page_title: Van Diemen's Land v Port Phillip, 1851
section_title: Match proceedings
hierarchical_section_title: Van Diemen's Land v Port Phillip, 1851 / Match proceedings
caption_attribution_description: English: An illustration of w:Thomas Ferrier Hamilton, a member of the Colony of Victoria's Legislative Council.
context_page_description: On 11 and 12 February 1851, teams from Van Diemen's Land and Port Phillip District played the first cricket match between two Australian colonies, recognised in later years as the initial first-class cricket match in Australia. It took place at the Launceston Racecourse, known now as the NTCA Ground, in Tasmania. The match was incorporated into celebrations marking the separation of the Port Phillip District from New South Wales in 1851 as the colony of Victoria.
  The team representing Port Phillip, generally named "Victoria" in the press, was drawn from the Melbourne Cricket Club. The Van Diemen's Land team, designated "Tasmania" in newspapers, consisted of players from both Launceston and Hobart. The visiting team was expected to have an advantage through the use of fast overarm bowling. Cricket in Victoria was also considerably more advanced than in Tasmania, whose bowlers operated underarm. The match, intended to be played to a finish with no limits on time, took place on a pitch that made batting difficult. As was usual practice at the time, overs comprised four deliveries and there was no set boundary.
context_section_description: The match began on 11 February 1851 and was scheduled to be played to a finish irrespective of time. It was well attended, and booths were set up to accommodate spectators. According to Ray Webster in his analysis of all Australian first-class matches, spectators were not charged for admission; the attendance was approximately 1,000 on the first day and 1,500 on the second. In common with all cricket games at the time, each over consisted of four deliveries. Similarly, there were no boundaries to the pitch, so runs could be scored only by running between wickets, and not by hitting a boundary. Although the colonies were officially called Van Diemen's Land and Port Phillip at this point, press reports generally referred to the teams as "Tasmania" and "Victoria". The match was closely followed in Melbourne.
  John Marshall captained the Tasmanian team, and William Philpott captained the Victorian team. The toss was won by Marshall, who sent in Victoria to bat. The match started at 11 am.
caption: Port Phillip's Thomas Ferrier Hamilton (seen here in 1873), the highest scorer of the match
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