Henry Frederick Boyle (10 December 1847 – 21 November 1907) was a leading Australian cricketer of the 1870s and 1880s.
The Boyle family moved from Sydney to the Bendigo area in 1853. After a period of gold prospecting, Daniel Boyle (Harry's father) settled in Sydney Flat (now Woodvale) where he ran the Australian Store.
Harry Boyle learned his cricket from gold prospector and Bendigo Advertiser journalist, John Glen.
Boyle was one of the locals who helped create the Sydney Flat Cricket Ground circa 1862. In March 2023, the Woodvale Community Group named the ground, the Henry Frederick (Harry) Boyle Oval in recognition of his sporting achievements.
As a young man, Boyle played for the Sydney Flat Cricket Club (a club he helped form). His ability was soon recognised and he was asked to play for the Bendigo United Cricket Club first appearing for them in 1864. The BUCC was the "big" club in the area at that time.
Boyle's figures for the years he played with the BUCC are:
Batting - 105 innings 1923 runs 18.3 average
Bowling - 352 wickets 1855 runs 5.2 average
Boyle's form for the BUCC brought him to the attention of both the East Melbourne Cricket Club as well as Victoria. He first represented Victoria in March 1872 when he scored 27 runs but did not get to bowl. The following year in December 1873, he became the first Australian to bowl W G Grace playing for XV of Victoria against Grace's touring English XI.
From the cricket season of 1872, Boyle would travel to Melbourne each weekend to play with the East Melbourne Cricket Club. He moved to Melbourne permanently in 1874 and became captain of the EMCC in 1875 following the retirement of Dan Wilkie from first class cricket. Boyle's figures for first eleven matches he played with the EMCC:
Batting - 211 innings 4352 runs 23.5 average (Between 1872 and 1896)
Bowling - 15562 balls 5113 runs 619 wickets 8.161 average (Between 1872 and 1874)
Boyle represented Victoria 28 times and was also a selector.
Batting - 51 innings 614 runs 12.03 average
Bowling - 3700 balls 1213 runs 62 wickets 19.56 average
Boyle visited England with the Australian touring teams, of 1878, 1880, 1882, 1884, 1888 and in 1890 as manager. He was chosen as captain for the 1880 tour but a shipboard team meeting voted to replace him with the more outgoing Billy Murdoch before their arrival.
An outstanding medium-pacer, Boyle's greatest strengths were said to be the accuracy of his deliveries and his ability to probe a batsman's weaknesses. W G Grace wrote of Boyle in his 1899 Cricketing Reminiscences, 'Boyle had a rare head on his shoulders, but was often successful in getting batsmen out when other bowlers as good had tried and completely failed.'
His bowling was considered to be particularly effective under English conditions. His achievements with the ball were often overshadowed by the exploits of his teammate, "The Demon Bowler", Fred Spofforth. While this was the case, the Sydney newspaper the Referee noted, '. . . Boyle bowled more with his head than Spoff did. And it was a deal better head too.'