On June 13, 1868, Dick-a-Dick was carried from the Lord’s pitch into the dressing rooms on the shoulders of a throng of spectators who had adopted him as their new hero. He had scored a grand total of eight runs – which was admittedly better than his tour average of 5.26 – and had not taken a single wicket or catch. Not many cricketers have managed to provoke such a reaction from the usually placid Lord’s crowd, let alone one who evidently wasn’t actually very good at cricket. But then not many people have lived a life so full of incident for such an event to seem like just another day.

Though records are sketchy of births and deaths in the Australian Aboriginal communities of the 19th century, it is believed that Dick-a-Dick was born at some point between 1845 and 1850 in Victoria. What is certain is that in August 1864 he played a central role in an incident which was to become part of Australian and indeed British folklore. On Friday August 14, 1864 three young siblings – Isaac (9), Jane (7) and Frank Duff (3) – went missing in the harsh terrain of The Wimmera, a region in western Victoria. Search parties proved unable to locate the children, not helped by torrential rain which had seemingly removed any evidence of where the Duffs might have gone. As a last resort, their father enlisted the help of three Aboriginal trackers, one of whom was Dick-a-Dick.

But there is more. Although Ashley Mallett is convinced of the veracity of the above account, Mulvaney and Harcourt claim that he was spotted at a race meeting on Mt Elgin station in 1884 and lived until the mid-1890s, perhaps under the moniker of Euston Billy. Given that Dick-a-Dick’s story contains enough material for several lifetimes, I would not even be able to rule out both accounts being true.

The Aboriginal XI’s anniversary tour fixtures are below

Aboriginal XI Men
5th June – Aboriginal XI def Marylebone CC by 21 runs @ Arundel Castle
5th June – Aboriginal XI def Marylebone CC by 6 wickets @ Arundel Castle
7th June – Aboriginal XI def Surrey by 5 runs @ The Kia Oval
8th June – Aboriginal XI v Sussex @ The First Central County Ground
10th June – Aboriginal XI v Derbyshire @ 3aaa County Ground
12th June – Aboriginal XI v Nottinghamshire @ Trent Bridge

Aboriginal XI Women
7th June – Aboriginal XI lost to Surrey by 36 runs @ The Kia Oval
8th June – Aboriginal XI v Sussex @ The First Central County Ground
10th June – Aboriginal XI v National Cricket Conference @ 3aaa County Ground
12th June – Aboriginal XI v ECB Academy @ Trent Bridge