Carkeek William “Barlow” Image 3 Victoria 1912

Description

Walhalla, Victoria born wicket-keeper William “Barlow” Carkeek, mainly known as “Barlow” but generally otherwise known as “Bill”, earned the nickname “Barlow” among the Australian cricketing community because his batting style was reminiscent of Dick Barlow, the notoriously defensive opening batsman for England and Lancashire.

Principally played as a wicketkeeper, Carkeek was also a stolid, defensive left-hand batsman. He played for Victoria for 10 years from 1903 to 1914, and was rated as steady rather than spectacular.

He toured England in 1909 as the understudy wicket-keeper to Sammy Carter and returned in 1912 as first choice on the tour that was blighted by the dispute between Australia’s leading Test players and the Australian Board of Control and the consequent unavailability of many players, including Carter. It was on this tour that he played his six Test matches for Australia, three each against England and South Africa in the Triangular Tournament. He scored only 16 Test runs and took just six catches.

In his first class career he played 95 matches, dismissing 160 batsmen, 114 caught and 46 stumped. With the bat he averaged 12.17, scoring two half centuries with a highest score of 68.

Carkeek also played 26 top class Australian Rules football games, kicking 8 goals for Essendon in the Victorian Football League (VFL) from 1903–1905. He also played for Richmond in the Victorian Football Association (VFA) before and after his stint with Essendon. He left Essendon after the fourth home-and-away match of the 1905 VFL season; he returned to Richmond, and played in the 1905 VFA Grand Final Team, Richmond winning the Final.