#all england eleven

13 incidents tagged

George Parr — All-England Eleven Captain Through the 1860s

All-England Eleven vs United All-England Eleven; vs touring sides

1870-09-01

George Parr — captain of Nottinghamshire from 1856 to 1870 and of the All-England Eleven over the same period — was the dominant figure in English professional cricket between William Clarke's death and W.G. Grace's emergence. Tour captain in North America in 1859 and Australasia in 1863-64, he scored 6,626 first-class runs at 20.20 in conditions that were brutal to batters, and ran the AEE through the great rivalry years against the United All-England Eleven from 1857 to 1866.

#george-parr#all-england-eleven#captaincy

⭐Mild

John Wisden's Playing Career — From the 'Little Wonder' to Retirement, 1846-1863

Sussex, Kent, Middlesex; All-England Eleven; United All-England Eleven

1863-09-01

Long before John Wisden's name appeared on the spine of an almanack, he was the most feared fast bowler of his generation. At five feet four he was the smallest fast bowler in first-class history; nicknamed the 'Little Wonder' by umpire Bob Thoms, he took more than 1,000 first-class wickets at 6.66 between 1846 and 1863. In 1850 at Lord's he took all ten North-South wickets in an innings — every one bowled, the only ten-bowled innings in first-class history.

#john-wisden#little-wonder#sussex

⭐Moderate

William Clarke's Death — End of the Founder of the All-England Eleven, 25 August 1856

n/a

1856-08-25

William Clarke, the Nottinghamshire slow underarm bowler who founded the All-England Eleven in 1846 and turned professional touring cricket into a paying business, died on 25 August 1856 at Priory Lodge, Wandsworth Road, London, of paraplegia. He was 57. His death ended the four-year boycott of the United All-England Eleven and opened the way for the AEE v UAEE annual match that would shape the next decade of English cricket.

#william-clarke#all-england-eleven#death

⭐Mild

All-England Eleven Spreads Cricket — Manchester, Bristol, Derby and the Country Towns, 1847-49

All-England Eleven vs local sides

1849-08-01

Between 1847 and 1849 the All-England Eleven extended its fixture list from the north and midlands into the West Country, the Welsh borders and East Anglia. Visits to Manchester, Bristol, Derby, Newcastle, Norwich, Stourbridge and dozens of other towns turned cricket from a southern English diversion into a recognisably national game and triggered a wave of local club foundations.

#all-england-eleven#william-clarke#manchester

⭐Mild

John Wisden Emerges as a Bowler — Sussex and AEE, late 1840s

Sussex / All-England Eleven

1849-08-01

John Wisden of Sussex — five feet four and weighing under nine stone — broke into first-class cricket in 1845 as a fast roundarm bowler and within four years was a fixture in the All-England Eleven. By 1849, aged 23, he was being talked of as the most promising young bowler in England; the publishing empire and the all-ten-bowled feat would come later.

#john-wisden#sussex#1849

⭐Mild

George Parr Emerges — Notts Run-Maker and AEE Heir Apparent, 1846-1849

Nottinghamshire / All-England Eleven

1848-07-01

George Parr of Nottinghamshire, who would later succeed William Clarke as captain of the All-England Eleven and lead the second English tour of Australia, emerged in the late 1840s as the most powerful leg-side hitter in English cricket. By 1849, aged 23, he was the leading batsman in the AEE and the natural heir to Clarke's professional empire.

#george-parr#nottinghamshire#1848

⭐Mild

All-England Eleven's First National Tour — 1847

All-England Eleven vs local 18s and 22s

1847-09-01

In its first full season after foundation, William Clarke's All-England Eleven played a programme of fixtures across the north and midlands — the first systematic national cricket tour ever organised. Sides of 18 or 22 local players were engaged at Manchester, Sheffield, Leeds, Newcastle, Birmingham, Liverpool, Stockton and Derby; the eleven won the great majority of fixtures and drew crowds of three to five thousand at most venues.

#all-england-eleven#william-clarke#1847

⭐Mild

Eleven vs Eighteen, Twenty-Two of Locals — The Odds Format of AEE Tours, 1846-49

All-England Eleven vs local 18s/22s

1847-07-01

From the foundation of the All-England Eleven in 1846 every fixture the eleven played against a local side was contested at odds — eighteen, twenty-two or occasionally even more local players against the AEE's eleven. The format kept the contests competitive for spectators and for promoters' returns; it remained the standard structure of touring cricket for the next forty years, including the first English tours of Australia in the 1860s.

#all-england-eleven#william-clarke#odds-cricket

⭐Mild

William Clarke Founds the All-England Eleven — 1846

n/a

1846-08-31

In late August 1846 the Nottinghamshire lob-bowler William Clarke, then a 48-year-old professional working as the practice bowler at Lord's, gathered eleven of England's leading professional cricketers and founded the All-England Eleven. The travelling side that resulted would, over the next two decades, take first-class standard cricket to every corner of the British Isles and create the commercial template for professional touring.

#william-clarke#all-england-eleven#aee

⭐Mild

Joseph Guy of Nottinghamshire — Stylist of the 1840s

Nottinghamshire / All-England Eleven

1846-08-01

Joseph Guy of Nottinghamshire — a graceful right-handed batsman whose style Lord Frederick Beauclerk likened to 'cricket of the most gentlemanly kind' — was a charter member of William Clarke's All-England Eleven in 1846 and one of the leading professional batsmen of the 1840s.

#joseph-guy#nottinghamshire#1846

⭐Mild

Player Payment Structure of the All-England Eleven — £4-£6 a Match Plus Expenses, 1846-1849

All-England Eleven

1846-09-01

William Clarke paid his All-England Eleven professionals between £4 and £6 per match plus travelling expenses through the late 1840s — at a time when a skilled labourer earned around £1 a week. The pay was generous by the standards of the day, but Clarke kept the gate as promoter and the disparity between his earnings and his players' would, by the early 1850s, drive a series of breakaways and the eventual foundation of the United All-England Eleven.

#all-england-eleven#professional-cricket#player-payment

⭐Moderate

Alfred Mynn's Continued Recovery and the Folklore of the Leicester Leg — through the 1840s

Kent / All-England Eleven

1846-08-15

Alfred Mynn's near-amputation at Leicester in 1836 — when, having batted on with a leg blackened by repeated fast roundarm blows, he was reportedly carried back to London on the roof of a stage coach — passed into cricket folklore through the 1840s. By 1846 the story was retold at every Mynn match, and the Leicester injury had become as much a part of his identity as his bowling and single-wicket dominance.

#alfred-mynn#leicester-1836#kent

⭐Mild

Tom Box of Sussex — The Wicketkeeper of the Pre-Pad Era, 1840s

Sussex / All-England Eleven

1845-07-15

Tom Box of Sussex was the leading wicketkeeper in England through the 1840s — keeping wicket without the pads, gloves or specialised gear of later eras and standing up to the fast bowling of Mynn, Redgate and the young John Wisden. He played first-class cricket for 25 years and dropped only one stumping chance in his entire career, according to the Lillywhites' near-contemporary count.

#tom-box#sussex#wicketkeeper