1. Thomas Patrick Horan was an Australian cricketer who played for Victoria and Australia, and later became an esteemed cricket journalist under the pen name "Felix".
16 Facts About Tom Horan
1. 2.
The first of only two players born in Ireland to play Test cricket for Australia, Tom Horan was the leading batsman in the colony of Victoria during the pioneering years of international cricket.
3.
Tom Horan played for Australia in the game against England subsequently designated as the first Test match, before touring England with the first representative Australian team, in 1878.
4.
An aggressive middle-order batsman renowned for his leg-side play, Tom Horan supplemented his batting by bowling medium-pace in the roundarm style common to his era, and once captured six wickets in a Test match innings.
5.
Tom Horan's form peaked between the ages of 26 and 29 when he scored seven of his eight first-class centuries, including a score of 124 in a Test match on his home ground at Melbourne in January 1882.
6.
In 1879, Tom Horan began writing a weekly newspaper column that continued until his death 37 years later.
7.
Tom Horan established himself as the first Australian cricket writer who had played the game at the highest level, thus paving the way for many players to enter the media.
8.
At age 23, Tom Horan was selected to play in the first Test between Australia and England in March 1877.
9.
Tom Horan passed George Ulyett, the England No: 4, who was 2 years 138 days older than Tom Horan.
10.
When Jack Blackham, the Australia No: 8 Batsman, came out to bat Tom Horan dropped to 2nd youngest as Jack Blackham was 64 days younger.
11.
Tom Horan toured England twice, in 1878 and 1882, but played only one Test in that country, at the Oval in 1882.
12.
Tom Horan scored a duck in the first innings and made 20 in the second before being bowled by William Attewell, and bowled three wicketless overs for five runs as England took an innings victory.
13.
Tom Horan turned his attention to journalism, writing a regular cricket column for The Australasian, a weekly published by Melbourne's Argus newspaper.
14.
Tom Horan continued contributing to The Australasian until his death in 1916.
15.
In May 1879, Tom Horan married Kate Pennefather, the daughter of a Melbourne police officer.
16.
Two of Tom Horan's sons played first-class cricket for Victoria in the early 1900s.