The 1859 Tour: The first English visit
USA and Canada had been playing ‘international cricket’ since 1844. WP Pickering of Canada mooted the idea of an English tour of North America after seeing spectator interest in the USA vs Canada matches of 1856. When Robert Waller of St. George’s Cricket Club guaranteed GBP 500 for two matches in the USA, a tour was finalized in 1859.
On September 6th 1859, twelve professional cricketers of England met at the George Hotel, Liverpool and left the English shores via the Nova Scotian the next morning. The team comprised Caffyn, Lockyer, HH Stephenson, Julius Ceasar (of Surrey), Parr, Grundy and Jackson (of Nottinghamshire, John Wisden and John Lillywhite (Sussex), Carpenter, Tom Hayward and Diver (Cambridgeshire), with Fred Lillywhite acting as the manager.
Sporting tours became a way of life with this event – the first major overseas tour for an English side. The tour also marked several important publishing milestones for cricket. And playing on the English team were two visionary pioneer cricket writers and publishers of the era (John Wisden and Fred Lillywhite).
Fred Lillywhite, true to form, wrote a fascinating book describing the adventure titled “The English Cricketers Trip to Canada and the United States?”
The English team did well financially earning over $5000 from the tour. The organizers profited from the tour as well. In New York, St. George’s Cricket Club reported gate receipts of about $2000 on the first day. Total expenses for the three days were roughly $3200.
This tour had acquired enormous prestige and representatives from far flung cities traveled long distances to meet with the English side nurturing hopes of having the English side visit their cities.
Cincinnati Cricket Club representatives went all the way to Montreal and promised 75% of the gate receipts if the English side played there. Albany, St. Louis, Baltimore, all tried to persuade the English side to visit their cities and play their local teams. In fact, an unscheduled stop was made at Rochester by the English side after Rochester Mayor announced $1500 of public funds for improving the city’s cricket ground and took a personal interest in the match.
Of course, along came the two things most associated with big matches – unaffordable stadium concessions and betting!
The New York Times wrote that “the Eleven do not bet, at least openly, but outsiders do. The bets are that two to one English Eleven will win any one of the four matches named. Even bets that they will win all four. Even bets that there will be 8 ducks in the Twenty Two’s batting. Varying wagers on one man’s score against the other. The most animated betting is on the NY match. The Americans back the US to win and the rest bet that English will win easily.”
Lillywhite had a tent to sell cricket cards. A tent for refreshments was also erected. The Times reporter wrote, “The caterer could not have been chosen for worse food for which he charged - 62.5 cents for each victim, who was compelled to take it or nothing.”
England vs USA: Match report from October 3-5, 1859
The first game of the USA leg took place between the English and the XXII of the USA at the Elysian Fields, Hoboken, NJ on October 3rd, 4th and 5th of 1859.
This match is preserved for posterity thanks to the images published on October 15, 1859, in the Harper’s Weekly. The images portray two different ball games being played on the same day at the Elysian Fields in Hoboken, New Jersey. An American cricket team is shown playing the British one on the left hand side. A baseball game is in progress on the same ground on the right hand side.
The Elysian Fields got a $2000 makeover thanks to the benevolence of Edward Stevens. The English players encountered 8000 spectators on the first day and this number doubled on the second day. In total, some 25,000 spectators watched the game on the three days.
On the ground, England scored 156 and USA XXII scored 38 and 54. Fielding 22 in a side was not unusual those days and Australians did the same thing against England with cricket in USA being more advanced than Australia at that stage. New York’s cricketing skills were embarrassing and it was defeated by a huge margin.
Some said that the American team was not truly a representative one. Most on the team were English residents of New York and there were just three Philadelphians on the American team – Walter Newhall, Charles Barclay and William Morgan.
Criticism was focused on the selection of Waller, Walsh and Comery, who were veterans of the USA vs Canada series a decade and half earlier. These aged players should have been on among the spectators. Complaints of this nature still abound in modern day USA cricket.
England vs USA: Match report from October 12-15, 1859
In the second match at Philadelphia, which began on October 12th, on the Camac Estate at 13th and Columbia Avenue, the GOP XXII scored 94 and 60 with England scoring 126 and 29 for three to wrap up the match. This match was closer than the New York one and some of the American pride was redeemed. The Americans were in good spirits after the first innings because they had successfully restricted England’s first innings lead to 32 runs.
Wisden took 7 GOP wickets in the second innings as the GOP folded for just 60 runs. This ensured a win by George Parr’s XI by 7 wickets.
Lillywhite wrote, “the ground presented a most animated appearance. We never saw such a magnificent sight; about 1,000 ladies were sitting by themselves, and they appeared to be enthusiastic.”
The tour also marked international cricket’s first controversy in Philadelphia when Henry Sharp inexplicably called a wide when English player Robert Carpenter was caught. Carpenter made 22 decisive runs for his side. Jones Wister claimed that it had cost Americans the match.