Frank Meares

Who is Frank Meares?

Frank Devenish Meares, also Frank Devenish-Meares, was an Australian sportsman who played both cricket and Australian rules football at high levels. Born in Surry Hills, an inner-city suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Meares was the son of William Meares, who had previously played two first-class matches for Otago. He emigrated to Western Australia sometime in the late 1890s, and took up playing with East Fremantle in the WACA district cricket competition, leading the club's batting averages during the 1897–98 season. When the club was reformed the following season under the electorate system, Meares was made one of the club's inaugural delegates to the Western Australian Cricket Association. He was consistently regarded as one of the club's best batsmen, and in one match during the 1898–99 season scored 110 runs from a team total of 170 runs, an innings which led The Inquirer & Commercial News to describe him as the "most artistic batsman in the colony".

Meares' form led to his selection for Western Australia to play against the touring South Australia in April 1899.