Famous Cricketers No 47 - John Wisden

JOHN WISDEN “May be termed now the best ‘every day’ bowler we have in England. He seldom or ever fails to be ‘on the spot’, and the difficulty is, therefore, to play him. Is also a much better bat than many suppose, as his average for past years will testify. An excellent field anywhere, especially slip, and it is doubtful whether any one is quite equal to him at all points of the game - doubts, at all events, entertained by many first-rate judges.” The above tribute appears on page 98 of The Ninth Edition of The Guide to Cricketers published in 1856. As the writer, Fred Lillywhite, was also Wisden’s business partner, and it is generally recognised that Lillywhite was somewhat subjective in some of his assessments of players, one might treat the remarks with caution, but Lillywhite’s statistics for cricketers in 1855 thoroughly supports his opinion. According to the Lillywhite figures, Wisden in all matches, both first-class and against Twenty-Twos, had a batting average of 23 and a bowling average of 5. Only George Parr (average 32) had a better batting record that season and only James Dean had a comparable bowling record. Therefore as an all-rounder, Wisden stands alone. To state that his career as a top class cricketer was a short one, when he appeared in major matches for nineteen years, seems a contradictory comment, but the famous cricketers of his day often lasted much longer, Pilch played for 35 seasons, Box for 31, Clarke for 30, F.W.Lillywhite for 29 and both Parr and Dean for 27. So Wisden’s time at the top, about a decade from 1849 was soon forgotten, more especially so since the rise of first E.M.Grace and then W.G.Grace coincided with Wisden’s departure from active cricket. Having said that, in the 140 years since Wisden retired, the number of English all-rounders who at any time could claim to stand head and shoulders above their contemporaries, even for a handful of seasons is small indeed. Wisden is therefore an appropriate cricketer to be included in this series of ‘Famous Cricketers’ on his merit as a player, ignoring for a moment, if it is possible to do so, his famous Almanack. John Wisden was born at 15 Hampden Place, Brighton on 5th September 1826, the son of Thomas and Lucy Wisden. His parents had married in 1815, his father being a local builder. John Wisden attended Middle Street School, Brighton and acquired his first interest in cricket when he was employed as longstop boy at the local Montpelier Cricket Ground. The first match published in Scores and Biographies which features John Wisden is Brighton v Henfield on August 26 and 27, 1844. Wisden scored 7 and took three wickets. The match is played on ‘T.Box’s Ground at Brighton’, which was in fact the Hanover Ground in Lewes Road. Box also kept the adjoining inn and according to legend, Wisden resided there. Later in 1844 Wisden appeared for East Sussex v West Sussex, taking 6 wickets and scoring 13. Ten days afterwards he was in the Players of Sussex v Gents of Sussex match, where Haygarth’s footnote states, Wisden was too unwell to bowl. For such a comment to be made about a young unknown player clearly indicates that he had gained a reputation as a bowler, even though he had apparently not appeared outside Sussex. At the end of June 1845 appearing for Brighton v Henfield, Wisden hit the highest score (33) for his side and also took seven wickets. He made his debut for Sussex (v Kent) in July of the same year and at the end of 1845 appeared, seemingly as a fill-in for Fuller Pilch in the Players v Gentlemen game, which was staged as a benefit for George Brown sen. on Box’s Hanover Ground. His place in the Sussex eleven was evidently secure, for he played in all five of the county’s 1846 games and during the famous Canterbury Week, for England against Kent. Whether he was chosen as 4