One of the two Australians highest on that honours board is George Eugene Palmer, known to all as ‘Joey’.
In the test of 1884 against England on the Lord’s Ground, Joey took six wickets for 111 runs.
It was a follow-up to his performance in two 1882 Tests in Sydney where he took five wickets for 46 runs and then four wickets for 44 runs.
These accomplishments saw him rocket to the top of the world bowling table ahead of the legendary ‘Demon Bowler’, fiery Freddy Spofforth.
Joey was just twenty-two in 1882. A good humoured man with a liking for practical jokes, Joey got his start, playing for Victoria, in its 1878 game against England.
There he took four wickets for 72. During his first season Joey improved. He took six wickets for 64 and then three wickets for 30, the latter off just 20 overs.
When Joey toured England in 1880 with the Australian team, he took 80 wickets at an average of 11 runs conceded per wicket.
Freddy Spofforth, whom he eclipsed in the 1882 test, was a ferocious pace bowler.
Joey was a right-handed medium-paced spin bowler who was so accurate that he was regarded as unplayable where pitches favoured bowlers.
His yorker was devastating. It captured the wicket of WG Grace who, in usual fashion, refused to admit that he was out.
Sadly, Joey’s reign atop the bowling table lasted just 12 matches and 933 days between 1882 and 1886.
In his short career, Joey amassed a reasonable 2798 runs and took more than 650 wickets at an average cost of just 12.7 runs.
He also played football very successfully for South Melbourne.
Joey was born in 1859 at Mulwala. Shortly afterward, his parents moved to Benalla but Joey was educated in South Melbourne.
In 1886, Joey visited his parents who now owned the hotel in Baddaginnie. While out shooting, he slipped on a small drain and fractured his kneecap.
After protracted rehabilitation, Joey resumed playing first class cricket for Melbourne but he never played in a Test again.
In 1888, he married Lucinda Blackham whose brother had been the Australian wicketkeeper on Joey’s tours of England.
In 1896, Joey took a job as coach for the Northern Tasmanian Cricket Association.
While there, his wife suddenly died so he returned to live with his mother in the family hotel in Baddaginnie.
In August 1910, Joey was struck down with influenza. A week later, pneumonia set in. A doctor was not summoned for another week.
When he arrived, Dr Henry ordered Joey’s removal to Nurse Warren’s private hospital in Smythe Street. It was too late.
Joey, or George Eugene Palmer, died on August 23, 1910, aged just 51.
He is buried in Benalla cemetery in the Palmer family plot.
In 1999, cricket enthusiasts, clubs and associations banded together to restore Joey’s grave.
– John Barry
