{{short description|Australian cricketer}} {{for|the English football player|Ted McDonald (footballer)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2018}} {{Use Australian English|date=August 2011}} {{infobox person | name = Ted McDonald | image = Ted McDonald c1921.jpg | birth_name = Edgar Arthur McDonald | birth_date = {{birth date|1891|1|6|df=yes}} | birth_place = Launceston, Tasmania, Australia | death_date = {{death date and age|1937|7|22|1891|1|6|df=yes}} | death_place = Blackrod, Lancashire, England |module= {{Infobox cricketer | embed=yes | country = Australia | nickname = | heightft = | heightinch = | heightm = | batting = Right-handed | bowling = Right-arm fast | role = Bowler | family = | international = yes | testdebutdate = 14 January | testdebutyear = 1921 | testdebutagainst = England | testcap = 114 | lasttestdate = 29 November | lasttestyear = 1921 | lasttestagainst = South Africa | club3 = Lancashire | year3 = 1924–1931 | club2 = Victoria | year2 = 1911/12–1921/22 | club1 = Tasmania | year1 = 1909/10–1910/11 | columns = 2 | column1 = Test | matches1 = 11 | runs1 = 116 | bat avg1 = 16.57 | 100s/50s1 = 0/0 | top score1 = 36 | deliveries1 = 2,885 | wickets1 = 43 | bowl avg1 = 33.27 | fivefor1 = 2 | tenfor1 = 0 | best bowling1 = 5/32 | catches/stumpings1 = 3/– | column2 = First-class | matches2 = 281 | runs2 = 2,661 | bat avg2 = 10.43 | 100s/50s2 = 1/2 | top score2 = 100* | deliveries2 = 58,504 | wickets2 = 1,395 | bowl avg2 = 20.76 | fivefor2 = 119 | tenfor2 = 31 | best bowling2 = 8/41 | catches/stumpings2 = 97/– | date = 1 February | year = 2009 | source = https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/0/388/388.html CricketArchive }} |module2= {{Infobox AFL biography | embed=yes | image = | position = Defender | statsend = 1920 | years1 = 1912 | club1 = {{AFL Ess}} | games_goals1 = {{0}}2 (0) | years2 = 1913–19 | club2 = {{AFL Fit}} | games_goals2 = 46 (2) | years3= 1919–20 | club3 = Essendon A (VFA) | games_goals3 = 25 (2) | careerhighlights = }} }}
'''Edgar Arthur '''"'''Ted'''"''' McDonald''' (6 January 1891 – 22 July 1937) was a cricketer who played for Tasmania, Victoria, Lancashire and Australia, as well as being an Australian rules footballer who played with Launceston Football Club, Essendon Football Club, and Fitzroy Football Club before totally concentrating on cricket. Despite a short international career, he was considered by many cricketers as well as commentators to be one of the best fast bowlers of his generation.
==Cricket career== A very fast bowler with the ability to cause problems even on docile pitches, Ted McDonald was the unexpected bowling sensation of the 1921 Australian tour to England. He and Jack Gregory caused something approaching panic among the England batsmen: John Evans' knees were allegedly knocking together when he went out to bat, and Andy Ducat was bowled when part of his bat, broken by McDonald's pace, hit the wicket. Where Gregory was able to swing the ball both ways, McDonald imparted vicious movement off the wicket. Like later fast bowling pairs, they were devastating in combination, taking 46 wickets in the series.
McDonald played a few matches for Victoria before the First World War, but came to prominence immediately after it with eight wickets in an innings in a state match. He was picked for three Test matches in the 1920–21 series against England, which Australia won 5–0, but had little success, his six wickets costing 65 runs each. In England the following summer, though, he was an instant success, taking eight wickets in the first Test at Trent Bridge and contributing significantly to the victories at Lord's and Headingley that won the series.
McDonald was named as a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1922 for his exploits of the previous summer.
After the England tour, McDonald played in three Tests against South Africa in the 1921–22 series in South Africa. Those, however, were his last Tests – all of his Test cricket was contained within the calendar year of 1921<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/29889780/who-holds-record-most-runs-tests-being-dismissed? |title=Who holds the record for most runs in Tests without being dismissed? |work=ESPN Cricinfo |accessdate=15 September 2020}}</ref> – as he then took up an engagement as a professional with the Lancashire League club Nelson.
By 1924, McDonald had qualified to play for Lancashire, initially, because of his League commitments, in midweek games only. Again, he was a sensation. In his first full season, 1925, he took 205 wickets, and in the five seasons from 1926 to 1930, Lancashire won the County Championship four times, the most successful period in the county's history. In all, he took 1053 wickets for Lancashire. His value to the county was recognised in the award of a benefit in 1929, an unusually fast reward, for he had been playing county cricket for only five seasons.
McDonald's first-class career ended fairly suddenly. His form dipped in 1930, though he still took more than 100 wickets, but in 1931, he lost form almost entirely, taking just 26 wickets all season and being left out of the county team for half the matches. At the end of the season, he went back to the Lancashire League with Bacup.
==Australian rules football== McDonald also played Australian rules football for Launceston,<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article50381258 |title=CITY v. LAUNCESTON. |newspaper=The Examiner |location=Launceston, Tasmania |date=23 August 1909 |accessdate=13 August 2011 |page=3|edition=DAILY|via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> and for Essendon Football Club (two matches in 1912) and Fitzroy Football Club (46 matches from 1913 to 1919).
==Death== McDonald died at the age of 46, when his car collided with another near Bolton, England, on the morning of 22 July 1937.<ref>[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article180837017 Great Bowler Passes: Tragic End of Ted McDonald, ''The Sporting Globe'', (Wednesday, 28 July 1937), p.12.]</ref><ref>[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article184559843 E.A. McDonald Dead: Australian Cricketer in Motor Accident: "Awe-Inspiring Bowler", ''The (Brisbane) Telegraph'', (Friday. 23 July 1937), p.7.]</ref><ref>[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article184559843 Shaw, E.A., "One of the Greatest Fast Bowlers the Game Has Known", ''The (Brisbane) Telegraph'', (Friday. 23 July 1937), p.7.]</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==Further reading== * Maplestone, M., ''Flying Higher: History of the Essendon Football Club 1872–1996'', Essendon Football Club, (Melbourne), 1996. {{ISBN|0-9591740-2-8}} * Peter Pierce, "McDonald, Edgar Arthur (Ted) (1891–1937)", pp.pp 249–250 in ''Australian Dictionary of Biography, Vol.10'', Melbourne University Press, (Melbourne), 1986.
==External links== *{{Commons category-inline|Ted McDonald}} *{{AFL Tables|ref=T/Ted_McDonald.html}} *{{cricinfo|id=6555}} *[https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/mcdonald-edgar-arthur-ted-7336 Peter Pierce, "McDonald, Edgar Arthur (Ted) (1891–1937)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, Online Edition]
{{s-start}} {{s-sports}} {{succession box| before = George Geary | title = Nelson Cricket Club<br>Professional | after = Jimmy Blanckenberg | years = 1922–1924}} {{s-end}} {{1916 Fitzroy premiership players}} {{Australian first-class cricket season leading wicket-takers (1900–01 to 1949–50)}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:McDonald, Ted}} Category:1891 births Category:1937 deaths Category:Australia Test cricketers Category:Australian cricketers Category:Australian rules footballers from Tasmania Category:Australian Rules footballers: place kick exponents Category:Cricketers from Launceston, Tasmania Category:Essendon Football Club players Category:Fitzroy Football Club players Category:Fitzroy Football Club premiership players Category:Lancashire cricketers Category:Australian expatriate cricketers in England Category:North v South cricketers Category:VFL/AFL premiership players Category:People from Blackrod Category:Cricketers from Greater Manchester Category:Sportspeople from the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton Category:Players cricketers Category:Road incident deaths in England Category:Sir L. Parkinson's XI cricketers Category:Tasmania cricketers Category:Victoria cricketers Category:Wisden Cricketers of the Year Category:20th-century Australian sportsmen