Although there is a degree of uncertainty about the story, Australian cricketer 'Dick-a-Dick' may have been the best-known sports personality to play on what later became St James' Park.

Aidan Hamilton's The Story of Exeter City's St James' Park relates how St James' Cricket Club started playing on what was then the Parish Field - or Mr Bradford's Field - in April 1875. Within a couple of months 'the locals' took on a Clowns' XI in a novelty match with the visitors fielding a mixture of professional cricketers, acrobats and talking clowns. Amongst their number was a relatively well-known Australian cricketer often referred to as 'Dick-a-Dick'.

More properly known as Yanggendyinanyuk, although other names have also been suggested, he was a member of the first Australian cricket team to visit England in 1868 which consisted entirely of players of aboriginal heritage. An all-round sportsman, cricket wasn't his strongest field of endeavour but he emerged as one of the leading lights of the tour both on and off the field. Yet there are conflicting tales of what happened to him on his return to Australia, some of which cast doubt over whether he was the same individual who visited Exeter in 1875. Indeed some reports indicate he died as early as 1870 albeit with the general consensus that he lived until 1886. It is also difficult to be certain about his age.

There is also a suggestion that he spent much of 1875 in a 'lunatic asylum' in Victoria suffering a 'great depression of mind', refusing to speak and showing suicidal tendancies. Although this may not totally discount him from playing cricket on the Parish Field around that time it raises the question of whether the name 'Dick-a-Dick' was applied to other aboriginal and non-white cricketers,