A Faltering Start
Like the the Great Sir Donald Bradman, who made 18 and 1 in his Test debut before scoring his maiden century in his second Test, the Blackburn Cricket Club also endured a faltering start before commencing the pursuit of its first "ton".
The Blackburn Cricket Club existed in 1888, and may have been formed earlier. The first record of the Club appears in the Box Hill Reporter on 19th September 1889, describing a practice match played on 7 September with two sides captained by Thomas Richards Burrowes Morton (also President ) and Mr G A Goodwin. The wicket was described as matting over concrete. Following the game, a social function was held in the Blackburn Recreation Hall (where Blackburn Library now stands).
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In 1890-91, Blackburn was one of seven local clubs to play for the Reporter Trophy with matches played over two days, and each team meeting twice over 14 rounds with no finals. The season was to run from 11 October to 18 April. Blackburn visited Doncaster for the first game and won by an innings - 107 to 20 and 36. Doncaster hosted a dinner for the visiting Blackburn team at the Doncaster Hotel.
Blackburn finished the 1890-91 season Runners-Up to Box Hill to whom the Club suffered its only loss.
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Blackburn competed for the Eastern District Trophy from 1892 to 1898. Whilst the club was formed during the 1880's land boom, it went into recess in the late 1890's probably as a result of the Depression, which had caused building to cease, the brickworks to close and hundreds of locals to become unemployed. This seems a plausible explanation for the clubs recess, that in such a harsh socio-economic climate, survival rather than sporting pursuits became paramount for many in the community.
