Joseph Darling CBE was an Australian cricketer who played 34 Test matches as a specialist batsman between 1894 and 1905. As captain, he led Australia in a total of 21 Tests, winning seven and losing four. In Test cricket, he scored 1657 runs at an average of 28.56 per innings, including three centuries. Darling toured England four times with the Australian team - in 1896, 1899, 1902 and 1905; the last three tours as captain. He was captain of the Australian cricket team in England in 1902, widely recognised as one of the best teams in Australian cricket history. He was a stocky, compact man and a strong driver of the ball, playing most of his cricket as an opening batsman.

Darling was born on 21 November 1870 in Glen Osmond, South Australia. He was educated at Prince Alfred College, where he took an interest in cricket. 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. His future Test teammate, Clem Hill, would later beat this record, scoring 360. Not long after, he was included in a combined South Australian/Victoria XV that played the Australian XI in 1886.

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. Later, Darling worked in a bank for a time and before his father appointed him manager of a wheat farm. Working on the farm added size and strength to an already stocky and athletic frame. He was selected for the South Australian team at age 19, but his father would not allow him time off the farm to play. After two years in the bush, Darling returned to Adelaide and cricket. He opened a sports store on Rundle Street, Adelaide and was soon selected to represent South Australia in inter-colonial cricket. He made his first-class cricket debut against New South Wales at the Adelaide Oval.

The First Test of 1894–95 against England, at the Sydney Cricket Ground, saw Darling make his Test debut. 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. He played in all five Tests in the series, scoring 258 runs at an average of 28.66 per innings. He was included in the Australian team to tour England in 1896, where he topped the scoring aggregates for the tour with 1555 runs at an average of 29.90, including three centuries. Andrew Stoddart brought another team to Australia to contest The Ashes in 1897/98. Australia won the series comfortably, four Tests to one.

In the Third Test in his home town of Adelaide, Darling scored 178 runs and Australia won the match by an innings and 13 runs. He reached his century by hitting Johnny Briggs over the eastern gate and into the nearby park. This is the only time in Ashes Tests where a player has reached 100 with a hit out of the ground. He later also hit the first six in a Test in England. Returning to Sydney for the Fifth and final Test, Darling scored 160 runs from 253 scored in total. He batted for 165 minutes, hitting 30 boundaries as Australia successfully chased 273 in the fourth innings. His first 100 came in 91 minutes; at the time, the fastest Test century scored. By the end of the season, Darling became the first player to score 500 runs in a series and the first player to score three centuries in a series.

Darling was chosen by his teammates as captain for the 1899 Australian team touring England. The team was one of the strongest seen in England to that time. The Australians lost only three of the 35 matches they played on the tour, winning 16 and another 16 finishing in draws. The only Test to reach a decisive result was the Second Test at Lord's, where Australia won by ten wickets due in part to centuries by Hill and Victor Trumper and a ten wicket haul by fast bowler Ernie Jones. 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. Over the tour, he scored 1941 runs at an average of 41.29, topping both the averages and the aggregate for his team, and was named as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year.

Darling's deeds as a cricketer had reconciled his father to his sporting endeavours, but not to his sports store operation. In 1900, his father purchased "Stonehenge", a sheep station covering 10,000 acres 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 along a dirt track from the nearest town, tiny Oatlands. Darling stood out of first-class cricket for nearly two years.

It was not until December 1901 that Darling was convinced to return by the MCC to captain the Australians against the touring English for the first three Tests only. The English, captained by Archie MacLaren, won the First Test in Sydney convincingly by an innings and 124 runs. The Second Test in Melbourne was played on a rain-affected pitch. The Australian batsmen established a match-winning lead, eventually winning the Test by 229 runs. In the Third Test in Adelaide, Australia became the first team to score over 300 runs to win the fourth innings of a Test match. Hugh Trumble captained the final two Tests as Darling returned to his farm. Australia won both Tests and the series to retain The Ashes.

Darling agreed to once again lead the Australian cricket team in England in 1902. In what was a very cold and wet summer, the Australian team won a close fought series against the strong English team two Tests to one. Given the strength of the opposition, this Australian team is often referred to as one of the best Australian teams ever assembled. The team included players of the calibre of Victor Trumper, Clem Hill, Warrwick Armstrong, Trumble and Monty Noble; all of whom would be later included in the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame. The team lost only two matches during the tour. 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.

Before the Australian team to tour England in 1905 was selected, Darling returned to first-class cricket for South Australia. He won selection in the touring squad and was named as captain. A weaker Australian bowling attack saw Darling resort to defensive measures throughout the tour. These measures included directing Armstrong to bowl his leg breaks down the leg side, where Darling had placed up to seven fielders. These measures, unpopular with the English public, saw 19 matches on the tour finish in draws, three more than the 16 matches won by Australia. The 1905 tour was Darling's last Test cricket foray, as he claimed that continuing to tour was unfair to his wife. He retired from first-class cricket during the 1907/08 season. In his first-class career, Darling made 10635 runs, including 19 centuries at an average of 34.52.

JOE DARLING was a patient batsman and was known for his solid defence, but he was able to score quickly when required. In Sydney in 1897–98, he scored 160 in 165 minutes, including 30 boundaries to assist his team in defeating the English. He was the first man to score 500 runs in a Test series and was also the first to score three centuries in a series. His captaincy was disciplinarian in nature but his teammates respected his broad cricket knowledge. Even tempered with a strong personality, he was a stickler for fair play on the field. His teammates gave him the nickname "Paddy" due to a supposed resemblance to the Australian boxer, Frank "Paddy" Slavin.

Although his cricket career was interrupted several times due to his obligations as a farmer, he was a member of several bodies dedicated to agriculture in Tasmania, including the responsible authority for the Royal Hobart Show. He was a pioneer in activities such as rabbit eradication and pasture improvement. He entered politics in 1921, standing as an independent in the Tasmanian Legislative Council, where he was a forceful speaker. He retained his seat in the Tasmanian Parliament until his death following a gall bladder operation in 1946.