Tibby Cotter Killed at Beersheba — Australia's Test Paceman, October 1917

Cotter played 21 Tests between 1903 and 1912, taking 89 wickets at 28.64 with a fastest delivery widely regarded as the quickest in the world during his peak years. He was one of the Big Six who refused to tour England in 1912.

Cotter enlisted in 1915 and was posted to the Middle Eastern theatre with the Light Horse. By October 1917 his unit was part of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force preparing the assault on Beersheba.

Cotter was a stocky, round-arm, genuinely fast bowler from Sydney who had been Australia's strike weapon from 1903 to 1912. After the Big Six dispute he never played another Test. When war broke out he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force, joining the 12th Light Horse Regiment. Posted to Palestine, he was a trooper at the Battle of Beersheba on 31 October 1917 — the famous mounted charge by the 4th and 12th Light Horse Regiments that took the Turkish defences. Accounts differ on exactly when Cotter fell. Most reliable narratives say he was shot near the wells of Beersheba in the late afternoon, after the charge had succeeded, while clearing Turkish positions. He was buried in the Beersheba War Cemetery. The news reached Australia weeks later and was reported in every major paper. Cotter joined Trumper, who had died of natural causes in 1915, in the lengthening list of Big Six players who would never play Test cricket again.

“He bowled as fast as anyone I ever saw.”

Cotter was buried at Beersheba. His name is on the Australian Test cricket roll of honour. The 1917 Wisden carried a brief obituary.