England cricket team in North America in 1859
Encyclopedia
The English cricket team in North America in 1859 was the first ever overseas cricket
tour.
in 1837 and 1838. He had emigrated to Canada
in 1852 and played for Canada against the United States
the following year. He originally opened discussions for a possible tour in 1856 but financial problems meant that it was three years before the money could be raised. The English team required a guarantee of £750, which Pickering obtained through the Montreal Club.
The English team comprised six members of the All-England Eleven
and six of the United All-England Eleven
.
With George Parr as captain, the twelve players were effectively the cream of professional talent in the 1859 English cricket season
that had just ended:
. Three exhibition games were also played in which the 12 England players divided and added five North Americans to each team to make up eleven-a-side matches. Including travelling time, the trip lasted two months and each English player (all professionals) cleared about £90, a sizeable sum at the time.
The team's opponents were:
In addition to the exhibition matches they also had two excursions to view the Niagara Falls
.
The English side was of course exceedingly strong and would probably have beaten any XXII in England. There were excellent crowds for the first three matches but the weather in mid-October turned very cold and reduced the attendances at the last two. It was reported that the fielders wore gloves and overcoats in the last match.
, who travelled as scorer, entitled The English Cricketers' Trip to Canada and the United States and published in 1860. A reprint of the book was published in 1980 with an introduction by Robin Marlar, including biographies of all of the players.
For the general growth of cricket in the United States, it was most unfortunate that this pioneering tour occurred only 18 months before the American Civil War
began. If the war had not broken out, it is highly likely that two or three follow-up tours might have been arranged in the early 1860s, thus building on the interest created by the initial trip. As it was, the enthusiasm for cricket faded in the war years and the troops on both sides adopted the embryonic game of baseball
. When English teams resumed tours to America in 1868, not only did they have to try to rekindle the enthusiasm, but in baseball they had a serious rival to contend with.
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
tour.
Organisation
The idea for the tour came from WP Pickering (1819-1905), who had been captain of cricket at Eton CollegeEton College
Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....
in 1837 and 1838. He had emigrated to Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
in 1852 and played for Canada against the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
the following year. He originally opened discussions for a possible tour in 1856 but financial problems meant that it was three years before the money could be raised. The English team required a guarantee of £750, which Pickering obtained through the Montreal Club.
Team
All-England Eleven
In cricket, the term All-England has been used for various non-international teams that have been formed for short-term purposes since the 1739 English cricket season and it indicates that the "Rest of England" is playing against, say, MCC or an individual county team...
and six of the United All-England Eleven
United All-England Eleven
The United All-England Eleven was an English cricket team formed in 1852 by players breaking away from William Clarke's All-England Eleven . Key UEE players included John Wisden and Jemmy Dean, who became joint secretaries of the team....
.
With George Parr as captain, the twelve players were effectively the cream of professional talent in the 1859 English cricket season
1859 English cricket season
The 1859 English cricket season saw one of the sport's most remarkable all-round performances by V E Walker.-First-class matches:* -Events:* 1 March. Formation of the present Kent CCC.* 21, 22 & 23 July...
that had just ended:
- George ParrGeorge Parr (cricketer)George Parr was an English cricketer, whose first-class career lasted from 1844 to 1870....
(captain) - James Grundy
- John JacksonJohn Jackson (cricketer)John "Foghorn" Jackson was a Nottinghamshire and All-England Eleven cricketer who was generally reckoned to be the outstanding fast bowler of the 1850s.Born in Bungay in Suffolk, Jackson was affectionately known as "Foghorn"...
(all of Nottinghamshire); - Robert CarpenterRobert Carpenter (cricketer)Robert Pearson Carpenter was a noted English cricketer and umpire.A right-handed batsman and occasional wicket-keeper, he played for Cambridgeshire during its brief period as a first-class county in the 1850s and 1860s, as well as for the United All-England Eleven...
- Alfred DiverAlfred DiverAlfred John Day Diver was an English cricketer whose career spanned the 1843 season to the 1866 season...
- Thomas HaywardThomas Hayward (cricketer)Thomas Hayward was a Cambridgeshire and All-England Eleven cricketer who was generally reckoned to be one of the outstanding batsmen of the 1850s and 1860s. In the early 1860s, he and Robert Carpenter, his Cambridgeshire colleague, were rated as the two finest batsmen in England...
(all of Cambridgeshire); - Julius CaesarJulius Caesar (cricketer)Julius Caesar was a Surrey cricketer who played 194 first-class cricket matches between 1849 and 1867.-Childhood:...
- William CaffynWilliam CaffynWilliam "Billy" Caffyn was a famous English cricketer who played for Surrey CCC and the All-England Eleven.-Surrey and All-England:...
- Tom LockyerTom LockyerThomas "Tom" Lockyer was a famous English cricketer during the game's roundarm era. He was one of the outstanding wicket-keepers of the 19th century.Lockyer was a right-handed batsman...
- HH StephensonHH StephensonHeathfield Harman "HH" Stephenson was a famous English cricketer during the game's roundarm era....
(all of Surrey); - John LillywhiteJohn LillywhiteJohn Lillywhite was an English cricketer during the game's roundarm era....
- John WisdenJohn WisdenJohn Wisden was an English cricketer who played 190 first-class cricket matches for three English county cricket teams, Kent, Middlesex and Sussex...
(both of Sussex)
Matches
Five matches were played, all against XXIIs, so none had first-class statusFirst-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...
. Three exhibition games were also played in which the 12 England players divided and added five North Americans to each team to make up eleven-a-side matches. Including travelling time, the trip lasted two months and each English player (all professionals) cleared about £90, a sizeable sum at the time.
The team's opponents were:
- 22 of Lower Canada by 8 wickets at MontrealMontrealMontreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, QuebecQuebecQuebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
on 26-27 September - 22 of the United States by an innings and 64 runs at HobokenHoboken, New JerseyHoboken is a city in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population was 50,005. The city is part of the New York metropolitan area and contains Hoboken Terminal, a major transportation hub for the region...
, New JerseyNew JerseyNew Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
on 3-5 October - 22 of the United States by 7 wickets at Philadelphia on 10-12 October
- 22 of Lower Canada by 10 wickets at HamiltonHamilton, OntarioHamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Conceived by George Hamilton when he purchased the Durand farm shortly after the War of 1812, Hamilton has become the centre of a densely populated and industrialized region at the west end of Lake Ontario known as the Golden Horseshoe...
, OntarioOntarioOntario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
on 17-19 October - 22 of the United States by an innings and 68 runs at RochesterRochester, New YorkRochester is a city in Monroe County, New York, south of Lake Ontario in the United States. Known as The World's Image Centre, it was also once known as The Flour City, and more recently as The Flower City...
, New York on 21-25 October.
In addition to the exhibition matches they also had two excursions to view the Niagara Falls
Niagara Falls
The Niagara Falls, located on the Niagara River draining Lake Erie into Lake Ontario, is the collective name for the Horseshoe Falls and the adjacent American Falls along with the comparatively small Bridal Veil Falls, which combined form the highest flow rate of any waterfalls in the world and has...
.
The English side was of course exceedingly strong and would probably have beaten any XXII in England. There were excellent crowds for the first three matches but the weather in mid-October turned very cold and reduced the attendances at the last two. It was reported that the fielders wore gloves and overcoats in the last match.
Aftermath
A product of the tour was a book by Fred LillywhiteFred Lillywhite
Frederick Lillywhite was a sports outfitter and cricketing entrepreneur, who organised the first overseas cricket tour by an English team and published a number of reference works about cricket.-Cricketing dynasty:...
, who travelled as scorer, entitled The English Cricketers' Trip to Canada and the United States and published in 1860. A reprint of the book was published in 1980 with an introduction by Robin Marlar, including biographies of all of the players.
For the general growth of cricket in the United States, it was most unfortunate that this pioneering tour occurred only 18 months before the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
began. If the war had not broken out, it is highly likely that two or three follow-up tours might have been arranged in the early 1860s, thus building on the interest created by the initial trip. As it was, the enthusiasm for cricket faded in the war years and the troops on both sides adopted the embryonic game of baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
. When English teams resumed tours to America in 1868, not only did they have to try to rekindle the enthusiasm, but in baseball they had a serious rival to contend with.
External sources
Further reading
- H S AlthamHarry AlthamHarry Surtees Altham, CBE, DSO, MC was an English cricketer who became an important figure in the game as an administrator, historian and coach. His Wisden obituary described him as "among the best known personalities in the world of cricket"...
, A History of Cricket, Volume 1 (to 1914), George Allen & Unwin, 1926 - Derek BirleyDerek BirleySir Derek Birley was an English educator and writer who had a strong interest in sport, especially cricket.He was educated at grammar school in Hemsworth, West Yorkshire, and at Queens' College, Cambridge University....
, A Social History of English Cricket, Aurum, 1999 - Rowland BowenRowland BowenMajor Rowland Francis Bowen was a cricket researcher, historian and writer....
, Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development, Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1970 - Arthur HaygarthArthur HaygarthArthur Haygarth was a noted amateur cricketer who became one of cricket's most significant historians....
, Scores & Biographies, Volumes 3-9 (1841-1866), Lillywhite, 1862-1867 - Fred. LillywhiteFred LillywhiteFrederick Lillywhite was a sports outfitter and cricketing entrepreneur, who organised the first overseas cricket tour by an English team and published a number of reference works about cricket.-Cricketing dynasty:...
, The English Cricketer's Trip to Canada and the United States in 1859. With introduction by Robin MarlarRobin MarlarRobin Geoffrey Marlar is an English cricketer and cricket journalist. He was educated at Harrow and Cambridge....
, World Books 1980 - John MajorJohn MajorSir John Major, is a British Conservative politician, who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990–1997...
, More Than A Game, HarperCollins, 2007