Arthur Richardson

Arthur John Richardson, a noted Australian Test cricketer of the twenties, died in his native Adelaide on December 23, aged 85. A tall, dark lean figure who wore glasses, Richardson was an extremely competent opening batsman who also bowled off breaks at medium pace. He played in nine Tests for Australia, all against England, between 1924 and 1926, and he hit one century at Headingley in 1926.

He first made his presence felt against M.C.C. when A. C. MacLaren took a side of amateurs reinforced by two professional bowlers, A. P. Freeman and H. Tyldesley, to New Zealand. They played in Australia on the way there and back. In the first engagement Richardson scored 150 and in the return match he hit a hundred before lunch-a feat never before performed in Australia-and went on to make 280, still the highest individual score for any State side against M.C.C.

In the famous match at The Oval in 1926, when A. P. F. Chapman captained England for the first time and recaptured the Ashes, England were caught on a sticky wicket, yet Hobbs and Sutcliffe batted through the two and a half hours before lunch on the third day during the crucial one and a half hours from noon till lunch when the wicket was at its worst, Hobbs, dreading that H. L. Collins might put on Gregory, pretended to be in difficulties to encourage Collins to keep on Richardson, who was turning the ball towards his cluster of five short leg fieldsmen. Hobbs made 100 and Sutcliffe 161 and the timeless Test was finished in four days with England winning by 289 runs.

For South Australia, Arthur Richardson scored 3,755 runs, average 45.79 and his 117 wickets on those perfect pitches cost 39.41 runs each. Later he played a little for Western Australia besides appearing for Bacup in the Lancashire League. Arthur and Victor Richardson, who were unrelated, engaged in several big partnerships for South Australia.
Wisden Cricketers' Almanack