The United All-England Eleven's First Touring Season — 1853

The exhibition match model — eleven professionals against a local twenty-two — had been perfected by Clarke's AEE since 1846. The UAEE adopted it wholesale, with the critical difference that the gate proceeds were split more fairly.

After the formation of the UAEE in August 1852, the new body spent the winter of 1852–53 arranging a full summer programme. Wisden and Dean, as joint secretaries, negotiated fixtures against local sides in Sussex, Surrey, Hampshire, Kent and the West Country. The match format was the standard exhibition model: eleven professionals against a local twenty-two, with the odds giving the home side a theoretical chance of victory and ensuring a competitive spectacle. Gate money was split more equally among the players than Clarke had allowed — typically a larger share per head, with a smaller management cut. The 1853 season was a commercial success; attendances were strong enough to confirm a second season, and by 1854 several other leading professionals who had stayed with the AEE were requesting transfer to the UAEE. Clarke responded by writing threatening letters but could not prevent the movement of public goodwill toward the new body.

The UAEE continued to tour annually until the late 1860s. From 1857 it played an annual fixture against the AEE — the most prestigious match in English cricket between 1857 and 1869. Both bodies declined simultaneously as the county clubs and the County Championship absorbed professional interest in the 1870s.