#john wisden

6 incidents tagged

John Wisden Publishes the First Cricketers' Almanack — Spring 1864

n/a

1864-04-01

Retired Sussex bowler John Wisden, proprietor of a sports outfitters in Cranbourn Street, brought out the first edition of The Cricketer's Almanack in the spring of 1864. The 112-page shilling pamphlet, padded with the dates of the English Civil War and the winners of the St Leger, was a competitor to Fred Lillywhite's existing Guide and would grow into the longest-running sports annual in history.

#wisden#john-wisden#almanack

⭐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

⭐Mild

All-England Eleven v United All-England Eleven — The First Annual Fixture, Lord's, June 1857

All-England Eleven (AEE) vs United All-England Eleven (UAEE)

1857-06-01

On 1-3 June 1857 the All-England Eleven and the United All-England Eleven met for the first time at Lord's, the boycott of the previous five years lifted by William Clarke's death the previous August. George Parr's AEE beat John Wisden's UAEE; the fixture became the most heavily attended annual match in English cricket and continued every summer until 1869.

#aee#uaee#lord-s

🥊Moderate

Wisden and Dean Break Away — The Founding of the United All-England Eleven, 1852

United All-England Eleven (UAEE) split from All-England Eleven (AEE)

1852-08-07

In August 1852, John Wisden of Sussex and Jemmy Dean of Surrey, the two leading professional cricketers in the south of England, broke from William Clarke's All-England Eleven over Clarke's autocratic management and the meagre share of takings he allowed his players. With several discontented colleagues they founded the United All-England Eleven, which from 1857 would meet the parent AEE every summer in fixtures that drew the largest crowds in English cricket.

#united-all-england-eleven#uaee#aee

⭐Mild

John Wisden's Ten Wickets All Bowled — North v South, Lord's, 1850

North vs South

1850-07-15

Bowling for the South against the North at Lord's in July 1850, the Sussex fast-roundarm bowler John Wisden — the diminutive 'Little Wonder', barely 5'4" tall — clean-bowled all ten North batsmen in the second innings. It is the only first-class instance in cricket history of all ten wickets in an innings being taken bowled, and the bedrock of the reputation that would, fourteen years later, attach his name to cricket's most famous publication.

#john-wisden#ten-wickets#all-bowled

⭐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