Cricket - the Philadelphia story . . . the Australians of 1893

The Australians had first played Philadelphia in a first-class cricket match as far back as 1878. That game ended in an exciting, if controversial draw. They had faced a fast bowler in that match, Charley Newhall, whom W G Grace described in his book Cricketing Reminiscences as, "one of the best trundlers I had ever faced".

Fifteen years later the Australians were back to play Philadelphia in two more first-class encounters. Charley Newhall had hung up his boots seven years earlier but the Philadelphians had unearthed another fast bowler of extraordinary ability, John Barton King.

King was only nineteen and had picked up a cricket ball for the first time just four years previously. He was to make his first-class cricket debut against a top class Australian test eleven led by Jack Blackham. What followed was simply sensational and would result in the Australian captain saying at the end of the contests; "you have better players here than we were led to believe. They class with England's best."

Philadelphia had burst on to the international cricket stage and were not going to leave anytime soon.