Cricket has been played in the State of Victoria for well over 150 years, in fact Cricket matches were being played in this part of Australia even before Victoria became Victoria (that is before Seperation from New South Wales in 1850.)
1838 Formation of the Melbourne Cricket Club (the largest sporting club in Australia) 1838 Melbourne play their first game against The Military. Other early matches are played at a ground located where Spencer Street Train Station's inter-state platform now stands 1839 'Gentlemen of the (Port Phillip) District' play 'Tradesmen of the (Melbourne) Town' 1841 Formation of the Geelong Cricket Club 1842 Formation of the Brighton Cricket Club 1851 Melbourne Cricket Club play Gentlemen of Van Diemen's Land (Victoria vs Tasmania) in Launceston - Australian's inaugural First-class match 1851 Tom Antill becomes the first Victorian to take 10 wickets in a match in the above game 1852 Formation of the Williamstown Cricket Club 1852 First First-class game is played in Victoria on the south bank of the Yarra against Tasmania - Victoria win 1853 Former Oxford and Cambridge University men play a challenge match in Ballarat. The 'Dark Blues' beating the 'Light Blues' by 2 runs 1853 Melbourne Cricket Club move to the present site in Yarra Park; then known as Richmond Paddock 1854 Formation of the Bendigo and Richmond Cricket Clubs 1856 Melbourne Cricket Club play Sydney Cricket Club (Victoria vs New South Wales) on the Melbourne Cricket Ground for the first time 1857 The St.Kilda Cricket Club apply (unsuccessfully) to Queen Victoria for royal patronage and the right to use the tittle 'The Royal Cricket Club of Victoria' 1858 Scotch College play Geelong Grammer in the first recognised school match 1858 Gideon Elliott takes 9 wickets for 2 runs with his new round-arm deliveries against Tasmania in Launceston 1861 Richmond Cricket Club become the first champion club of Melbourne 1861 The owners of Cafe de Paris; Spiers and Ponds organise for the first English team to tour the colonies. The team is captained by Heathfield Stephenson after Charles Dickens has to pull out 1862 Victoria play England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) for the first time 1865 The tradition of cricket at the MCG on 'Boxing Day' commences with a Victoria - New South Wales fixture 1865 Tom Wills makes the first First-Class half century in Australia 1867 Dick Wardill makes the first First-Class century in Australia on Boxing Day 1869 Richmond dismiss South Melbourne for 12 1876 Melbourne Grammer plays Sydney Grammer for the first time 1886 Non-Smokers score 803 runs in a innings against Smokers at the old East Melbourne ground to establish a world's record 1893 Victoria wins the inaugural Sheffield Shield to become the first Australian champions 1895 Foundation of the Victorian Cricket Association 1898 University score 1094 against Essendon 1903 Warwick Armstrong scores 438 for Melbourne against University 1906 Victorian Cricket Association (VCA) commences the District cricket competition 1908 Sub-district competition commences 1912 Victorian Jimmy Matthews takes hat trick (3 wickets in 3 balls) in each innings of the Australia - South Africa Test Match at Old Trafford (England) 1921 One hundreth Victoria - New South Wales match 1921 Bills Woodfull and Ponsford make their state debuts 1923 Bill Ponsford scores 429 against Tasmania (world's record) & Victoria's innings ends at 1059 (also a world's record) 1924 Don Blackie makes his debut for Victoria at the age of 42 1925 Victoria wins the Sheffield Shield for the 10th time 1926 Victoria scores 1107 runs against New South Wales at the MCG (current world's record) - see scoreboard above 1926 During the above match Bill Ponsford scores 300 runs in a day 1927 Bill Ponsford scores 437 against Queensland (world's record) 1927 Bill Ponsford scores 1000 runs in December becoming the first and still the only batsman to achieve this feat 1929 L.J. Junor represents Victoria at the age of 15 years 256 days 1934 Woodfull and Ponsford both retire after notching up 23 century partnerships in first-class cricket 1935 Leslie Fleetwood-Smith finishes the season with 60 Sheffield Shield wickets (record) 1936 Bert Ironmonger represents Victoria for the last time at the age of 53 years 305 days 1946 Sam Loxton scores 232 not out against Queensland on debut 1952 The Victoria vs Tasmania game is abandoned halfway through due to the death of King George VI 1956 Victoria and New South Wales play the only ever tie in the Sheffield Shield at the Junction Oval (St.Kilda) 1966 Victorian Bob Cowper makes the only triple century in a Test Match at the MCG 1967 Victoria wins the Sheffield Shield for the 20th time 1972 The VCA inaugurates the Jack Ryder Medal for the District Cricketer of the season 1983 Graham Yallop finishes the season with 1254 Sheffield Shield runs (record) 1986 Melbourne Cricket Ground's Western stand is named in honour of Bill Ponsford 1986 Ray Bright becomes the first to represent Victoria 100 times 1991 Victoria win the Sheffield Shield for the 25th time 1993 Victorian Shane Warne establishes a world's record for a spin bowler by taking 72 Test wickets for the year at 23.56 runs a piece 1994 Victorian Damien Fleming takes a hat trick on his Test debut - against Pakistain 1996 Victorian Cricket Association celebrates it's Centenary 1997 Northcote's Grant Gardiner becomes the first to score over 1000 runs in a VCA season 1998 Victoria most prolific batsmen Dean Jones retires after 124 games 1999 Darren Berry becomes the leading wicket taker amongst wicket keepers in the Sheffield Shield competition. 1999 Former Pakistain Test Player Abdul Qadir wins the Ryder medal after taking 72 wickets at 15.4 runs a piece. 2000 Melbourne's Warren Ayres establishes a VCA season run scoring record with 1166 runs.
*Old MCG Scoreboard showing current world's record score made against New South Wales in December 1926
