a financial disaster, as the Melbourne Club were financing their own rival touring team. Shrewsbury's side's first match at Melbourne became farcical: against a Victoria side containing only four first-team players the tourists won by an innings and 456 runs. Shrewsbury scored 232, becoming the first Englishman to score a double century in Australia. The two touring teams combined for a Test Match against Australia at Sydney. Shrewsbury top scored with 44 in a low-scoring match which England won. In the final fixture of their tour Shrewsbury scored another double century to finish with 721 runs at 65.54, 500 more than anyone else. To try to recoup some of his losses Shrewsbury stayed in Australia after the cricket tour, and managed an English rugby football team. For this reason he missed the 1888 English cricket season. The football tour in fact added to the losses, ending in an £800 deficit to add to the £2400 lost on the cricket leg of the tour. 1888 Australian rules football and Rugby tour of Australasia Shrewsbury organised and played on a little known and unique tour in which a British team played a series of matches in Australian rules football, in Victoria and South Australia and Rugby matches in Australia's northern states and New Zealand. This tour is noteworthy as it was the only tour in the history of Australian rules football, apart from New Zealand's early participation in the sport's interstate competition, where an international team toured Australia. It was also of note because on the tour a number of people involved on the British side commented that they liked the Australian game more than Rugby. Shrewsbury also participated in organising a return tour by an Australian team to Britain, in which the Australian rules side of the tour was cancelled at the last moment. At the time in England and Scotland there was interest in Australian rules football and games were played, and it has been suggested that had the Australian rule side of tour gone ahead then Australian rules football could possibly have spread around the world like a number of other sports from the British Empire. Best batsman in England Shrewsbury scored a century against Sussex in his first match back in England, but this was his highest score of the 1889 season. He finished with 522 runs at 37.28. Shrewsbury was chosen as a Wisden Cricketer of the