John Sheddon Swift was a Victorian

Victorian Bushrangers

The Victorian cricket team, nicknamed the Bushrangers, is an Australian cricket team based in Melbourne, that represents the state of Victoria. It is administered by Cricket Victoria and draws its players from Melbourne's Premier Cricket competition...

 First-class cricket

First-class cricket

First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...

er and Test match umpire.

He played three matches for Victoria as a right-hand batsman, scoring 65 runs at an average of 13.00 with a highest score of 28. He also kept wicket, taking two catches.

Swift umpired 8 Test matches

Test cricket

Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...

, and was the first Australian to regularly officiate. He made his debut in the match between Australia

Australian cricket team

The Australian cricket team is the national cricket team of Australia. It is the joint oldest team in Test cricket, having played in the first Test match in 1877...

 and England

English cricket team

The England and Wales cricket team is a cricket team which represents England and Wales. Until 1992 it also represented Scotland. Since 1 January 1997 it has been governed by the England and Wales Cricket Board , having been previously governed by Marylebone Cricket Club from 1903 until the end...

 in Melbourne

Melbourne

Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

 on 31 December 1881 to 4 January 1882, officiating with James Lillywhite

James Lillywhite

James Lillywhite was a first-class and Test cricketer and umpire. He was the first ever captain of the English cricket team in a Test match, captaining 2 Tests against Australia in 1876-77, losing the first, but winning the second.Lillywhite was born in Westhampnett in Sussex, the son of a...

. In 1882-83 he and Ted Elliott

Ted Elliott (umpire)

Edward Hudspith Elliott was a Victorian First-class cricketer and Test match umpire....

 stood in all four Test matches, the first time two umpires had officiated throughout an entire series. Moyes commented that "[a]pparently we had reached the time when some kind of qualification was required and some consistency in appointment was observed." This was the series that saw presentation of "The Ashes

The Ashes

The Ashes is a Test cricket series played between England and Australia. It is one of the most celebrated rivalries in international cricket and dates back to 1882. It is currently played biennially, alternately in the United Kingdom and Australia. Cricket being a summer sport, and the venues...

" urn to the English captain, Ivo Bligh

Ivo Bligh, 8th Earl of Darnley

Ivo Francis Walter Bligh, 8th Earl of Darnley DL, JP , styled The Honourable Ivo Bligh until 1900, was a British cricketer who captained the English team in the first ever Test series against Australia with the Ashes at stake in 1882/83...

. Swift's last match was between Australia and England in Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

on 25 February to 1 March 1887.