Alfred Shaw Bowls the First Ball in Test Cricket — Melbourne, 15 March 1877

Shaw had been touring with Lillywhite's side since the previous September. He was the leading professional bowler of his generation in England and would later partner Arthur Shrewsbury in promoting two further tours of Australia.

Australia won the toss; Shaw was given the new ball with Allen Hill at the other end. Bannerman and Thompson walked out to open.

Shaw was 34, a professional from Burton Joyce in Nottinghamshire, and famous for his metronomic accuracy: in his career he would bowl more overs than he conceded runs in first-class cricket. He opened the bowling in Lillywhite's touring side because he was the closest thing the English had to an unmissable line-and-length practitioner. The honour of facing him fell to Bannerman, the senior Australian batsman. The over was four balls long, as was the laws standard until the 1889 reforms. Bannerman blocked the first three, then drove a single off the fourth. The first wicket — Nat Thompson, lbw to Allen Hill from the other end — fell shortly afterwards. Shaw's eventual figures in the match were 1/89 and 5/38, the second-innings analysis decisive in keeping England in the contest. He is one of cricket's quiet pioneers: in the same career he would also captain Nottinghamshire, manage tours, and run the cricket business that took several future English sides to Australia.

“Shaw bowled with a length and a precision that no other bowler of his time could match.”

Shaw played seven Tests for England between 1877 and 1881-82, taking 12 wickets. He captained the 1881-82 tour of Australia and remained influential as a tour promoter alongside Shrewsbury and Lillywhite well into the 1890s.