1868 English cricket season

Cricket season review March 2015 March 2020 1867 1867 English cricket season 1869 1869 English cricket season The 1868 English cricket season was the fifth since the legalisation of overarm bowling. It featured the first organised group of Australian sportspeople to travel overseas, being an all-Aboriginal cricket team.note status Some eleven-a-side matches played from 1772 to 1863 have been rated "first-class" by certain sources.https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Seasons/Seasonal_Averages/ENG/1772_f_Match_List.html First-Class matches in England in 1772 CricketArchive 29 November 2025 subscription 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.Wisden Preston Hubert Hubert Preston Wisden Cricketers' Almanack 85th Sporting Handbooks Ltd London 1948 813 851705816 Matches of a similar standard since the beginning of the 1864 season are generally considered to have an unofficial first-class status.ACS 1982 4–5 Pre-1864 matches which are included in the ACS' "Important Match Guide" may generally be regarded as top-class or, at least, historically significant.ACS 1981 1–40 For further information, see First-class cricket. Playing record (by county) County Played Won Lost Tied Drawn Cambridgeshire 2 1 1 0 0 Kent 8 5 3 0 0 Lancashire 5 1 4 0 0 Middlesex 8 4 3 1 0 Nottinghamshire 6 4 2 0 0 Surrey 12 5 6 1 0 Sussex 6 2 4 0 0 Yorkshire 7 4 3 0 0note Hants Hampshire, though regarded until 1885 as first-class, played no inter-county matches between 1868 and 1869 or 1871 and 1874. Owing to an exceptionally hot and dry summer, and the absence of the forthcoming revolution of the heavy roller,Green, Benny; Wisden Anthology 1864–1900 p. 604 0354085557 1868 was to be the last season in which every county match was finished outright. Wynne-Thomas, Peter; The Rigby A-Z of Cricket Records; p. 53 072701868X Leading batsmen (qualification 10 innings) 1868 English season leading batsmenFirst Class Batting in England in 1868 Name Team Matches Innings Not outs Runs Highest score Average 100s 50sW. G. Grace GentlemenSouth of England 7 11 2 588 134 not out 65.33 3 2Isaac Walker Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC)Middlesex 13 24 5 661 165 34.78 1 3James Lillywhite Sussex 13 24 6 631 126 not out 30.04 1 4Henry Richardson Cambridge UniversityKentMiddlesex 10 16 1 431 143 28.73 1 3George Savile Cambridge UniversityYorkshire 7 11 0 294 105 26.72 1 2 Leading bowlers (qualification 800 balls) 1868 English season leading bowlersFirst Class Bowling in England in 1868 Name Team Balls bowled Runs conceded Wickets taken Average Best bowling 5 wicketsin innings 10 wicketsin matchThomas Hearne Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC)Middlesex 957 279 33 8.45 5/20 1 0Tom Emmett Yorkshire 1628 528 60 8.80 9/34 5 1George Freeman Yorkshire 1560 454 46 9.86 8/11 6 2Edgar Willsher Kent 3999 1128 113 9.98 7/44 12 6George Howitt MiddlesexNottinghamshire 2262 734 71 10.33 6/17 6 2 Events A team of Aboriginal Australians was the first overseas team to tour England, under the auspices of Sydney publican/cricketer Charles Lawrence. They were not a first class team. 25–26 May: Edward Tylecote hits the first recorded score of 300 in any grade of cricket with 404 for Classicals against Moderns at Clifton CollegeWisden, John (editor); John Wisden’s Cricketers' Almanac; Eighth Edition (1871); pp. 148–149 20 June: C.A. Absolom became the first player to be given out obstructing the field when playing for Cambridge University v. Surrey at The Oval. 3–5 August: Playing for South of the Thames v North of the Thames at Canterbury, W.G. Grace became the second player to score two centuries in a match after William Lambert in 1817.Rae, Simon W. G. Grace: A Life; p. 77. 978-0-571-17855-1. The Cattle Market Ground in Islington, the original home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, was sold by its owner for development following the season. The last game, on 5 and 6 October, was between "Gentlemen of Middlesex" and a 22 called "The Clowns".Gentlemen of Middlesex v The Clowns in 1868 Middlesex were not to have another home until the equally short-lived Prince's Cricket Ground opened. Notes note References Bibliography ACS Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians A Guide to Important Cricket Matches Played in the British Isles 1709–1863 1981 ACS Nottingham https://archive.acscricket.com/online_library/match_guides/bi_imp_match_guide/index.html 85045528 ACS 1982 A Guide to First-class Cricket Matches Played in the British Isles ACS Nottingham https://archive.acscricket.com/online_library/match_guides/bi_match_guide/index.html 10586869 Warner Pelham Pelham Warner Lords: 1787–1945 1946 Harrap London 877106024 Annual reviews John Lillywhite's Cricketer's Companion (Green Lilly), Lillywhite, 1869 Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, 1869 Further reading Altham H. S. Harry Altham E. W. Swanton E. W. Swanton A History of Cricket, Volume 1 (to 1914) 5th 1962 George Allen & Unwin London 894274808 Birley Derek Derek Birley A Social History of English Cricket 1999 Aurum Press London 978-18-54107-10-7 https://archive.org/details/socialhistoryofe0000birl_d1n5 Internet Archive Bowen Rowland Rowland Bowen Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development 1970 Eyre & Spottiswoode London 978-04-13278-60-9 Major John John Major More Than A Game 2007 HarperCollins London 978-00-07183-64-7 https://archive.org/details/morethangamestor0000majo_b8t0 Internet Archive Category:1868 in English cricket Category:English cricket seasons in the 19th century