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Arthur Coningham (cricketer)

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Arthur Coningham
Personal information
Born(1863-07-14)14 July 1863
Emerald Hill, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Died13 June 1939(1939-06-13) (aged 76)
Gladesville, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Height6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
BattingLeft-handed
BowlingLeft-arm fast-medium
RoleAll-rounder
RelationsArthur Coningham (son)
International information
National side
Only Test (cap 69)29 December 1894 v England
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
1892/93–1898/99New South Wales
1893/94–1895/96Queensland
Career statistics
Competition Test First-class
Matches 1 35
Runs scored 13 896
Batting average 6.50 15.71
100s/50s 0/0 1/2
Top score 10 151
Balls bowled 186 5,871
Wickets 2 112
Bowling average 38.00 23.24
5 wickets in innings 0 7
10 wickets in match 0 0
Best bowling 2/17 6/38
Catches/stumpings 0/– 28/–
Source: ESPNcricinfo, 10 September 2022
Coningham pictured middle (front row) with the 1893 Australia national cricket team

Arthur Coningham (/koʊnɪŋhæm/ 14 July 1863 – 13 June 1939) was an Australian cricketer who played in one Ashes Test match at Melbourne in 1894 in which he took a wicket with his very first ball.[1] He took 2 for 17 in England's first innings but failed to add to that tally in the second.[2]

Biography

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Coningham was born in the Melbourne suburb of Emerald Hill in 1863. A left-handed batsman and left-arm fast-medium bowler, he played first-class cricket for New South Wales and Queensland in the 1890s. His highest first-class score was 151 for Queensland against New South Wales in 1895–96.[3] His best bowling figures were 6 for 38 for New South Wales against Victoria in the 1896–97 Sheffield Shield.[4]

A colourful character, Coningham was renowned as something of a joker. In an effort to stay warm while fielding in a tour match in 1893 at a frigid Blackpool he gathered straw and twigs and started a fire on the outfield. He revealed another side of his character on that same tour, winning an award for bravery after diving into the River Thames to save a boy from drowning.[5][6]

Coningham was a chemist by profession, but also at times worked as a hairdresser, tobacconist and bookmaker.[6] He found life difficult after he retired from the game, serving time in jail for fraud, and he died in an asylum.[7] Coningham was involved in a famous scandal in 1899 when he sued his wife for divorce on the basis of her adultery with a Catholic priest, Fr Denis O'Haran, personal secretary to Cardinal Moran.[8] The jury found against Coningham and the couple emigrated to New Zealand; in 1912, his wife divorced him for adultery.[8]

His son was the World War I air ace and World War II commander Air Marshal Sir Arthur Coningham. Coningham died in 1939 and was buried in the Rookwood Cemetery.[9][10]

References

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  1. ^ "Wicket with first ball in career in Tests". Cricinfo. Retrieved 17 February 2025.
  2. ^ "Australia vs England, 2nd Test at Melbourne, Dec 29 1894". Cricinfo. Retrieved 17 February 2025.
  3. ^ "New South Wales v Queensland, 1895/96". Cricinfo. Retrieved 17 February 2025.
  4. ^ "Victoria v New South Wales 1896/97". Cricinfo. Retrieved 17 February 2025.
  5. ^ Pobjie, Ben (September 2015). "The best-behaved cricketer". The Cricket Monthly. Retrieved 17 February 2025.
  6. ^ a b The Oxford Companion to Australian Cricket, Oxford, Melbourne, 1996, pp. 117–18.
  7. ^ Roebuck, Peter (2 September 2011). "New flingers and old selectors, take a bow". The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 3 September 2011.
  8. ^ a b Nairn, Bede (1981). "Arthur Coningham (1863–1939)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Vol. 8. Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISBN 978-0-522-84459-7. ISSN 1833-7538. OCLC 70677943. Archived from the original on 19 June 2007. Retrieved 14 May 2007.
  9. ^ "Family Notices". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 31, 655. New South Wales, Australia. 15 June 1939. p. 9. Retrieved 16 August 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  10. ^ "Obituaries in 1939". Wisden. 2 December 2005. Retrieved 23 April 2019.
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