Joseph Darling CBE (21 November 1870 – 2 January 1946) was an Australian cricketer who played 34 Test matches as a specialist batsman between 1894 and 1905.

His cricket career was interrupted several times due to his obligations as a farmer, first growing wheat in South Australia, and later as a wool-grower in Tasmania.

At the age of 15, he scored a record 252 runs in the "inter-collegiate" match, the annual fixture against fierce rival St Peter's College.

[4] His father, disapproving of Darling's fondness for sport, sent him away from his cricket and Australian rules football teams to spend twelve months at Roseworthy Agricultural School.

He opened a sports store on Rundle Street, Adelaide and was soon selected to represent South Australia in inter-colonial cricket.

[5] The next season, against the touring England team captained by Andrew Stoddart, Darling made 115, his maiden first-class century.

In an innings where Australia make 586 runs, including centuries for George Giffen and Syd Gregory, Darling was dismissed for a golden duck, bowled first ball by Tom Richardson.

Wisden claimed, "Up to a certain point the responsibilities of captaincy seemed to tell against Darling, but during the last weeks of the tour he played marvellous cricket.

In 1900, his father purchased "Stonehenge", a sheep station covering 10,000 acres (4,000 ha) in central Tasmania and ordered Darling to run the property on pain of exclusion from his will.

Darling complied with his father's wishes and moved his family to the remote station, 34 kilometres (21 mi) along a dirt track from the nearest town, tiny Oatlands.

[21] It was not until December 1901 that Darling was convinced to return by the Melbourne Cricket Club to captain the Australians against the touring English for the first three Tests only.

Importantly, Australia had a 99-run lead and batsmen of the calibre of Hill, Trumper, Reggie Duff and Warwick Armstrong still to bat.

The next day, on a perfect pitch, the Australian batsmen established a match-winning lead, eventually winning the Test by 229 runs.

[32] The star for the Australians was Trumper who scored 2,570 runs, easily beating Darling's own record for a colonial batsman in an English season set in 1899.

His tremendous hitting power, however, was several times of the utmost value, and very likely in a season of hard wickets he would have had as good a record as ever.On the return trip to Australia, the touring team stopped to play three Tests against South Africa, the first between the two nations.

[1] Wisden said, "Leaving aside Duff's long score at the Oval, Darling was the finest batsman on the side in the Test games, playing superb cricket under very trying conditions.

[34] After losing six tosses against his English opposite number Stanley Jackson during the summer, Darling decided on a different approach before the Scarborough Festival match late in the tour.

[36] Following his retirement from big cricket, Darling returned to his Tasmanian sheep station, where he was involved in a range of agricultural activities.

Darling imported South Australian merino rams to improve his flock, and his wool topped the Hobart sales on several occasions.

In the 1930s, he won an exemption from land tax for small farmers, and toward the end of his parliamentary career, a Royal Commission was appointed to investigate charges Darling had made regarding maladministration.

[4] Darling was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1938 New Year Honours in recognition of his work as a member of the Legislative Assembly.

[38] Darling married Alice Minna Blanche Francis, a wheat farmer's daughter from Mundoora, South Australia in 1893.

[2] Darling had a stocky, compact build, standing 5 feet 8 inches (1.73 metres) and weighing 12 stone 12 pounds (82 kg).

During his first game for South Australia, he was challenged to a naked wrestle by the fast bowler and ex-miner Ernie Jones, an informal initiation into the team.

He always gives one the idea of being a great natural hitter, who has rigorously schooled himself to play the steady game.Darling holds the record for the most innings in a complete Test Match career (60), without being dismissed lbw.

Normally even-tempered, he did show displeasure at the heckling from the crowd at Lord's at his obstinate defensive effort in the face of an Australian batting collapse.

On a wet day during the 1899 tour, a delay in play saw some of the Australians accept an invitation to the Player's tobacco factory in Nottingham.

To ensure that the fast bowler would not drink to excess, he selected Jones as twelfth man in a match against an English county team.

Darling spoke to him privately and made it clear that without an apology to his teammates and a promise to curb his drinking, he would be on the next boat bound for Australia.

"[40] As a captain he was a reformer, suggesting rule changes that included making six runs the reward for clearing the boundary rather than the entire ground, and using of sawdust to fill holes in bowler's run-ups.