George Brown (Sussex cricketer)
Encyclopedia
George Brown was an English professional cricket
er who played first-class cricket
from 1819 to 1838.
A right-handed batsman and fast underarm
bowler who played for Hampshire
and Sussex, he made 51 known appearances in first-class matches. He represented the Players in the Gentlemen v Players
series.
Brown was credited with 89 wickets in his career (i.e., bowled only) with a best return of six in one innings. He had a reputation for extreme pace and was widely known as "Brown of Brighton". He is said, though the story may be apocryphal, to have once killed a dog when a ball he had bowled went past the stumps and through a coat held by the longstop, hitting the dog which was behind the coat. Another of his longstops, a man called Dench, insisted on fielding with a sack of straw tied to his chest for protection.
It is difficult to comprehend the speed of skilled underarm bowlers in comparison with the later roundarm and overarm bowlers but Brown certainly had a reputation and many batsmen feared to play against him. E H Budd played against both Brown and Walter Marcon
, who had a similar reputation, and Budd said that "Brown was not more terrific in his speed than Marcon", an elaborate way of saying that they were both extremely fast.
Brown was a useful batsman and made 1053 runs at 11.44 with a top score of 70. He was a good fielder who took 51 catches, exactly one per match.
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...
er who played 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...
from 1819 to 1838.
A right-handed batsman and fast underarm
Underarm bowling
In cricket, underarm bowling is as old as the sport itself. Until the introduction of the roundarm style in the first half of the 19th century, bowling was performed in the same way as in bowls, the ball being delivered with the hand below the waist...
bowler who played for Hampshire
Hampshire county cricket teams
Hampshire county cricket teams have been traced back to the 18th century but the county's involvement in cricket goes back much further than that...
and Sussex, he made 51 known appearances in first-class matches. He represented the Players in the Gentlemen v Players
Gentlemen v Players
The Gentlemen v Players game was a first-class cricket match that was generally played on an annual basis between one team consisting of amateurs and one of professionals . The first two games took place in 1806 but the fixture was not revived until 1819. It was more or less annual thereafter...
series.
Brown was credited with 89 wickets in his career (i.e., bowled only) with a best return of six in one innings. He had a reputation for extreme pace and was widely known as "Brown of Brighton". He is said, though the story may be apocryphal, to have once killed a dog when a ball he had bowled went past the stumps and through a coat held by the longstop, hitting the dog which was behind the coat. Another of his longstops, a man called Dench, insisted on fielding with a sack of straw tied to his chest for protection.
It is difficult to comprehend the speed of skilled underarm bowlers in comparison with the later roundarm and overarm bowlers but Brown certainly had a reputation and many batsmen feared to play against him. E H Budd played against both Brown and Walter Marcon
Walter Marcon
Walter Marcon was an English cricketer who played six first-class matches for Oxford University in 1843 and 1844...
, who had a similar reputation, and Budd said that "Brown was not more terrific in his speed than Marcon", an elaborate way of saying that they were both extremely fast.
Brown was a useful batsman and made 1053 runs at 11.44 with a top score of 70. He was a good fielder who took 51 catches, exactly one per match.
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, 1962 - David FrithDavid FrithDavid Edward John Frith is a leading cricket writer and historian. Cricinfo describes him as "an author, historian, and founding editor of Wisden Cricket Monthly".-Life and career:...
, The Fast Men, TransWorld Publishing, 1975 - Arthur HaygarthArthur HaygarthArthur Haygarth was a noted amateur cricketer who became one of cricket's most significant historians....
, Scores & Biographies, Volumes 1-11 (1744-1870), Lillywhite, 1862-72