English cricket team in North America in 1859

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The English cricket team in North America in 1859 was the first ever overseas cricket tour.

The idea for the tour came from WP Pickering (1819-1905), who had been captain of cricket at Eton College in 1837 and 1838. He had emigrated to Canada in 1852 and played for Canada against the United States the following year. He originally opened discussions for a possible tour in 1856 but financial problems meant that it was three years before the money could be raised. The English team required a guarantee of £750, which Pickering obtained through the Montreal Club.

The English team comprised six members of the All-England Eleven and six of the United All-England Eleven. With George Parr as captain, the twelve players were effectively the cream of professional talent in the 1859 English cricket season that had just ended:

Five matches were played, all against XXIIs, so none had first-class status. Three exhibition games were also played in which the 12 England players divided and added five North Americans to each team to make up eleven-a-side matches. Including travelling time, the trip lasted two months and each English player (all professionals) cleared about £90, a sizeable sum at the time.

The team's opponents were:

22 of Lower Canada by 8 wickets at Montreal, Quebec on 26-27 September
22 of the United States by an innings and 64 runs at Hoboken, New York State on 3-5 October
22 of the United States by 7 wickets at Philadelphia on 10-12 October
22 of Lower Canada by 10 wickets at Hamilton, Ontario on 17-19 October
22 of the United States by an innings and 68 runs at Rochester, New York on 21-25 October.

In addition to the exhibition matches they also had two excursions to view the Niagara Falls.

The English side was of course exceedingly strong and would probably have beaten any XXII in England. There were excellent crowds for the first three matches but the weather in mid-October turned very cold and reduced the attendances at the last two. It was reported that the fielders wore gloves and overcoats in the last match.

A product of the tour was a book by Fred Lillywhite, who travelled as scorer, entitled The English Cricketers' Trip to Canada and the United States and published in 1860.

For the general growth of cricket in the United States, it was most unfortunate that this pioneering tour occurred only 18 months before the US Civil War began. If the war had not broken out, it is highly likely that two or three follow-up tours might have been arranged in the early 1860s, thus building on the interest created by the initial trip. As it was, the enthusiasm for cricket faded in the war years and the troops on both sides adopted the embryonic game of baseball. When English teams resumed tours to America in 1868, not only did they have to try to rekindle the enthusiasm, but in baseball they had a serious rival to contend with.