Ainslie Caterer
cricketer (1858-1924)
Thomas Ainslie Caterer (16 May 1858 – 25 August 1924) was a leading South Australian cricketer, Australian rules footballer, cricket administrator and educator of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Born in Woodville, South Australia to Thomas Caterer, a pioneer Adelaide teacher, mayor of Kensington and Norwood and President of Norwood Football Club, and Marina (née Mudie), Caterer attended Norwood Grammar, the school founded by his father, and the then newly opened University of Adelaide. In 1879, Caterer became the first graduate of the university, with a Bachelor of Arts. Friends and well-wishers attempted to attend the graduation ceremony but were banned from doing so.
Sporting career
Caterer made his senior footballing debut in 1870 with South Australian Football Association (SAFA) club Kensington, where he also served as honorary secretary in 1870. He served as SAFA chairman for two years from 1880 and then as a committeeman and was awarded life membership in 1886. Late in his footballing career Caterer debuted for Norwood Football Club, playing two games for them in 1884.
A left arm fast-medium bowler, Caterer began playing for Kensington Cricket Club and later for Adelaide Cricket Club, and played his first important, non-first-class cricket match for South Australia against a combined "Australians" side at the Adelaide Oval from 6 November 1880, scoring ten and seven and taking 1/8 (one wicket for eight runs) and 1/15. He was not picked for the inaugural inter-colonial match between South Australia and Victoria played a week later, instead playing for a South Australian second eleven against a Suburban Association XI.
Caterer continued to bowl well in Adelaide district cricket over the following seasons and was chosen in the South Australian side to play the Australians in Adelaide starting 14 March 1884, taking 4/60, including bowling Australian captain Billy Murdoch first ball.
In the 1884/85 season, Caterer was chosen in a South Australian side to play the touring English team led by Alfred Shaw, taking match figures of 7/109 and impressing the South Australian selectors enough to name him in the South Australian team to play against Victoria at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).
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