Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Murdoch, William Lloyd
MURDOCH, WILLIAM LLOYD (1855–1911), Australian cricketer, born at Sandhurst, Victoria, Australia, on 18 Oct. 1955, fourteen days after his father's death, was son of Gilbert William Lloyd Murdoch, at one time an officer in the American army, by his wife Edith Susan Hogg.
Educated at Dr. Bromley's school in Ballarat, he removed in youth to New South Wales. Having been articled at Sydney to G. Davis, a solicitor, he practised at Cootamundra. Showing early aptitude for cricket, he was a member of the Albert cricket club at Sydney, and at the age of twenty be began to play for New South Wales, and from 1875 to 1884, in eleven inter-colonial matches, he had the fine average of 47 runs for 20 innings. The score by which his name is chiefly remembered was that of 321 (out of a total of 775) made for New South Wales v. Victoria at Sydney in Feb. 1882. He also scored 279 not out for the Fourth Australian team v. Rest of Australia at Melbourne in 1883. In the oolonies he was known as the 'W. G. Grace of Australia,' and was the earliest of a long series of great Australian batsmen. Originally his fame was partly due, however, to his merits as a wicket-keeper. He claimed to be the first to dispense with the longstop, a course which Blackham, the best of all wicket-keepers, subsequently popularised in Australia and England. But he soon gave up wicketkeeping to his colleague Blackham, and thenceforth generally fielded at point.
Murdoch first came to England as a member of the first Australian eleven (captained by D. W. Gregory) which visited England in 1878. He owed his selection to his capacity as a wicket-keeper. During this tour he learned much in the art of batting, and became one of the leading batsmen of the world. He captained the Australian teams which visited England in 1880, 1882, 1884, and 1890, heading the Australian batting averages on each of these tours. At Kennington Oval in Sept. 1880, in the match in which Australia met for the first time the full strength of England, Murdoch showed his calibre by carrying his bat in an uphill game through the second innings for 153 (Dr. W. G. Grace scored 152 for England in the first innings). The teams of 1882 and 1884 were the strongest ever sent to England, and as a batsman Murdoch was at that period surpassed only by Dr. Grace. His outstanding innings of 1882 was that of 286 not out v. Sussex at Brighton, a score which was until 1899 unbeaten by an Australian in England. In the match v. England at the Oval in Aug. 1884 he scored 211 out of a total of 551, still the highest score made by an Australian in England in a representative match. He also scored 132 v. Cambridge University in June of that year. After an absence from the game for six years he returned to England in 1890 as captain of a weak Australian team, which met with little success. He also visited America in 1878, and went with W. W. Read's team to South Africa in 1891–2.
Settling in England in 1891, he qualified for Sussex, and captained that county between 1893 and 1899. For Sussex his best scores during this period were 172 v. Hampshire at Southampton (1894), 144 v. Somersetshire at Brighton (1896), 130 v. Gloucestershire at Bristol (1897), and 121 not out v. Notts at Nottingham (1898); but with increasing years and weight his batting deteriorated. He subsequently played (1901-4) for the London County Cricket Club founded by Dr. W. G. Grace at the Crystal Palace, Sydenham, making many good scores against first-class 'counties. His last memorable score was 140 at the Oval in 1904, when he played as substitute for the Gentlemen v. Players. Of fine physique, Murdoch was an orthodox and consistent batsman, playing with a straight bat and a perfect defence; a master of the off drive and the cut, he was quick to jump out to slow bowling and hit hard and clean. As a batsman he was excelled by Dr. W. G. Grace only on hard true pitches, and by few in defence on soft treacherous wickets. As a captain he was a master of tactics, full of pluck and resource, and showed great nerve in uphill games.
Murdoch, who visited Australia on business in 1910, died of apoplexy at Melbourne cricket ground on 18 Feb. 1911, while a spectator of the test match there between South Africa and Australia. His remains were embalmed and brought to England, and were interred at Kensal Green. He married in 1884, at Melbourne, Jemima, daughter of John Boyd Watson, a wealthy goldminer of Bendigo, and had issue two sons and three daughters.
Murdoch published in 1893 a little handbook on cricket. There is a small steel engraving portrait of Murdoch on the title-page of vol. 42 of 'Baily's Magazine' (1884).
[The Times, 20 Feb. 1911; Mennell's Dict. of Australasian Biog. 1892; W. G. Grace, Cricketing Reminiscences, 1899; Wisden's Cricketers' Almanack, 1912; private information.]