1859 English cricket season
1859 was the 73rd season of cricket in England since the foundation of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC).[note 1] The highlight was one of the sport's most remarkable all-round performances by V. E. Walker.
Important matches
Events
- 1 March. Formation of the present Kent CCC.
- 21 to 23 July. V E Walker of Middlesex, playing for England versus Surrey at The Oval, took all ten wickets in the Surrey first innings and followed by scoring 108 in the England second innings, having been the not out batsman in the first (20*). He took a further four wickets in Surrey’s second innings. England won by 392 runs.
- 7 September. Departure of cricket’s first-ever touring team. A famous photograph was taken on board ship before they sailed from Liverpool. The team of English professionals went to North America and played five matches, winning them all. There were no first-class fixtures. The 12-man squad was:
- George Parr (captain)
- James Grundy
- John Jackson (all of Nottinghamshire);
- Robert Carpenter
- Alfred Diver
- Thomas Hayward (all of Cambridgeshire);
- Julius Caesar
- William Caffyn
- Tom Lockyer
- HH Stephenson (all of Surrey);
- John Lillywhite
- John Wisden (both of Sussex)
Leading batsmen
James Grundy was the leading runscorer with 530 @ 17.09
Other leading batsmen were: FP Miller, Tom Lockyer, V E Walker, John Lillywhite, William Caffyn, John Wisden, JH Hale, Thomas Hayward, HH Stephenson
Leading bowlers
John Jackson was the leading wicket-taker with 83
Other leading bowlers were: V E Walker, Edgar Willsher, William Caffyn, James Grundy, HH Stephenson, John Wisden
Notes
- ^ Some eleven-a-side matches played from 1772 to 1863 have been rated "first-class" by certain sources.[1] However, the term only came into common use around 1864, when overarm bowling was legalised. It was formally defined as a standard by a meeting at Lord's, in May 1894, of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and the county clubs which were then competing in the County Championship. The ruling was effective from the beginning of the 1895 season, but pre-1895 matches of the same standard have no official definition of status because the ruling is not retrospective.[2] Matches of a similar standard since the beginning of the 1864 season are generally considered to have an unofficial first-class status.[3] Pre-1864 matches which are included in the ACS' "Important Match Guide" may generally be regarded as top-class or, at least, historically significant.[4] For further information, see First-class cricket.
References
- ^ "First-Class matches in England in 1772". CricketArchive. Retrieved 29 November 2025.
- ^ Wisden (1948). Preston, Hubert (ed.). Wisden Cricketers' Almanack (85th ed.). London: Sporting Handbooks Ltd. p. 813. OCLC 851705816.
- ^ ACS 1982, pp. 4–5.
- ^ ACS 1981, pp. 1–40.
Bibliography
- ACS (1981). A Guide to Important Cricket Matches Played in the British Isles 1709–1863. Nottingham: ACS. OCLC 85045528.
- ACS (1982). A Guide to First-class Cricket Matches Played in the British Isles. Nottingham: ACS. OCLC 10586869.
- Warner, Pelham (1946). Lords: 1787–1945. London: Harrap. OCLC 877106024.
Further reading
- Altham, H. S.; Swanton, E. W. (1962). A History of Cricket, Volume 1 (to 1914) (5th ed.). London: George Allen & Unwin. OCLC 894274808.
- Birley, Derek (1999). A Social History of English Cricket. London: Aurum Press. ISBN 978-18-54107-10-7 – via Internet Archive.
- Bowen, Rowland (1970). Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development. London: Eyre & Spottiswoode. ISBN 978-04-13278-60-9.
- Major, John (2007). More Than A Game. London: HarperCollins. ISBN 978-00-07183-64-7 – via Internet Archive.