Joe Darling. (image plate from The Empire's Cricketers. London: Fine Art Society)

, 1905

Joseph Darling (1870–1946), cricketer, landowner and politician, took up cricket in earnest while at school in Adelaide and was fifteen when he set a new record for the highest innings (252) scored in South Australia. At sixteen, he was selected to bat for his home state and also played in the team that won the 1886 South Australian Football Association premiership. Having helped South Australia to victory in a match against the touring England side, he made his Test debut in Sydney in December 1894. A nuggetty, left-handed, middle-order batsman, Darling was selected for the England tours in 1896, 1899, 1902 and 1905, captaining the victorious 1899 and 1902 sides as well as those of 1901–02 and 1905. In all, he played in 34 Test matches, 31 against England and three against South Africa, ending his international career with a total of 1,657 runs, three centuries, eight half-centuries and a Test batting average of 28.56. After retiring from professional cricket, he relocated his large family to a sheep station in Tasmania, where he raised prize-winning flocks and was active in various rural organisations. He was named a CBE in 1938 and was the Member for Cambridge in the Tasmanian Legislative Council for many years. He died in Hobart in January 1946, survived by his wife of 52 years and twelve of their fifteen children.