Victoria v New South Wales — The First Inter-Colonial Match at the MCG, March 1856

Inter-colonial cricket had begun in 1851 with the Van Diemen's Land v Port Phillip match in Launceston, but no fixture between the two big mainland colonies had yet been arranged. The new MCG, opened in 1854, gave Victoria a venue capable of holding the expected gold-rush crowds.

NSW's eleven was drawn principally from Sydney club cricketers; Victoria's from the Melbourne Cricket Club. Both sides were almost entirely amateur. The pitch had not been properly dressed and was widely reported as difficult.

By 1856 cricket was firmly established in both Sydney and Melbourne, and a match between representative sides of the two colonies was overdue. Negotiations between the Melbourne Cricket Club and the Albert Cricket Club of Sydney produced agreement on a fixture to be played at the new MCG (which had hosted its first match only eighteen months earlier) at the end of the southern season. NSW's eleven travelled south by sea. The match was played to single-wicket order on a rough pitch. NSW batted first and made 76; Victoria collapsed for 63 in reply. NSW added 60 in their second innings; Victoria, set 76 to win, were dismissed for a paltry total and lost by three wickets. The crowd of around 5,000 was substantial — Melbourne's population was swollen by gold-rush immigration — and the gate receipts more than covered the cost of the visiting team. Most accounts also note that the match opened with a dispute over the toss: Victoria won it but NSW insisted that, as the visiting team, they had the choice. Victoria eventually conceded and were sent in second.

“Before a crowd of 5,000 people, NSW recorded their first ever victory by three wickets.”

The fixture was repeated in subsequent years, with NSW dominating the early matches. The Vic-NSW rivalry would become the central axis of Australian first-class cricket; from 1892-93 the Sheffield Shield formalised the contest.