H.H. Stephenson and the Planning of the First Australian Tour, 1859

Without Spiers and Pond's financial guarantee, the tour would almost certainly not have happened in 1861. The professionals were not prepared to take the risk themselves; the MCC was not involved. It was a purely commercial enterprise.

The idea of an English cricket tour of Australia had been discussed since the mid-1850s, but the practical obstacles — the distance, the cost, the reluctance of the leading professionals to spend months at sea — had prevented it. Felix Spiers and Christopher Pond, Melbourne caterers and entrepreneurs who had built a successful restaurant business, decided to underwrite the tour commercially. They wrote to the English cricket establishment in late 1859 offering to pay all the professionals' fares and expenses, guarantee them a minimum of £150 each, and take the risk of the gate receipts themselves. Negotiations continued through 1860; Heathfield Stephenson was agreed upon as captain partly because he was the leading Surrey professional and partly because Parr, who might have been the natural choice, was unwilling to go. The twelve professionals — selected from the AEE and UAEE rosters — sailed from Liverpool in October 1861 and arrived in Melbourne on 24 December 1861. The opening match on Christmas Day drew 15,000 spectators, and the tour was a triumphant commercial success for Spiers and Pond.