1864 English cricket season

1864 English cricket season

1864 was the 78th season of cricket in England since the foundation of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). It was a significant year in cricket history, as it saw the legalisation of overarm bowling and the first edition of John Wisden’s Cricketers’ Almanac.

Inter-county cricket

The first-class county teams in 1864 were Cambridgeshire, Hampshire, Kent, Middlesex, Notts, Surrey, Sussex and Yorkshire. The unofficial concept of a "champion county" took a new turn when periodicals began publishing tables of inter-county results, although there was still no formal or agreed method of deciding positions in the table. Haygarth usually refers to 'generally agreed' when announcing the Champion County.

Table

	Team	P	W	L	D	Pts
1	Surrey	8	6	0	2	6
2	Cambridgeshire	3	3	0	0	3
	Sussex	8	5	2	1	3
4	Middlesex	4	3	1	0	2
5	Nottinghamshire	7	3	4	0	-1
6	Yorkshire	7	2	4	1	-2
7	Hampshire	4	0	4	0	-4
8	Kent	7	0	7	0	-7

Events

• Law 10 was rewritten by the MCC to allow a bowler to bring his arm through at any height providing he kept it straight and did not throw the ball. The issue of overarm bowling had crystallised in the Willsher-Lillywhite incident of August 1862.
• 12 January – formation of Lancashire CCC at a meeting in Manchester.
• 27–29 January – Otago v. Canterbury at Dunedin was the start of first-class cricket in New Zealand.
• Madras v. Calcutta was the start of first-class cricket in India.
• First issue of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack. It was titled John Wisden’s Cricketers’ Almanac until the 1937 edition.
• 6–7 June – Middlesex CCC played its initial first-class match v. Sussex at Islington
• 9 June – Playing for MCC against Oxford University, H.E. Bull becomes only the second player, and the first since 1827, to be dismissed hit the ball twice in a first-class game.
• 7–8 July – Hampshire CCC played its initial first-class match v. Sussex at the Antelope Ground, Southampton
• 11–12 July – First appearance of WG Grace in a "big" match, though his first-class debut would not occur till the following season.
• MCC finally purchased the freehold of Lord's Cricket Ground for £18,333 6s 8d with money advanced by William Nicholson.

Leading batsmen (qualification 10 innings)

1864 English season leading batsmen
Name	Team	Matches	Inns	Not outs	Runs	Hig score	100s	Av
George Anderson	Yorkshire	6	11	5	255	99*	0	42.50
Heathfield Stephenson	Surrey & All England Eleven	15	25	4	824	119	2	39.23
Will Mortlock	Surrey County Cricket Club	18	25	0	855	105	1	34.20
Tom Hayward Sr.	Cambridgeshire	8	12	0	355	66	0	29.58
Bob Carpenter	Cambridgeshire	8	11	1	270	52	0	27.00

Leading bowlers (qualification 800 balls)

1864 English season leading bowlers
Name	Team	Balls	Runs	Wickets	Best	5w inns	10w match	Av
George Tarrant	Cambridgeshire	1610	590	67	7/30	8	4	8.80
James Grundy	MCC & Nottinghamshire	3466	1109	99	9/19	10	2	11.31
William Maitland	Oxford University	1117	521	48	8/48	4	2	11.84
Edward Walker	Middlesex & Southgate	1054	519	42	9/63	4	2	12.35
Edgar Willsher	Kent & All England Eleven	3486	1065	79	7/47	6	0	13.48

Annual reviews

• Fred Lillywhite, The Guide to Cricketers, Lillywhite, 1865
• John Lillywhite's Cricketer's Companion (Green Lilly), Lillywhite, 1865
• Arthur Haygarth, Scores & Biographies, Volume 8 (1863-1864), Lillywhite, 1865