Barrett pictured 2nd right back row with the 1890 Australian team.
Barrett was educated at Wesley CollegeinMelbourne before going on to Melbourne University to study medicine.[1] His father was a doctor in South Melbourne, and his older brother was also a doctor.[2]
A careful batsman, reliable in a crisis, Jack Barrett played first-class cricket for Victoria from 1885 to 1893.[3] Despite having missed many of Victoria's matches owing to his medical studies, he was selected to tour England in 1890 with the Australian team.[4]
On his Test debut, in the first Test of the series at Lord's, Barrett became the first Australian batsman to carry his bat in Test cricket.[5] In the second innings he opened the innings and batted for 280 minutes and scored 67 not out of a team total of 176.[6] On the tour as a whole he was second in the Australian batting averages with 1305 runs at 22.89.[4] According to A. G. Moyes, he "did a splendid job, showing unlimited patience and splendid defence, though he lacked grace and charm in technique to relieve the monotony".[7] He made his highest first-class score of 97 (and 73 not out in the second innings) in the final match of the tour against an England XI at Manchester.[8]
Barrett undertook further medical studies in England after the cricket tour, earning an MRCS diploma in surgery.[10] He retired from cricket at the age of 26 to pursue his medical career.[1] At the time of his death in the goldfields town of Peak Hill, Western Australia, he had been practising there for some years.[10]
Atkinson, G. (1982) Everything you ever wanted to know about Australian rules football but couldn't be bothered asking, The Five Mile Press: Melbourne. ISBN0 86788 009 0.
