Philadelphian cricket team
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The Philadelphian cricket team was a team that represented Philadelphia in first-class cricket between 1878 and 1913. They are not related to the Philadelphia Cricket Club.
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[edit] History
[edit] 1870s
The first first class match played by the Philadelphian team was against Australia on 3 October 1878 after the Australian team had toured England earlier in the year. The game was a three day match, and finished in a low scoring draw, with Australia still needing 43 runs when the game ended. [1] The following year saw Ireland visit for two matches against the Gentlemen of Philadelphia, which was an team consisting of the best amateur players of Philadelphia. The first match was a two day game which the home side won by an innings. [2] This was followed by a one day game which was won by the Irish. [3]
[edit] 1880s
The next time the Philadelphian side played in a major match was in 1883, when they played the USA national side in a first class match. They lost this game by 8 wickets [4], but gained revenge when the fixture was played again in 1884, winning by 3 wickets. [5] This match then became an occasional game played between the best amateur players of Philadelphia and the best professionals from all of the USA. The fixture was played six times between 1885 and 1894. Also in 1884, the Gentlemen of Philadelphia toured the United Kingdom. Only three scores are known from this tour, with the visitors beating Ireland and the Gentlemen of Liverpool, but losing to Scotland. [6]
In 1885, a team from England organised by Edward Sanders and captained by Richard Thornton visited Philadelphia, playing two first class three day matches. Both teams won one match each. [7] This team toured again the following year, this time with more success, winning both games. [8] In 1888 Ireland visited Philadelphia, playing two first class games. The Philadelphians won them both. [9]
In 1889, the Gentlemen of Philadelphia again toured the UK. As with the 1884 tour, only three results are known, with the visitors beating Scotland and the Gentlemen of Hampshire and drawing against Ireland. [10]
[edit] 1890s
The first first class match of the decade for the Philadelphians was against an English Residents team. This fixture had been played annually from 1880 to 1883 between a team of American born players and a team of English residents. This was the last time the fixture was played, and the only time it featured a team specifically named as the Philadelphians, who won this game by six wickets. [11] The following year, a team led by Lord Hawke visited from England, playing two matches, with both teams winning one each.
1892 saw a tour by Ireland, playing three matches, the series finishing at 1-1, with one game drawn. [12] This series was notable for the debut of Bart King, who would go on to be considered the greatest American cricket player of all time. [13] The following year saw the first visit of Australia since that first game in 1878. The Philadelphians won the first game by an innings, but lost the second. [14] 1894 saw Lord Hawke again bring a team to Philadelphia, this time winning both games. [15] Another personal XI toured the following year, this time captained by Frank Mitchell, the two game series being drawn. [16]. The Austraalians visited for a three match series in 1896, winning 2-1.
In 1897, the Philadelphian side toured England for 15 first class matches. They won two games, against Sussex and Warwickshire, lost nine, and drew four. [17] This was followed by a two game series at home against a team captained by Plum Warner, which was drawn 1-1. [18] Warner again brought a team the following year, this time winning both games. [19] The decade was rounded out with a tour by a team captained by K S Ranjitsinhji, which won both games in 1899. [20]
[edit] 1900s
1901 saw Bernard Bosanquet, the inventor of the googly bring a team to Philadelphia, with the series being drawn 1-1. [21] The Philadelphians again toured England in 1903, playing 15 first class games. They were more successful than in 1897, this time winning six, losing six and drawing three. This was followed the same year by a visit by Kent to Philadelphia, who won both first class games played. The Marylebone Cricket Club visited for two tours in 1905 and 1907. The first series was drawn 1-1, [22] and the second tour saw both games drawn. [23]
1908 saw the third and final tour of England by the Philadelphians. They played ten first class games on this tour, winning four and losing six. [24] The tour was highlighted by Bart King, who took 87 wickets at an average of 11.01. This remained the single season record in English first class cricket for many years afterwards. [25]
In 1909, the Philadelphians played two series. The first was a three match away series against Jamaica, which they won 2-1. The second was a two match home series against Ireland, in which they won both games by an innings. [26] In the first of these games, Bart King took all ten Irish wickets in the first innings, and followed up that with a hat-trick in the second innings. [27].
[edit] 1910s
This was the last decade of first class cricket for Philadelphia. With baseball increasing it's dominance over American sport. With the formation of the International Cricket Council (then known as the Imperial Cricket Conference) in 1909 specifically excluding countries from outside the British Empire, USA cricket had little influence on the global game. This exclusionary policy certainly undercut any momentum to professionalise cricket in the USA, although whether the momentum would have developed even in the presence of a more open ICC remains a question. [28]
There were still two more first class tours by Australia though. The first was a drawn two match series in 1912. [29] The final series was a three match affair, with the Australians winning two games, and one drawn. The drawn game, played on 28 June 1913 was the last first class game played in the USA until the national side played an Intercontinental Cup game against Canada in Fort Lauderdale, Florida in 2004.
The Philadelphian team finished with a record in first class cricket of Played 83, Won 27, Lost 45, Drawn 10, with one game abandoned. Cricket is still played today in Philadelphia, but it has never again reached the heights it reached prior to World War I.
[edit] Famous Players
- Bart King
- C Christopher Morris
- John Lester
- George Patterson (Patterson has a highest first-class score of 271, which remains the highest first-class score by a cricketer from one of the current non-test nations.)
