne, Victoria born wicket-keeper John Ellis made his State debut for Victoria in 1918 and played in 48 Sheffield Shield matches, including that at Melbourne in 1926-27, against New South Wales, when Victoria piled up 1,107, still the world record. Ellis – run out for 63 – made the runs that took his side past the thousand and past the existing record of 1,059 – also by Victoria, four years previously. He was considered one of the safest wicket-keepers of his day and also one of the `characters’ of Australian cricket between the Wars.

In 1920-21 Ellis achieved six dismissals in an innings playing grade cricket for Prahran against St Kilda. A useful right-handed batsman, his highest score in first class cricket was 119 against South Australia, one of two centuries for Victoria, the other being 103 against Otago. He was deputy wicket-keeper to Bert Oldfield during theAustralians’ 1926 tour of England. Playing in only 13 matches, he took 21 catches and made 23 stumpings; however with Oldfield’s brilliance and consistency it was not his destiny to play for his country in a Test match.

At the age of 44 he was a member of the veteran Australian team which undertook a four-month tour of India in 1935-36 under Jack Ryder’s captaincy. In 101 first class matches between 1919 and 1930, Ellis made 294 dismissals, of which 107 were stumped, and scored 2,351 runs at an average of 21.18 with 8 half centuries in addition to his two hundreds.

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