Benjamin Wardill (15 October 1842 – 15 October 1917), often referred to as Major Wardill, was an Australian

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by st ...

er and cricket administrator. Wardill played two

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officia ...

matches: one for

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

in 1866, and one 20 years later for the Australians in England in 1886. His brother

Richard Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'stro ...

also played cricket for Victoria. Born in England, Wardill migrated to Melbourne in 1861 and worked for several years with his brother Richard at the office of the Victoria Sugar Co. He joined the garrison artillery soon after his arrival, and rose to the rank of major in the Harbor Trust Garrison Battery in 1885. Wardill was secretary of

Melbourne Cricket Club The Melbourne Cricket Club (MCC) is a sports club based in Melbourne, Australia. It was founded in 1838 and is one of the oldest sports clubs in Australia. The MCC is responsible for management and development of the Melbourne Cricket Ground ...

from 1876 to 1911. In his time the membership of the club increased from 572 to 5353. A biographer said that "Wardill was largely successful in his aim to make the Melbourne Cricket Club the Australian counterpart of the famous

Marylebone Cricket Club Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London. The club was formerly the governing body of cricket retaining considerable global influenc ...

in England". His salary was raised to 700 pounds per annum in 1907, having been 600 pounds per annum for the previous 16 years. In his role as Melbourne Cricket Club secretary, Wardill organised and managed Australia's tours to England in

1886 Events January–March * January 1 – Upper Burma is formally annexed to British Burma, following its conquest in the Third Anglo-Burmese War of November 1885. * January 5– 9 – Robert Louis Stevenson's novella ''Strange ...

1899 Events January 1899 * January 1 ** Spanish rule ends in Cuba, concluding 400 years of the Spanish Empire in the Americas. ** Queens and Staten Island become administratively part of New York City. * January 2 – **Bolivia sets up a ...

and

1902 Events January * January 1 ** The Nurses Registration Act 1901 comes into effect in New Zealand, making it the first country in the world to require state registration of nurses. On January 10, Ellen Dougherty becomes the world's ...

. Wardill died of heart disease in 1917. He married once, to Elizabeth King, and had one daughter who died in infancy.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wardill, Benjamin 1842 births 1917 deaths Australian cricketers Victoria cricketers Cricketers from Liverpool Australian cricket administrators Melbourne Cricket Club cricketers English emigrants to colonial Australia

See also

References