James Phillips (1 September 1860, Pleasant Creek, now

Stawell, Victoria Stawell ( "stall"), is an Australian town in the Wimmera region of Victoria (Australia), Victoria west-north-west of the state capital, Melbourne. Located within the Shire of Northern Grampians Local government in Australia, local government are ...

– 21 April 1930 at

Burnaby Burnaby is a city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada. Located in the centre of the Burrard Peninsula, it neighbours the City of Vancouver to the west, the District of North Vancouver across the confluence of the Burrard In ...

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

) was a

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

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 of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...

er and Test match umpire.

Biography

Phillips did not play his first first-class match until 1885/86, and altogether played 124 matches for

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...

and

between 1885/86 and 1898/99 as a right-hand batsman and right-arm medium bowler. He scored 1827 runs at an average of 12.59 with a highest score of 110 not out, and took 355 wickets at an average of 20.00 with best figures of 8 for 69. Seven times he took 10 or more wickets in a match. He also took 50 catches. As a player and umpire he travelled between Australia and England, following the cricket seasons. Middlesex valued his contribution so highly that he was given a

benefit match A benefit is a match or season of activities granted by a sporting body to a loyal sportsman to boost their income before retirement. Often this is in the form of a match for which all the ticket proceeds are given to the player in question. Howeve ...

, Australia v. Middlesex, in 1899. He was also able to help Australian players, such as

Albert Trott Albert Edwin Trott (6 February 1873 – 30 July 1914) was a Test cricketer for both Australia and England. He was named as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1899. He is believed to be the only batsman to have struck a ball over the t ...

find jobs and play cricket in England. For a while he coached in

Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...

, New Zealand and played first-class cricket for

. Phillips umpired a total of 29

Test matches Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Indoor cricket, Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (associa ...

. His first match as an umpire was between

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

and

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

on 21 March 1885 to 25 March 1885, comfortably won by England by an innings and 98 runs. His colleague was George Hodges, standing in his only Test match. He umpired 13 Test matches in Australia, including all 5 in the 1894/95 and the 1897/98 series against England. He also umpired 11 matches in England against Australian touring sides, including all 3 in 1896, and 4 out of 5 in 1905. His last matches were the 5 played in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

against England in 1905/06. Thus he can claim to be the first genuinely "international" Test umpire. According to Jack Pollard, 'Dimboola Jim' Phillips was "a fearless umpire who was largely responsible for stamping out throwing around the turn of the

0th 0th or zeroth may refer to: Mathematics, science and technology * 0th or zeroth, an ordinal for the number 0 * 0th dimension, a topological space * 0th element, of a data structure in computer science * Zeroth law of thermodynamics, 0th law of The ...

century … establishing an international reputation for acumen and honesty." Amongst the bowlers called for throwing by Phillips were Australian Test players Ernie Jones and Tom McKibbin. Jones was first no-balled in a match between South Australia and the visiting English side in 1897/98. Phillips again no-balled him once in the 2nd Test of that series, Jones thus becoming the first bowler to be called for throwing in a Test match. The selectors omitted Jack Saunders from the 1905 team to tour England because it was feared that Phillips would no-ball him for throwing. ''

Wisden ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "Bible of cricket" (or variations thereof) has been applied to ''Wi ...

'' blamed English umpires for the problem, claiming that "Australian bowlers never threw in England until we had shown them over and over again that he Lawcould be broken with impunity." Phillips' actions, including the no-balling of the English amateur champion C. B. Fry, led to a meeting of County captains in 1900, which recommended that nine regular bowlers not be used in the following season. In the first Test match of 1897/98 Phillips gave

Charlie McLeod Charles Edward McLeod (24 October 1869 – 26 November 1918) was an Australian cricketer who played in 17 Test matches between 1894 and 1905. McLeod was a patient batsman and accurate bowler who represented Victoria in first-class cricket from ...

run out. McLeod was bowled by a no-ball but, because of his deafness, did not hear the call. He left the wicket, believing he was out, and a fieldsman pulled out a stump and appealed. Under present-day Laws McLeod would be given 'not out' as he had "left his wicket under a misapprehension that he asout". ( Dean Jones suffered a similar fate in the West Indies). When smoke from

bushfires A wildfire, forest fire, or a bushfire is an unplanned and uncontrolled fire in an area of Combustibility and flammability, combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identified as a ...

made visibility difficult at Melbourne in the 4th Test of the 1897/98 series, the English captain claimed that play should cease because of bad light. Umpire Phillips was unimpressed, saying that "if that light was bad, then cricket had better be given up entirely at

Bramall Lane Bramall Lane is a association football, football stadium in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which is the home of Sheffield United F.C., Sheffield United. The stadium was originally a cricket ground, built on a road named after the Bramall ...

Bradford Bradford is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in West Yorkshire, England. It became a municipal borough in 1847, received a city charter in 1897 and, since the Local Government Act 1972, 1974 reform, the city status in the United Kingdo ...

, and

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and is the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,197, it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after W ...

." An English player remarked that Australia was the only place where the country was set alight just to win a cricket match. On retirement, Phillips became a mining engineer and is reputed to have made a fortune in North America.

References

* Pollard, Jack, ''Australian Cricket: 1803–1893, The Formative Years''. Sydney, The Book Company, 1995. () * Pollard, Jack, ''Australian Cricket: 1893–1917, The Turbulent Years''. Sydney, The Book Company, 1995. () * Pollard, Jack, ''Australian Cricket: The game and the players''. Sydney, Hodder & Stoughton, 1982. ()

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Phillips, Jim 1860 births 1930 deaths Australian Test cricket umpires Australian cricketers Victoria cricketers Middlesex cricketers Australian expatriate cricketers in England Canterbury cricketers Cricketers from Victoria (state) Melbourne Cricket Club cricketers People from Stawell, Victoria Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Wembley Park cricketers People from the Colony of Victoria

Biography

See also

References

External links