John Scholes

Who was John Scholes?

Walter John Scholes was an Australian first-class cricketer and coach. He also played 30 games of Australian rules football for North Melbourne Football Club between 1967 and 1971 scoring 35 goals as a rover before a knee injury cut short his football career.

Scholes was a successful junior cricketer, captaining the Victorian under-15s to victory in the Sydney carnival. He once scored 100 runs and took 10 wickets in a game, becoming the first ever Australian schoolboy to do so.

In the 1968–69 season he made his debut for Victoria, aged just 18. He was appointed Victoria's youngest ever captain at the time when 21 years of age, by the end of his 62 game career, the right-hander made 3201 runs at 30.78.

He continued to play Victorian district-level cricket and surpassed Jack Ryder's record of 338 matches as well as his tally of 12,667 runs.

Scholes became coach of Victoria and led them to victory in the 1998/99 Mercantile Mutual Cup. He was also a Victorian selector for a time.

Nicknamed affectionately as "Barrel" he was well respected by the Australian sporting community.

The player of the Victorian Cricket Association Premier final is now awarded the "John Scholes Medal".