26 26. EAST MELBOURNE CRICKET CLUB: 1874-75 Member’s Season Ticket, red leather with gold embossing, the interior printed in blue with space for the member’s name in manuscript (W.J. Daly) and the signature of the Honorary Treasurer, J.G. Russell. Superb condition and extremely rare. The East Melbourne Cricket Ground was a grass oval located at the corner of Wellington Parade and Jolimont Parade, in East Melbourne. Now part of Yarra Park and being adjacent to the MCG, the site is most well known for playing host to many sporting events during Melbourne’s early years, consisting mainly of Cricket, Australian Rules Football and occasionally Association Football (soccer). It opened in 1860 and closed in 1921. East Melbourne Cricket Club was the most successful member of the Victorian Cricket Association during the 19th Century and early 20th Century, winning more than half of the VCA’s Premierships during that period. The club was formed in 1857 as the Abbotsford Cricket Club but they soon changed their name as part of a push to use the East Melbourne ground. The team mainly consisted of Scotch College old boys.������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� $1,500–2,000 27 29 27. THE ENGLISH ELEVEN, hand coloured full page lithograph from The Australasian Sketcher of 21st December 1878. Framed & glazed, overall 56 x 42cm. An English cricket team captained by Lord Harris toured Australia and New Zealand in 1878–79 in a private tour organised by the Melbourne Cricket Club. The team’s match against Australia in January 1879 was retrospectively given Test match status, making it the third Test ever and the third between Australia and England, though it was not part of The Ashes which began in 1882. Harris’ tour party arrived in Australia just two months after the touring Australians had returned from England. They were scheduled to play five tour matches, two each against New South Wales and Victoria and one against the combined Australians. Whilst in Sydney, the notorious Sydney Riot of 1879 occurred as a result of the tourists match against New South Wales. The English team, which is sometimes referred to as Lord Harris’ XI, also visited New Zealand where they played a single match in Christchurch. ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� $200–250 8