The first team to carry the name of ' Durham County ' played an MCC team in 1876 and went on to take on the touring Australians in 1878, winning by 71 runs, and again in 1880, losing by an innings and 38, with the great Fred Spofforth taking 17 wickets for 66.

Harris assembled a strong team, which included the three Grace brothers and Australia, who had not faced strong opposition and were without star bowler Fred Spofforth, went down by five wickets in front of 45, 000 spectators.

It was the second match of the first-ever Test series, against an English team led by James Lillywhite, Jr. Spofforth took three wickets in the first innings and another in the second, but England went on to win the match by four wickets.

The Australians were greatly demoralised by the manner of their second-innings collapse, but fast bowler Fred Spofforth, spurred on by some gamesmanship by his opponents, refused to give in.

A statue of the fast bowler Fred Spofforth was unveiled a year after the first statue on 5 January 2009.

Blind Jack of Knaresborough died in his 93rd year on 26 April 1810, in his home in Spofforth.

In his debut Test on the 1878 – 79 Australian tour he lost his wicket in both innings to Spofforth and this was to be repeated in his next Test in 1882.

The first time they seemed fairly amused, but when he was regularly breaking partnerships, their enthusiasm knew no bounds, and it is said that in Melbourne after he had obtained Bradman's wicket for the third time, Yardley blushed profusely when one excited team-mate slapped him on the back and shouted " Well, bowled, Spofforth ".

They put on 125 for the first wicket before Spofforth bowled Lucas for 51 and Hornby soon after for 67.

Spofforth, Australia's leading bowler, commented on the incident in an 1891 cricket magazine interview, but put a different slant on the cause.

Spofforth truly announced himself to the cricketing world on 27 May 1878, when the touring Australians met the MCC at Lord's.

During the January Test match of the 1879 Lord Harris ' England tour of Australia, played on the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Spofforth became the first man to get a hat-trick in Test cricket, dismissing Vernon Royle, Francis MacKinnon and Tom Emmett in three successive deliveries.

In February, Spofforth also played for New South Wales against Lord Harris ' tourists in a game that, on the Saturday, descended into the Sydney Riot of 1879.

Spofforth died on the eve of the 1926 Ashes series ( some of which he had wanted to see ) from chronic colitis at Long Ditton, Surrey.

A sculpture of Spofforth by Cathy Weiszmann was unveiled at the Sydney Cricket Ground on 5 January 2008.

* MCG article on Spofforth

Harry Boyle finished on 6 for 42 and Fred Spofforth on 4 for 42, with England dismissed at around 3. 10 p. m. for only 95.

He played a number of matches for the Manly cricket club, taking part in challenge matches which on occasion included famous cricketers of the day such as Fred Spofforth and Billy Murdoch.

He was baptized on 21 July 1712 at Spofforth, near Harrogate in Yorkshire, the son of ' John Hebdin ' of Plompton.

Fred Spofforth, however, soon walloped the hero three excruciating blows — one in the ribs, another on the knee and one more on the elbow.

He toured Australia with Lord Harris in 1878-79, and played his only Test on this tour, making 0 and 5 in his two innings, bowled by Fred Spofforth twice.

Australian bowler Fred Spofforth decimated the English batting after a shocking start by the Australians and the result was a nailbiting finish in which Australia won by seven runs – still one of the closest finishes in Test cricket history.

As both Gregory and Spofforth were playing for the hosts, bookmakers were offering attractive odds against an English win, and New South Wales were heavily backed, having won the previous match with an even weaker side.

* Reginald Spofforth ( 1769 – 1826 ), English composer

After Australia's " demon bowler " Fred Spofforth had taken a hat-trick which helped reduce the English team to 26 for 7, Absolom came in and made 52.

The Australians took a measure of revenge and won easily by 10 wickets, with Spofforth taking 12 wickets and making the top score.

Australia wins the most famous match in history by 7 runs with F R Spofforth, the original " Demon Bowler ", taking 7 – 46 and 7 – 44.

The Australians won by seven runs, Spofforth taking match figures of fourteen for ninety.

Thanks to Spofforth who took 14 wickets in the match, Australia won by 7 runs and the legend of The Ashes was born immediately afterwards.

* Most wickets – Fred Spofforth 207 @ 12. 82 ( BB 8 – 62 )

* Most wickets – Fred Spofforth 18 @ 15. 22 ( BB 5 – 43 )

New South Wales paceman Fred Spofforth — nicknamed " The Demon " because of his ferocious pace — took 13 wickets in the match, including the first ever Test hat-trick.

New South Wales won by five wickets, despite the absence of Spofforth — who withdrew from the home side after spraining his wrist the night before the start of the match — and Gregory, who had been dropped for missing a training session and failing to provide an explanation for his absence.

Frederick Robert " Fred " Spofforth ( 9 September 1853 – 4 June 1926 ), also known as " The Demon Bowler ", was arguably the Australian cricket team's finest pace bowler of the nineteenth century and was the first bowler to take 50 Test wickets, and the first to take a test hat-trick in 1879.

Spofforth came to notice as a member of the New South Wales eighteen in January 1874 when he took two wickets for sixteen in a match against W. G.

The colonists won by nine wickets, with Spofforth picking up ten for twenty after first clean-bowling Grace for a duck.

In 1896, Spofforth, playing for MCC, although in his forty-third year, took eight wickets for 74 against Yorkshire.

The match, which was won by Australia by 10 wickets, was notable for the first Test match hat-trick, achieved by Fred Spofforth of Australia.

He took 36 wickets that season, finishing with an average of 6. 77 runs per wicket ; the best in the club, beating his teammate and Australian Test bowler Fred Spofforth.

Bowling with Spofforth, in the first innings Trumble took seven wickets for 52 runs.

Both he and Shaw took eight wickets in the inaugural Test, but as Australia batted first Shaw took his first, but Kendall overtook this in the Second Test and his 14 Test wickets remained a ( retrospective ) record until passed by Fred Spofforth.

The match, which was won by Australia by 10 wickets, was notable for the first Test match hat-trick, achieved by Fred Spofforth of Australia.