When the pride of England came to Unley

This month marks 110 years since Unley Oval hosted a match between South Australia and Lord Hawke's representative team from England. A local resident has produced a large print of the game to hang at the Unley Council Chambers. Former Sturt, SA and Australian cricketer Wayne Phillips with Mayor Lachlan Clyne and the print. Picture: Keryn Stevens Source: adelaidenow

PARKSIDE'S Scott Rickards has completed a year-long labour of love to celebrate the day South Australia's cricketers took on the pride of England at Unley Oval 110 years ago.

The keen historian, of Parkside, has created a 3m-wide panoramic photo of the 1903 clash between SA and Lord Hawke's touring English team.

Mr Rickards heard photos of the historic match were at Unley Museum and decided to produce a huge print as a gift to the people of Unley.

"It's definitely been a labour of love but I have a bit of an obsession for restoring old photographs and documents," Mr Rickards said.

"I couldn't think of anything better than photographs of that game."

The original panorama was a series of five regular-sized photos stuck together.

Mr Rickards re-photographed each image and paid photo laboratory Atkins Technicolour to stitch the frames together and to remove spots and scratches.

He then worked with his wife Niina, a graphic designer, to digitally enlarge the pictures.

Lord Hawke's touring side, representing the famous Marylebone Cricket Club, had been scheduled to play at Adelaide Oval.

But it was double-booked, so Sturt Cricket Club arranged to host the game, played between March 27 and 31, at Unley.

Led by Australian Test player Clem Hill, SA won the match by 97 runs in front of a total crowd of 6000.

The match featured England's Bernard Bosanquet, considered the inventor of the "googly" or "wrong-un" - sometimes also called a "Bosie".

Sturt's Harry Hay was named man of the match for taking 9/67 in the second innings - he was a late inclusion after originally being named 12th man.

Mr Rickards had a mid-sized image produced for Sturt Football Club which now hangs at BarZaar on Unley Rd.

He was struck by the amount of detail on the original photos.

"I realised there were people on horseback watching the game and some of the faces are clearly visible," he said.

Mr Rickards encouraged people to inspect the print, hanging in Unley Civic Centre, to see if they could identify any of the spectators.

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