Variations in first-class cricket statistics
Encyclopedia
Variations in first-class cricket statistics have come about because there is no official view of the status of cricket
matches played before 1947. As a result, historians and statisticians have compiled differing lists of matches that they recognise as first-class
. The problem is significant where it touches on some of the sport's major records and especially the playing career of W.G. Grace.
originated in May 1894 at a meeting of the Marylebone Cricket Club
(MCC) committee and the secretaries of the clubs involved in the official County Championship
, which had begun in 1890. As a result, those clubs became first-class from 1895 along with MCC, Cambridge University
, Oxford University
, major cricket touring teams and other teams designated as such by MCC.
First-class cricket was formally defined by the then Imperial Cricket Conference
(ICC) in May 1947 as a match of three or more days' duration between two sides of eleven players officially adjudged first-class; the governing body in each country to decide the status of teams. Significantly, it was stated that the definition does not have retrospective effect.
The absence of any ruling about matches played before 1947 (or before 1895 in Great Britain) has caused problems for cricket historians and especially statisticians. Matches that meet the official definitions, assuming they featured teams of the necessary high standard, have been recorded since 1697. It was inevitable that historians and statisticians would seek to apply first-class status retrospectively, in contravention of the ICC and MCC directives. The position is that each writer must compile his own list based on his personal opinions. As a result, significant differences may be observed in published statistical records with particular impact on the career records of W.G. Grace, Jack Hobbs
and Herbert Sutcliffe
. There are differences in the perceived status of certain matches played by Gloucestershire teams before the county club
was formed in 1870 and by Somerset
in 1879 and 1881.
One of the problems is that statisticians have tended not to publish their match lists with their findings. However, it should be noted that the number of differences is extremely small in terms of the sport's overall statistics. The status of pre-definition matches is primarily a statistical concern rather than a historical one. Historians record the importance of a match in contemporary terms regardless of statistical hindsight.
The main source for scorecards since 1772 until the 1860s is Arthur Haygarth
’s Scores & Biographies, which was published in several volumes. Haygarth used a number of sources for his scorecards including many that were created by the Hambledon Club
and MCC. He frequently refers to earlier compilers such as Samuel Britcher
, W Epps
and Henry Bentley
. Haygarth often mentions in his match summaries that another version exists of the scorecard he has reproduced. Sometimes he outlines the differences which range from players' names to runs scored and even to apparent discrepancies in innings totals or match results.
Haygarth first mentions the difficulty of obtaining scorecards in his summary of the Hampshire v Surrey match at Broadhalfpenny Down
on 26 August 1773:
Then, in his summary of the Surrey v Hampshire match at Laleham Burway
on 6-8 July 1775:
He goes on to list a total of 13 differences between his two versions, some re dismissal details and others re scores. He then makes a highly pertinent comment:
In saying that, Haygarth has recognised the essence of the problem when there is no standard means of scoring and no centralised control over the system of capturing and storing the data. Scoring systems in the 18th century and most of the 19th century had nothing like the consistency of standard that was employed through the 20th century to the present. Many early cards gave no details of dismissal. Where dismissal was recorded, it was limited to the primary mode and so a fielder would be credited with a catch but the bowler would not be credited with the wicket unless he bowled out the batsman. MCC finally responded to the problem in 1836 when they decided to include in their own scorecards (i.e., for matches played at Lord's) the addition of bowlers' names when the dismissal was caught, stumped, lbw or hit wicket. Haygarth comments that "this was a vast improvement in recording the game and but justice to the bowler". As a result, scorecards became more detailed through the second half of the 19th century but reliability remained a problem and different versions continued to appear. It was some time before the MCC scorecard standard was adopted throughout the country and the inclusion of bowling analyses "was not introduced until several years afterwards".
A greater problem surfaced after 1890 with the establishment of the County Championship because, as described above, this gave rise in 1895 to the concept of first-class cricket and so, for the first time, there was a perceived higher standard based on organisation of games in an official competition. Until then, everything had been somewhat ad hoc and playing standards was a term applied very liberally, especially with teams containing guest or occasional players in addition to recognised players.
, son of William Lillywhite
, first published his Guide to Cricketers in 1848. In 1865, his brother John
published his Cricketer's Companion (known as "Green Lilly" on account of its cover). Two years later the two were amalgamated with the Companion "incorporating" the Guide. In 1872, their cousin James Lillywhite junior
, started his Cricketers' Annual (known as "Red Lilly"). A further period of competition ensued until another amalgamation in 1880 created John and James Lillywhite's Cricketer's Companion, still incorporating the Guide. This survived until 1883 when James announced he was "now sole proprietor". After 1885, the Companion was incorporated with the Annual, which continued until 1900.
In 1864, John Wisden
introduced his Wisden Cricketers' Almanack
which, after an uncertain start, went on to become "the cricketers' Bible". Meanwhile, Arthur Haygarth
published his Scores and Biographies for Frederick Lillywhite from 1862 to 1871 but these were not statistical as such, rather a record of known scorecards.
The concept of a first-class level of cricket seems to have taken hold in the 1860s, perhaps through the influence of the Guide to Cricketers, and W.G. Grace certainly considered his matches in 1864 to have been first-class. But Grace's "first-class career" was effectively defined after his death when
F.S. Ashley-Cooper compiled a season-by-season record which supplemented Grace's obituary in the 1916 Wisden. This record became Grace's "traditional figures" and, as described later, was the statistical basis for the celebrations in 1925 when Jack Hobbs overtook the total of 126 career centuries that Ashley-Cooper had allocated to Grace.
Playfair Cricket Annual
began in 1947 but followed Wisden in statistical terms. In 1951, Roy Webber
published his Playfair Book of Cricket Records in 1951 and, in his introduction, expressed the view that first-class records should commence in 1864. A number of sources have agreed with this date. Webber then commenced a review of 19th century matches and later published his version of Grace's career record, declaring that Ashley-Cooper had allocated first-class status to a number of minor matches.
Bill Frindall
published The Kaye Book of Cricket Records in 1968 and subsequently several editions of his Wisden Book of Cricket Records. As he explained in the preface to one of the Wisden editions, he favoured 1815 as the starting point for "proper" first-class cricket, though he conceded that there is a reasonable case for several other years, particularly Webber's 1864. Frindall thus included the entire roundarm era
but also a substantial part of the underarm era
. Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, for which Frindall was the chief statistician, also commences its first-class records section in 1815.
Soon after the Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians
(ACS) was founded in 1973, Rowland Bowen
was among the first to raise doubts in its journal that there could ever be a generally acknowledged list of first-class matches. In 1976, the ACS produced a booklet, A Guide to First-class Cricket Matches played in the British Isles, outlining its view of the first-class matches played from 1864 to 1946. This was followed by booklets covering other countries and, in 1981, A Guide to Important Cricket Matches played in the British Isles 1709–1863. From 1996, the ACS produced a further series of booklets giving complete scorecards of matches from 1801 that it now considered first-class. The ACS gave in its journal a number of reasons for taking its startpoint back from 1864 to 1801, among them an agreement with Frindall's view that standards of play during the roundarm era
were as high as in the overarm era
. The ACS disagreed with Frindall about 1815 because it wanted to include the full set of Gentlemen v Players
fixtures that began in 1806. It chose 1801 as a date of convenience and thereby set up a division between the 18th and 19th centuries, which was contested by several people, including many ACS members, who recognised 1772 as the startpoint, given the availability of data in surviving scorecards from that season. In its spring 2006 journal, the ACS admitted that it could not decide upon its position vis-à-vis 18th century records because of "missing or incomplete scorecards". But it is by no means certain that there is a complete statistical record of matches between 1801 and 1825 either, especially given the loss of records in the catastrophic Lord's
fire. Certainly, there are no complete bowling figures in that period, or until 1836, and the surviving scorecards are similar in standard and content to 18th century scorecards.
In 2005, scorecards and other details of all known matches prior to 1801 were loaded into the CricketArchive database and there classified as "major" or "minor" pending an overall accord with other sources about first-class status. CricketArchive’s major classification effectively stated a view that the matches concerned were first-class providing they were not single wicket
, the other form of major cricket that was popular in the 18th century. In 2007, Stumpsite published its Classification of cricket matches from 1697 to 1825, in which statistical first-class status began in 1772. Similar lists had already been published online and in the Cricket Statistician by the ACS. In early 2010, CricketArchive reorganised its classification of first-class matches to commence with the 1772 season. The handful of earlier scorecards, including the two in 1744, are arguably too isolated for inclusion. In this sense, the statistical record is divorced from the historical record which includes all significant matches, dating from 1697, for which no scorecard has survived. Contrary to Bowen's view, there is now a general accord, apart from a few matters of detail, in terms of statistical first-class status.
The issue with using any cut-off date as a startpoint is that it excludes everything before that date despite cricket's history making clear that there has been a continuous standard of top-class cricket in England since the late 17th century. It is true that none of the cricketers with large career totals played before 1864 (Webber's main reason for adopting that date) and so his startpoint was not really an issue in that context. But it does exclude numerous major players and it does affect other cricket records. If first-class cricket did not begin until 1864, then legendary cricketers like Richard Newland
, John Small, William Beldham, Alfred Mynn
and William Caffyn
were not first-class players. Among records, the lowest known team score occurred in the 1810 match between All-England
and The Bs
(with Wells and Lawrell) when The Bs were dismissed for 6 in their second innings; and that match is not regarded as first-class by those statisticians who still use 1815 or 1864 as their statistical startpoint. The real significance of 1864 was the legalisation of overarm bowling
but there is also evidence of a more structured approach to inter-county cricket which ultimately brought about the introduction of the official County Championship. 1864 was also the first year in which Wisden Cricketers' Almanack was published and this is seen as the key source for cricket records, although there are plenty of earlier sources.
The problem with 1815, if the intention is to include roundarm, is that roundarm did not begin in any real sense until 1827 and was not legalised until 1835; and even then the Laws had to be reinforced in 1845 by removing the benefit of the doubt from the bowler in the matter of his hand’s height when delivering the ball. For most of the period from 1815 to 1845, underarm bowling continued to prevail and so 1815 as the startpoint was resisted by champions of the "underarm era" which had existed from time immemorial.
The fire at Lord's occurred on the night of Thursday 28 July 1825. The pavilion burned down and many invaluable and irreplaceable records were lost. It is believed that these included unique scorecards of early matches. The main difficulty encountered by researchers is the absence of match details from before the Lord's fire, and there are numerous matches in the 18th century which are known about in name only, with no scores having survived.
The first statistician to make a significant challenge to these "accepted figures" was Roy Webber, who published the Playfair Book of Cricket Records in 1951. This deferred to the Wisden version re Grace. During the 1950s, Webber made a detailed study of Grace's career and in the February 1961 edition of Playfair Cricket Monthly
, he presented his own revised figures by excluding matches he did not regard as first-class.
In his later record books (e.g., The Book of Cricket Records, concise edition, 1963), Webber quoted both versions, referring to the Wisden totals as the "accepted figures" and his own as the "corrected figures". But Webber excluded Grace's 1873 "double"
to indicate that he preferred the "corrected figures". The same approach was used by Bill Frindall
in his Kaye Book of Cricket Records published in 1968. Webber's "corrected figures" are based on a different matchlist to that subsequently created by the Association of Cricket Statisticians (ACS) in the 1970s. The differences here are that Webber includes the Gloucestershire match of 1868 but excludes two England v XIII of Kent matches played in 1878 and 1879. He excludes all five Gloucestershire v Somerset matches between 1882 and 1885 (see below).
The main issues arising from the disagreement about W.G. Grace’s career totals are: (a) when did Grace score his hundredth first-class century; (b) how many first-class centuries did he score; and (c) when did Jack Hobbs overtake his record total of first-class centuries?
At 1pm on 17 May 1895, in the Gloucestershire v Somerset match at County Cricket Ground, Bristol
, Sammy Woods
bowled a slow full toss, perhaps deliberately, which W.G. Grace dispatched to the boundary. Woods walked down the pitch and shook hands with the great man who had just completed his hundredth hundred, a century of centuries. It was an occasion for celebration: poems were written, commemorative plates were produced, Grace’s health was widely toasted. WG went on to make 126 career centuries.
At the time, it was widely if not universally accepted that Grace's list of centuries included a score of 152 in 1873 for the Gentlemen to Canada Touring Team v XV of MCC; and a score of 113 in 1879 for Gloucestershire v Somerset. Later statisticians have challenged the status of these two matches and have proposed that Grace in fact completed his hundredth first-class century for Gloucestershire v Middlesex at Lord's on 30 May 1895 when he scored 169. According to their statistics, WG's career total was 124, not 126.
On the morning of 17 August 1925, a Somerset v Surrey match was taking place at County Ground, Taunton. Jack Hobbs, 92 not out overnight, turned Jimmy Bridges
to leg and completed his 126th first-class century to equal Grace's career record. Percy Fender
brought out a wine glass for Hobbs to enjoy a celebratory drink (as he was a teetotaler, it is reputed that the glass contained only ginger ale). As Hobbs had been near to his century the previous evening, the press were present in large numbers. They departed with their stories and on the next day Somerset recovered from a first innings deficit of 192 to leave Surrey needing 183 to win. Andy Sandham
, Hobbs' opening partner, was in no hurry and Hobbs reached his 127th and world record century with the winning runs to give Surrey victory by 10 wickets. Such was the unexpected nature of Somerset's recovery that only a small crowd was there to celebrate.
If W.G. Grace's alternative figures are applied, Hobbs had created the world record (i.e., his 125th century) on 20 July 1925 when he scored 105 for Surrey v Kent at Blackheath. Hobbs has never surrendered the world record and he went on to make 197 career centuries. Or 199, according to another version (see below).
, and his alternative totals, that now appear on CricketArchive:
The "extra" 15 innings took place over 10 matches, listed below with his scores in each innings, that were accepted as first-class during his career but have subsequently been challenged:
Ashley-Cooper compiled Grace's batting averages to the end of the 1896 season and these were published in a series of articles in Cricket: A Weekly Record of the Game in late 1896 and early 1897. In the first article, Ashley-Cooper says:
It is interesting to note that, between this 1896 article and the 1916 obituary, Ashley-Cooper omits 3 matches played by Grace for the South Wales Cricket Club during its tour of the London area in the latter half of July 1865:
Furthermore, Ashley-Cooper includes the Oxford University v Gentlemen of England match at Oxford in May 1866 which he had previously omitted.
This demonstrates that even after 1896 the career figures were sufficiently uncertain that he revised the list of first-class matches. It would have been difficult for Ashley-Cooper to include and exclude matches in which Grace scored a century but clearly the career run total was sufficiently uncertain that matches in which he did not score a century could be added or removed without much comment.
One aspect of Ashley-Cooper's analysis that must be questioned is his assertion that the performances of Grace in a certain match should be regarded as first-class but that performances by other players should not. Clearly, if a match is first-class, then all players taking part must have the game included in their own first-class records.
Incidentally, the 1896 Wisden includes Grace's career figures to the end of the 1895 season and this gives the same number of centuries as the 1916 edition but his season totals differ in some respects.
game at The Oval on 26 July. But his bowling in the same matches was ignored. The match on 26 July was in fact a one-day filler that was played because the scheduled three-day North v. South match had finished a day early on 25 July. It is questionable if fillers have ever been regarded as major or first-class matches.
Grace's 1873 first-class aggregate was originally published in the 1874 edition of "Green Lilly" which includes the matches quoted in Grace's batting totals but not in his bowling totals. In the 1916 obituary in Wisden, Ashley-Cooper chose to add the wickets to Grace's bowling total rather than remove the runs from his batting total.
The inclusion of those wickets increased Grace's 1873 season bowling total to over 100 wickets and Ashley-Cooper realised that he had thereby manufactured the first-ever instance of a player performing the double. In all Wisdens before 1916, the records section has the first-ever double being performed by Grace in 1874.
Then, having included the three 1873 matches, Ashley-Cooper did the same with two similar matches in the 1872 season: Hertfordshire v MCC and another North v. South filler on 27 July. This is difficult to justify since these matches were not included in Grace's first-class totals that appear in the 1873 edition of "Green Lilly".
Another dubious match in 1873 is the one between an amateur team made up of those who had toured Canada and the USA in August and September 1872 and XV of the MCC. "Odds" matches are not usually regarded as first-class but there are exceptions, including two England v XIII of Kent matches played in 1878 and 1879, in which Grace took part. However, in the 1872 match, not only did the MCC team have 15 batsmen, they also had 15 players in the field. "Green Lilly" says: Before the publication of the names of the respective sides there was every prospect of a match at once worthy of the Transatlantic celebrity of Mr Fitzgerald
's team and the match-making sagacity of the Club Committee, but when the lists came out, not a few intending spectators of the contest made up their minds for a disappointment. There really did not appear on the side of the fifteen 'metal' enough to encourage the hope of a good fight.
The remaining area of uncertainly relates to the status of Somerset CCC. Grace played a number of matches for Gloucestershire against Somerset between 1879 and 1885.
The 1879 and 1881 matches were not included in the first-class averages in "Green Lilly" or James Lillywhite's Cricketers' Annual
(aka "Red Lilly"). In Wisden 1882, the editor states: As it is, the untiring energy of the executive will be rewarded by seeing Somersetshire (sic) classed with the first-class counties in the coming season. This statement clearly indicates that Wisden did not regard Somerset as first-class in 1881. For the 1882 season both "Green Lilly" and "Red Lilly" include Grace's performance against Somerset in his first-class figures and Wisden remarks that "Somersetshire's debut among the first-class counties was disappointing".
Grace's scores against Somerset in 1883 are included in his first-class totals in "Green Lilly" and "Red Lilly" and similarly his scores in 1885 are included in "Red Lilly" first-class totals, "Green Lilly" having ceased publication by that time. Cricket: A Weekly Record of the Game differs from the annuals and excludes Somerset from its first-class averages for the seasons 1882 to 1885. The Somerset games that involved Grace from 1882 to 1885 were:
CricketArchive has Somerset as first-class between 1882 and 1885 but not before then. Ashley-Cooper chose to classify the 1879 and 1881 Somerset matches as first-class and Wisden has continued to include these matches in Grace's totals.
It is worth noting that until publication of the ACS lists in the 1970s, Somerset's own publications had treated the club as first-class only since its entry into the County Championship in 1891. Since the ACS published its lists, Somerset's publications have included the matches between 1882 and 1885 as first-class but not those before 1882.
is particularly confusing in this regard as for Alfred Shaw
the wicket total is given as 2026+1, indicating the 1 wicket where the runs conceded is not known.
The Cricket Archive totals are 50,980 runs conceded and 2809 wickets taken. Many of the differences are because of the exclusion of the 10 matches listed above, in which he took 68 wickets (including all 12 of the wickets taken in innings where the runs conceded are not known). There are however a number of instances where the bowling figures differ from those used by Ashley-Cooper. Three of these result in changes to the number of wickets taken:
is simpler than with Grace and relates to a match for The Reef v MCC during the tour of South Africa in 1909–10; and the tour of India and Ceylon by the Maharajkumar of Vizianagram
's team in 1930-31. He did not score a century in the 1909–10 match but scored two in the 1930-31 tour.
Given that he was near the end of his career in 1930-31, his centuries total is subject to variation from this time only, when he had already scored over 170 centuries. Therefore, the date of his 100th century is uncontested and the date on which he passed Grace's total of centuries is only affected by different versions of Grace’s own centuries total.
The table below summarises Jack Hobbs' career figures with his original totals, as calculated by Wisden, and his alternative totals, that now appear on CricketArchive:
Wisden 1931 (part 1, page 329) states:
Wisden therefore decided to ignore the ruling and has continued to recognise this match as first-class. Playfair also recognises the match but other sources including CricketArchive have accepted the SABC ruling and do not recognise it. It is possible that the SABC thought it was a 2 day match, but Wisden 1911 clearly states that "not a ball could be bowled on the first and fourth days" so it was actually planned as a 4 day match.
Playfair and Wisden figures exclude this tour. CricketArchive includes it. Hobbs played in 9 matches with 12 innings, 1 not out, 593 runs, 2 centuries. See below re Herbert Sutcliffe.
An MCC tour of India was planned for 1930-31 but due to civil disturbances it was cancelled. The Maharajkumar of Vizianagram (aka Vizzy) determined to organise his own tour which included many of India's principal players. In addition, Jack Hobbs and Herbert Sutcliffe were engaged. The matches were not reported in Wisden and are not included in its career totals for either Hobbs or Sutcliffe. At the time, Wisden rarely reported on Indian cricket except for the Bombay Tournament
. Vizzy's team also toured Ceylon and played 3 three-day matches that were similarly disregarded by Wisden. They were however prominently featured in The Cricketer Spring Annual for 1932. In these matches, Jack Hobbs scored two centuries in Ceylon while Herbert Sutcliffe scored one century in India and one in Ceylon.
A detailed comparison of differences between various publications was produced by Philip Bailey in 1987.
Surrey v Essex at Leyton
Wisden 1897 and CricketArchive have different scorecard data. In the Surrey second innings, Wisden has Bobby Abel
4 and Tom Hayward
8 while CricketArchive has Abel 8 and Hayward 4.
White's difference is sourced to Somerset v Surrey at Recreation Ground (Bath)
in 1920. In the second innings, Wisden has Bill Hitch
b White while CricketArchive has him b Jimmy Bridges
.
See also: Variations in Test cricket statistics
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
matches played before 1947. As a result, historians and statisticians have compiled differing lists of matches that they recognise as first-class
First-class cricket
First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...
. The problem is significant where it touches on some of the sport's major records and especially the playing career of W.G. Grace.
Concept and definition of first-class cricket
The concept of first-class cricketFirst-class cricket
First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...
originated in May 1894 at a meeting of the Marylebone Cricket Club
Marylebone Cricket Club
Marylebone Cricket Club is a cricket club in London founded in 1787. Its influence and longevity now witness it as a private members' club dedicated to the development of cricket. It owns, and is based at, Lord's Cricket Ground in St John's Wood, London NW8. MCC was formerly the governing body of...
(MCC) committee and the secretaries of the clubs involved in the official County Championship
County Championship
The County Championship is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales...
, which had begun in 1890. As a result, those clubs became first-class from 1895 along with MCC, Cambridge University
Cambridge University Cricket Club
Cambridge University Cricket Club is a first-class cricket team. It now plays all but one of its first-class cricket matches as part of the Cambridge University Centre of Cricketing Excellence , which includes Anglia Ruskin University...
, Oxford University
Oxford University Cricket Club
Oxford University Cricket Club is a first-class cricket team, representing the University of Oxford. It plays its home games at the University Parks in Oxford, England...
, major cricket touring teams and other teams designated as such by MCC.
First-class cricket was formally defined by the then Imperial Cricket Conference
International Cricket Council
The International Cricket Council is the international governing body of cricket. It was founded as the Imperial Cricket Conference in 1909 by representatives from England, Australia and South Africa, renamed the International Cricket Conference in 1965, and took up its current name in 1989.The...
(ICC) in May 1947 as a match of three or more days' duration between two sides of eleven players officially adjudged first-class; the governing body in each country to decide the status of teams. Significantly, it was stated that the definition does not have retrospective effect.
The absence of any ruling about matches played before 1947 (or before 1895 in Great Britain) has caused problems for cricket historians and especially statisticians. Matches that meet the official definitions, assuming they featured teams of the necessary high standard, have been recorded since 1697. It was inevitable that historians and statisticians would seek to apply first-class status retrospectively, in contravention of the ICC and MCC directives. The position is that each writer must compile his own list based on his personal opinions. As a result, significant differences may be observed in published statistical records with particular impact on the career records of W.G. Grace, Jack Hobbs
Jack Hobbs
Sir John Berry "Jack" Hobbs was an English professional cricketer who played for Surrey from 1905 to 1934 and for England in 61 Test matches from 1908 to 1930....
and Herbert Sutcliffe
Herbert Sutcliffe
Herbert Sutcliffe was an English professional cricketer who represented Yorkshire and England as an opening batsman. Apart from one match in 1945, his first-class career spanned the period between the two World Wars...
. There are differences in the perceived status of certain matches played by Gloucestershire teams before the county club
Gloucestershire County Cricket Club
Gloucestershire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Gloucestershire. Its limited overs team is called the Gloucestershire Gladiators....
was formed in 1870 and by Somerset
Somerset County Cricket Club
Somerset County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Somerset...
in 1879 and 1881.
One of the problems is that statisticians have tended not to publish their match lists with their findings. However, it should be noted that the number of differences is extremely small in terms of the sport's overall statistics. The status of pre-definition matches is primarily a statistical concern rather than a historical one. Historians record the importance of a match in contemporary terms regardless of statistical hindsight.
Development of scoring to 1895
The problem of different versions is as old as cricket scorecards themselves. The earliest known scorecards are dated 1744 but very few were created (or have survived) between 1744 and 1772 when they became habitual.The main source for scorecards since 1772 until the 1860s is Arthur Haygarth
Arthur Haygarth
Arthur Haygarth was a noted amateur cricketer who became one of cricket's most significant historians....
’s Scores & Biographies, which was published in several volumes. Haygarth used a number of sources for his scorecards including many that were created by the Hambledon Club
Hambledon Club
The Hambledon Club was a social club that is famous for its organisation of 18th century cricket matches. By the late 1770s it was the foremost cricket club in England.-Foundation:...
and MCC. He frequently refers to earlier compilers such as Samuel Britcher
Samuel Britcher
Samuel Britcher was a cricket scorer and archivist who recorded the full scorecards of numerous matches played in the early years of Marylebone Cricket Club after its official foundation during the 1787 English cricket season.Britcher is believed to have been MCC's first official scorer and he...
, W Epps
W Epps
W Epps was an English cricket writer and historian who was active in the late 18th century. He is noted for compiling Grand Matches of Cricket 1771 to 1791, published by Rochester Publishing Co. in 1799...
and Henry Bentley
Henry Bentley (cricketer)
Henry Bentley was an English first-class cricketer who played for MCC, Middlesex and Hampshire in 68 matches from 1798 to 1822....
. Haygarth often mentions in his match summaries that another version exists of the scorecard he has reproduced. Sometimes he outlines the differences which range from players' names to runs scored and even to apparent discrepancies in innings totals or match results.
Broadhalfpenny Down
Broadhalfpenny Down, situated on a hilltop about a mile from the rural village of Hambledon in Hampshire, was the home venue for first-class cricket matches of the Hambledon Club from 1753 to 1781...
on 26 August 1773:
- "The Score of this match was obtained from the Hampshire Chronicle, and it was not inserted in the old printed book of Hambledon Scores from 1772 to 1784".
Then, in his summary of the Surrey v Hampshire match at Laleham Burway
Laleham Burway
Laleham Burway is a tract of meadow land on the River Thames near Chertsey in Surrey. Part of it was a famous major cricket venue in the 18th century and the home of Chertsey Cricket Club.-Earliest known matches:...
on 6-8 July 1775:
- "The above is taken from the old printed score books; but in another account, in the first innings of SurreySurrey county cricket teamsSurrey county cricket teams have been traced back to the 17th century but the county's involvement in cricket goes back much further than that. The first definite mention of cricket anywhere in the world is dated c.1550 in Guildford.-17th century:...
, Miller is b BrettThomas BrettThomas Brett was one of first-class cricket's earliest well-known fast bowlers and a leading player for Hampshire when its team was organised by the Hambledon Club in the 1770s.-Career:Noted for his pace and his accuracy, Brett was a leading wicket taker in the 1770s and was lauded by John...
...&c".
He goes on to list a total of 13 differences between his two versions, some re dismissal details and others re scores. He then makes a highly pertinent comment:
- "It may here be remarked, that when there are two scores of the same match, they never agree" (the italics are Haygarth's own).
In saying that, Haygarth has recognised the essence of the problem when there is no standard means of scoring and no centralised control over the system of capturing and storing the data. Scoring systems in the 18th century and most of the 19th century had nothing like the consistency of standard that was employed through the 20th century to the present. Many early cards gave no details of dismissal. Where dismissal was recorded, it was limited to the primary mode and so a fielder would be credited with a catch but the bowler would not be credited with the wicket unless he bowled out the batsman. MCC finally responded to the problem in 1836 when they decided to include in their own scorecards (i.e., for matches played at Lord's) the addition of bowlers' names when the dismissal was caught, stumped, lbw or hit wicket. Haygarth comments that "this was a vast improvement in recording the game and but justice to the bowler". As a result, scorecards became more detailed through the second half of the 19th century but reliability remained a problem and different versions continued to appear. It was some time before the MCC scorecard standard was adopted throughout the country and the inclusion of bowling analyses "was not introduced until several years afterwards".
A greater problem surfaced after 1890 with the establishment of the County Championship because, as described above, this gave rise in 1895 to the concept of first-class cricket and so, for the first time, there was a perceived higher standard based on organisation of games in an official competition. Until then, everything had been somewhat ad hoc and playing standards was a term applied very liberally, especially with teams containing guest or occasional players in addition to recognised players.
England
The earliest mainstream publication of cricket statistics was done by members of the Lillywhite family. Frederick LillywhiteFred Lillywhite
Frederick Lillywhite was a sports outfitter and cricketing entrepreneur, who organised the first overseas cricket tour by an English team and published a number of reference works about cricket.-Cricketing dynasty:...
, son of William Lillywhite
William Lillywhite
Frederick William Lillywhite was a famous English cricketer during the game's roundarm era...
, first published his Guide to Cricketers in 1848. In 1865, his brother John
John Lillywhite
John Lillywhite was an English cricketer during the game's roundarm era....
published his Cricketer's Companion (known as "Green Lilly" on account of its cover). Two years later the two were amalgamated with the Companion "incorporating" the Guide. In 1872, their cousin James Lillywhite junior
James Lillywhite
James Lillywhite was a first-class and Test cricketer and umpire. He was the first ever captain of the English cricket team in a Test match, captaining 2 Tests against Australia in 1876-77, losing the first, but winning the second.Lillywhite was born in Westhampnett in Sussex, the son of a...
, started his Cricketers' Annual (known as "Red Lilly"). A further period of competition ensued until another amalgamation in 1880 created John and James Lillywhite's Cricketer's Companion, still incorporating the Guide. This survived until 1883 when James announced he was "now sole proprietor". After 1885, the Companion was incorporated with the Annual, which continued until 1900.
In 1864, John Wisden
John Wisden
John Wisden was an English cricketer who played 190 first-class cricket matches for three English county cricket teams, Kent, Middlesex and Sussex...
introduced his Wisden Cricketers' Almanack
Wisden Cricketers' Almanack
Wisden Cricketers' Almanack is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom...
which, after an uncertain start, went on to become "the cricketers' Bible". Meanwhile, Arthur Haygarth
Arthur Haygarth
Arthur Haygarth was a noted amateur cricketer who became one of cricket's most significant historians....
published his Scores and Biographies for Frederick Lillywhite from 1862 to 1871 but these were not statistical as such, rather a record of known scorecards.
The concept of a first-class level of cricket seems to have taken hold in the 1860s, perhaps through the influence of the Guide to Cricketers, and W.G. Grace certainly considered his matches in 1864 to have been first-class. But Grace's "first-class career" was effectively defined after his death when
F.S. Ashley-Cooper compiled a season-by-season record which supplemented Grace's obituary in the 1916 Wisden. This record became Grace's "traditional figures" and, as described later, was the statistical basis for the celebrations in 1925 when Jack Hobbs overtook the total of 126 career centuries that Ashley-Cooper had allocated to Grace.
Playfair Cricket Annual
Playfair Cricket Annual
Playfair Cricket Annual is a compact annual about cricket that is published in the United Kingdom each April, just before the English cricket season is due to begin. Its main purposes are to review the previous English season and to provide detailed career records and potted biographies of current...
began in 1947 but followed Wisden in statistical terms. In 1951, Roy Webber
Roy Webber
Roy Webber was a British cricket scorer and statistician. After World War II, in which he served with the Royal Air Force, he decided to turn what had been his hobby into his profession. He had the necessary proficiency with figures, having previously been an accountant. He was the scorer for BBC...
published his Playfair Book of Cricket Records in 1951 and, in his introduction, expressed the view that first-class records should commence in 1864. A number of sources have agreed with this date. Webber then commenced a review of 19th century matches and later published his version of Grace's career record, declaring that Ashley-Cooper had allocated first-class status to a number of minor matches.
Bill Frindall
Bill Frindall
William Howard Frindall, MBE was an English cricket scorer and statistician. He was familiar to cricket followers from his appearances on the BBC Radio 4 programme Test Match Special, nicknamed the Bearded Wonder by Brian Johnston for his ability to research the most obscure cricketing facts in...
published The Kaye Book of Cricket Records in 1968 and subsequently several editions of his Wisden Book of Cricket Records. As he explained in the preface to one of the Wisden editions, he favoured 1815 as the starting point for "proper" first-class cricket, though he conceded that there is a reasonable case for several other years, particularly Webber's 1864. Frindall thus included the entire roundarm era
Roundarm bowling
In cricket, roundarm bowling is a style that was introduced in the first quarter of the 19th century and had largely superseded underarm bowling by the 1830s. Using a roundarm action, the bowler has his arm extended at about 90 degrees from his body at the point where he releases the ball...
but also a substantial part of the underarm era
Underarm bowling
In cricket, underarm bowling is as old as the sport itself. Until the introduction of the roundarm style in the first half of the 19th century, bowling was performed in the same way as in bowls, the ball being delivered with the hand below the waist...
. Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, for which Frindall was the chief statistician, also commences its first-class records section in 1815.
Soon after the Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians
Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians
The Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians was founded in England in 1973 for the purpose of researching and collating information about the history and statistics of cricket...
(ACS) was founded in 1973, Rowland Bowen
Rowland Bowen
Major Rowland Francis Bowen was a cricket researcher, historian and writer....
was among the first to raise doubts in its journal that there could ever be a generally acknowledged list of first-class matches. In 1976, the ACS produced a booklet, A Guide to First-class Cricket Matches played in the British Isles, outlining its view of the first-class matches played from 1864 to 1946. This was followed by booklets covering other countries and, in 1981, A Guide to Important Cricket Matches played in the British Isles 1709–1863. From 1996, the ACS produced a further series of booklets giving complete scorecards of matches from 1801 that it now considered first-class. The ACS gave in its journal a number of reasons for taking its startpoint back from 1864 to 1801, among them an agreement with Frindall's view that standards of play during the roundarm era
Roundarm bowling
In cricket, roundarm bowling is a style that was introduced in the first quarter of the 19th century and had largely superseded underarm bowling by the 1830s. Using a roundarm action, the bowler has his arm extended at about 90 degrees from his body at the point where he releases the ball...
were as high as in the overarm era
Overarm bowling
In cricket, overarm bowling refers to a delivery in which the bowler's hand is above shoulder height. This is in contrast to a roundarm delivery, where the hand is between shoulder height and waist height; and an underarm delivery where the bowler's hand is below waist height.After roundarm was...
. The ACS disagreed with Frindall about 1815 because it wanted to include the full set of Gentlemen v Players
Gentlemen v Players
The Gentlemen v Players game was a first-class cricket match that was generally played on an annual basis between one team consisting of amateurs and one of professionals . The first two games took place in 1806 but the fixture was not revived until 1819. It was more or less annual thereafter...
fixtures that began in 1806. It chose 1801 as a date of convenience and thereby set up a division between the 18th and 19th centuries, which was contested by several people, including many ACS members, who recognised 1772 as the startpoint, given the availability of data in surviving scorecards from that season. In its spring 2006 journal, the ACS admitted that it could not decide upon its position vis-à-vis 18th century records because of "missing or incomplete scorecards". But it is by no means certain that there is a complete statistical record of matches between 1801 and 1825 either, especially given the loss of records in the catastrophic Lord's
Lord's Cricket Ground
Lord's Cricket Ground is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and Wales Cricket Board , the European Cricket Council and, until August 2005, the...
fire. Certainly, there are no complete bowling figures in that period, or until 1836, and the surviving scorecards are similar in standard and content to 18th century scorecards.
In 2005, scorecards and other details of all known matches prior to 1801 were loaded into the CricketArchive database and there classified as "major" or "minor" pending an overall accord with other sources about first-class status. CricketArchive’s major classification effectively stated a view that the matches concerned were first-class providing they were not single wicket
Single Wicket
Single wicket cricket is a form of cricket played between two individuals, who take turns to bat and bowl against each other. The one bowling is assisted by a team of fielders, who remain as fielders at the change of innings. The winner is the one who scores more runs...
, the other form of major cricket that was popular in the 18th century. In 2007, Stumpsite published its Classification of cricket matches from 1697 to 1825, in which statistical first-class status began in 1772. Similar lists had already been published online and in the Cricket Statistician by the ACS. In early 2010, CricketArchive reorganised its classification of first-class matches to commence with the 1772 season. The handful of earlier scorecards, including the two in 1744, are arguably too isolated for inclusion. In this sense, the statistical record is divorced from the historical record which includes all significant matches, dating from 1697, for which no scorecard has survived. Contrary to Bowen's view, there is now a general accord, apart from a few matters of detail, in terms of statistical first-class status.
The issue with using any cut-off date as a startpoint is that it excludes everything before that date despite cricket's history making clear that there has been a continuous standard of top-class cricket in England since the late 17th century. It is true that none of the cricketers with large career totals played before 1864 (Webber's main reason for adopting that date) and so his startpoint was not really an issue in that context. But it does exclude numerous major players and it does affect other cricket records. If first-class cricket did not begin until 1864, then legendary cricketers like Richard Newland
Richard Newland
Richard Newland was an English cricketer in the mid-Georgian period who played for Slindon Cricket Club and Sussex under the patronage of Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond. He also represented various All-England teams...
, John Small, William Beldham, Alfred Mynn
Alfred Mynn
Alfred Mynn was an English cricketer during the game's "Roundarm Era". He was a genuine all-rounder, being both an attacking right-handed batsman and a formidable right arm fast bowler. The noted cricket writer John Woodcock ranked him as the fourth greatest cricketer of all time. Simon Wilde...
and William Caffyn
William Caffyn
William "Billy" Caffyn was a famous English cricketer who played for Surrey CCC and the All-England Eleven.-Surrey and All-England:...
were not first-class players. Among records, the lowest known team score occurred in the 1810 match between All-England
All-England Eleven
In cricket, the term All-England has been used for various non-international teams that have been formed for short-term purposes since the 1739 English cricket season and it indicates that the "Rest of England" is playing against, say, MCC or an individual county team...
and The Bs
The Bs
The Bs was an occasional team that played first-class cricket in the first half of the 19th century in matches against All-England and Marylebone Cricket Club . The team ostensibly consisted of players whose surname began with the letter B given that there were numerous top-class players at that...
(with Wells and Lawrell) when The Bs were dismissed for 6 in their second innings; and that match is not regarded as first-class by those statisticians who still use 1815 or 1864 as their statistical startpoint. The real significance of 1864 was the legalisation of overarm bowling
Overarm bowling
In cricket, overarm bowling refers to a delivery in which the bowler's hand is above shoulder height. This is in contrast to a roundarm delivery, where the hand is between shoulder height and waist height; and an underarm delivery where the bowler's hand is below waist height.After roundarm was...
but there is also evidence of a more structured approach to inter-county cricket which ultimately brought about the introduction of the official County Championship. 1864 was also the first year in which Wisden Cricketers' Almanack was published and this is seen as the key source for cricket records, although there are plenty of earlier sources.
The problem with 1815, if the intention is to include roundarm, is that roundarm did not begin in any real sense until 1827 and was not legalised until 1835; and even then the Laws had to be reinforced in 1845 by removing the benefit of the doubt from the bowler in the matter of his hand’s height when delivering the ball. For most of the period from 1815 to 1845, underarm bowling continued to prevail and so 1815 as the startpoint was resisted by champions of the "underarm era" which had existed from time immemorial.
The fire at Lord's occurred on the night of Thursday 28 July 1825. The pavilion burned down and many invaluable and irreplaceable records were lost. It is believed that these included unique scorecards of early matches. The main difficulty encountered by researchers is the absence of match details from before the Lord's fire, and there are numerous matches in the 18th century which are known about in name only, with no scores having survived.
Other countries
CricketArchive is clear about the first-class startpoints in other countries and these seem to be agreed by other sources:- Australia – February 1851.
- New Zealand – January 1864.
- West Indies – February 1865.
- First-class cricket in the other TestTest cricketTest cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...
nations began much later. The inaugural first-class match in South Africa was also the country's first Test match in March 1889.
- India – August 1892.
- In addition, first-class cricket in North America is deemed to have begun in 1878.
Centuries
The first-class career of W.G. Grace began in 1865 and continued through a record-equalling 44 seasons to 1908. There is general agreement about the status of his matches after the 1890 watershed but a measure of disagreement about the status of some of his earlier games. Grace's "original" career totals were compiled by F S Ashley-Cooper and added to his obituary in the 1916 Wisden.The first statistician to make a significant challenge to these "accepted figures" was Roy Webber, who published the Playfair Book of Cricket Records in 1951. This deferred to the Wisden version re Grace. During the 1950s, Webber made a detailed study of Grace's career and in the February 1961 edition of Playfair Cricket Monthly
Playfair Cricket Monthly
Playfair Cricket Monthly was a monthly British cricket magazine that ran from May, 1960 to April, 1973, when it was absorbed by The Cricketer. Its comprehensive statistical content was taken on by The Cricketer Quarterly. It was edited by Gordon Ross and - until his death in 1962 - Roy Webber...
, he presented his own revised figures by excluding matches he did not regard as first-class.
In his later record books (e.g., The Book of Cricket Records, concise edition, 1963), Webber quoted both versions, referring to the Wisden totals as the "accepted figures" and his own as the "corrected figures". But Webber excluded Grace's 1873 "double"
Double (cricket)
A cricketer is said to achieve the double if he scores a thousand or more runs and also takes a hundred or more wickets in first-class matches during the course of a single season. The feat is extremely rare outside England because of the smaller number of first-class matches played in most other...
to indicate that he preferred the "corrected figures". The same approach was used by Bill Frindall
Bill Frindall
William Howard Frindall, MBE was an English cricket scorer and statistician. He was familiar to cricket followers from his appearances on the BBC Radio 4 programme Test Match Special, nicknamed the Bearded Wonder by Brian Johnston for his ability to research the most obscure cricketing facts in...
in his Kaye Book of Cricket Records published in 1968. Webber's "corrected figures" are based on a different matchlist to that subsequently created by the Association of Cricket Statisticians (ACS) in the 1970s. The differences here are that Webber includes the Gloucestershire match of 1868 but excludes two England v XIII of Kent matches played in 1878 and 1879. He excludes all five Gloucestershire v Somerset matches between 1882 and 1885 (see below).
The main issues arising from the disagreement about W.G. Grace’s career totals are: (a) when did Grace score his hundredth first-class century; (b) how many first-class centuries did he score; and (c) when did Jack Hobbs overtake his record total of first-class centuries?
At 1pm on 17 May 1895, in the Gloucestershire v Somerset match at County Cricket Ground, Bristol
County Cricket Ground, Bristol
The County Cricket Ground is a cricket venue in Bristol, England. It is in the district of Ashley Down. The ground is home to the Gloucestershire County Cricket Club....
, Sammy Woods
Sammy Woods
Samuel Moses James "Sammy" Woods was an Australian sportsman who represented both Australia and England at Test cricket, and appeared thirteen times for England at rugby union, including five times as captain. He also played at county level in England at both soccer and hockey...
bowled a slow full toss, perhaps deliberately, which W.G. Grace dispatched to the boundary. Woods walked down the pitch and shook hands with the great man who had just completed his hundredth hundred, a century of centuries. It was an occasion for celebration: poems were written, commemorative plates were produced, Grace’s health was widely toasted. WG went on to make 126 career centuries.
At the time, it was widely if not universally accepted that Grace's list of centuries included a score of 152 in 1873 for the Gentlemen to Canada Touring Team v XV of MCC; and a score of 113 in 1879 for Gloucestershire v Somerset. Later statisticians have challenged the status of these two matches and have proposed that Grace in fact completed his hundredth first-class century for Gloucestershire v Middlesex at Lord's on 30 May 1895 when he scored 169. According to their statistics, WG's career total was 124, not 126.
On the morning of 17 August 1925, a Somerset v Surrey match was taking place at County Ground, Taunton. Jack Hobbs, 92 not out overnight, turned Jimmy Bridges
Jimmy Bridges
James John Bridges was an English cricketer who played for Somerset from 1911 to 1929.Bridges was a right-arm fast-medium bowler who batted right-handed....
to leg and completed his 126th first-class century to equal Grace's career record. Percy Fender
Percy Fender
Percy George Herbert Fender was an English all-round cricketer who played 13 Tests for England. He was a middle order batsman and bowled mainly leg spin.-Biography:...
brought out a wine glass for Hobbs to enjoy a celebratory drink (as he was a teetotaler, it is reputed that the glass contained only ginger ale). As Hobbs had been near to his century the previous evening, the press were present in large numbers. They departed with their stories and on the next day Somerset recovered from a first innings deficit of 192 to leave Surrey needing 183 to win. Andy Sandham
Andy Sandham
Andrew Sandham was an English cricketer, a right-handed batsman who played 14 Test matches between 1921 and 1930. He scored over 40,000 first-class runs, but bowled only very rarely; he took just 18 wickets in his career.Sandham made his Surrey debut in 1911, and was capped in 1913...
, Hobbs' opening partner, was in no hurry and Hobbs reached his 127th and world record century with the winning runs to give Surrey victory by 10 wickets. Such was the unexpected nature of Somerset's recovery that only a small crowd was there to celebrate.
If W.G. Grace's alternative figures are applied, Hobbs had created the world record (i.e., his 125th century) on 20 July 1925 when he scored 105 for Surrey v Kent at Blackheath. Hobbs has never surrendered the world record and he went on to make 197 career centuries. Or 199, according to another version (see below).
Grace's career batting figures
The table below summarises W.G. Grace's career figures with his original totals, as calculated by Wisden Cricketers' AlmanackWisden Cricketers' Almanack
Wisden Cricketers' Almanack is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom...
, and his alternative totals, that now appear on CricketArchive:
| career | I | NO | Runs | Avge | HS | 100 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 'original' | 1865–1908 | 1493 | 105 | 54896 | 39.55 | 344 | 126 |
| 'alternative' | 1865–1908 | 1478 | 104 | 54211 | 39.45 | 344 | 124 |
The "extra" 15 innings took place over 10 matches, listed below with his scores in each innings, that were accepted as first-class during his career but have subsequently been challenged:
- 1868 MCC v Gloucestershire at Lord's – 24, 13
- 1872 Hertfordshire v MCC at Chorley Wood – 0, 75
- 1872 South v North at The OvalThe OvalThe Kia Oval, still commonly referred to by its original name of The Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, in the London Borough of Lambeth. In the past it was also sometimes called the Kennington Oval...
– 1 - 1873 Hertfordshire v MCC at Chorley Wood – 47,26
- 1873 MCC v Staffordshire at Lord's – 67
- 1873 XV of MCC v Gentlemen to Canada Touring Team at Lord's – 152, 5
- 1873 South v North at The Oval – 37*
- 1879 Gloucestershire v Somerset at Clifton CollegeClifton CollegeClifton College is a co-educational independent school in Clifton, Bristol, England, founded in 1862. In its early years it was notable for emphasising science in the curriculum, and for being less concerned with social elitism, e.g. by admitting day-boys on equal terms and providing a dedicated...
– 113 - 1881 Somerset v Gloucestershire at Lansdown CC, Bath – 80
- 1881 Gloucestershire v Somerset at Cheltenham CollegeCheltenham CollegeCheltenham College is a co-educational independent school, located in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England.One of the public schools of the Victorian period, it was opened in July 1841. An Anglican foundation, it is known for its classical, military and sporting traditions.The 1893 book Great...
– 15, 30
1916 Wisden totals
Grace's "original" totals were compiled by F S Ashley-Cooper and added to his obituary in the 1916 Wisden. The only comment there on which matches were regarded as first-class is given on page 96:- The above figures, which have been checked most carefully throughout, will be found to differ in several instances from those given in the cricket publications of the sixties and seventies; but, considering that the handbooks of that period frequently contradicted each other, and that the averages given in one seldom, if ever, agreed with those tabulated in another, that is not surprising.
Ashley-Cooper compiled Grace's batting averages to the end of the 1896 season and these were published in a series of articles in Cricket: A Weekly Record of the Game in late 1896 and early 1897. In the first article, Ashley-Cooper says:
- I have included MCC v Herts and MCC v Staffordshire, which, although not really first-class, have always been reckoned in WG's averages for 1873.
It is interesting to note that, between this 1896 article and the 1916 obituary, Ashley-Cooper omits 3 matches played by Grace for the South Wales Cricket Club during its tour of the London area in the latter half of July 1865:
Furthermore, Ashley-Cooper includes the Oxford University v Gentlemen of England match at Oxford in May 1866 which he had previously omitted.
This demonstrates that even after 1896 the career figures were sufficiently uncertain that he revised the list of first-class matches. It would have been difficult for Ashley-Cooper to include and exclude matches in which Grace scored a century but clearly the career run total was sufficiently uncertain that matches in which he did not score a century could be added or removed without much comment.
One aspect of Ashley-Cooper's analysis that must be questioned is his assertion that the performances of Grace in a certain match should be regarded as first-class but that performances by other players should not. Clearly, if a match is first-class, then all players taking part must have the game included in their own first-class records.
Incidentally, the 1896 Wisden includes Grace's career figures to the end of the 1895 season and this gives the same number of centuries as the 1916 edition but his season totals differ in some respects.
1868 match
Gloucestershire matches are generally regarded as first-class from 1870 onwards. The 1869 edition of John Lillywhite's Cricketer's Companion (aka "Green Lilly") does not include the 1868 MCC v Gloucestershire match in Grace's first-class figures but Ashley-Cooper retrospectively chose to add it to his totals for the season.1873 matches
The 1873 games typify the loose manner in which statistics were compiled in those days. Grace's first-class batting aggregate for that season included his scores in the MCC matches against Hertfordshire and Staffordshire; and in the North v. SouthNorth v. South
The North of England and South of England teams appeared in first-class cricket between the 1836 and 1961 seasons, most often in matches against each other but also individually in games against touring teams, MCC and others....
game at The Oval on 26 July. But his bowling in the same matches was ignored. The match on 26 July was in fact a one-day filler that was played because the scheduled three-day North v. South match had finished a day early on 25 July. It is questionable if fillers have ever been regarded as major or first-class matches.
Grace's 1873 first-class aggregate was originally published in the 1874 edition of "Green Lilly" which includes the matches quoted in Grace's batting totals but not in his bowling totals. In the 1916 obituary in Wisden, Ashley-Cooper chose to add the wickets to Grace's bowling total rather than remove the runs from his batting total.
The inclusion of those wickets increased Grace's 1873 season bowling total to over 100 wickets and Ashley-Cooper realised that he had thereby manufactured the first-ever instance of a player performing the double. In all Wisdens before 1916, the records section has the first-ever double being performed by Grace in 1874.
Then, having included the three 1873 matches, Ashley-Cooper did the same with two similar matches in the 1872 season: Hertfordshire v MCC and another North v. South filler on 27 July. This is difficult to justify since these matches were not included in Grace's first-class totals that appear in the 1873 edition of "Green Lilly".
Another dubious match in 1873 is the one between an amateur team made up of those who had toured Canada and the USA in August and September 1872 and XV of the MCC. "Odds" matches are not usually regarded as first-class but there are exceptions, including two England v XIII of Kent matches played in 1878 and 1879, in which Grace took part. However, in the 1872 match, not only did the MCC team have 15 batsmen, they also had 15 players in the field. "Green Lilly" says: Before the publication of the names of the respective sides there was every prospect of a match at once worthy of the Transatlantic celebrity of Mr Fitzgerald
Robert Allan Fitzgerald
Robert Allan "Fitz" Fitzgerald was an English cricketer and administrator who served as MCC Secretary....
's team and the match-making sagacity of the Club Committee, but when the lists came out, not a few intending spectators of the contest made up their minds for a disappointment. There really did not appear on the side of the fifteen 'metal' enough to encourage the hope of a good fight.
Status of Somerset matches
The 1879 and 1881 matches were not included in the first-class averages in "Green Lilly" or James Lillywhite's Cricketers' Annual
James Lillywhite's Cricketers' Annual
James Lillywhite's Cricketers' Annual was a cricket annual edited by Charles W Alcock the secretary of Surrey County Cricket Club between 1872 and 1900. It is generally referred to as Red Lillywhite because of colour of the cover. It was published by James Lillywhite, Frowd & Co...
(aka "Red Lilly"). In Wisden 1882, the editor states: As it is, the untiring energy of the executive will be rewarded by seeing Somersetshire (sic) classed with the first-class counties in the coming season. This statement clearly indicates that Wisden did not regard Somerset as first-class in 1881. For the 1882 season both "Green Lilly" and "Red Lilly" include Grace's performance against Somerset in his first-class figures and Wisden remarks that "Somersetshire's debut among the first-class counties was disappointing".
Grace's scores against Somerset in 1883 are included in his first-class totals in "Green Lilly" and "Red Lilly" and similarly his scores in 1885 are included in "Red Lilly" first-class totals, "Green Lilly" having ceased publication by that time. Cricket: A Weekly Record of the Game differs from the annuals and excludes Somerset from its first-class averages for the seasons 1882 to 1885. The Somerset games that involved Grace from 1882 to 1885 were:
- 1882 Gloucestershire v Somerset at Spa Ground, Gloucester
- 1883 Gloucestershire v Somerset at Clifton College
- 1883 Somerset v Gloucestershire at Taunton
- 1885 Gloucestershire v Somerset at Moreton-in-Marsh
- 1885 Somerset v Gloucestershire at Taunton
CricketArchive has Somerset as first-class between 1882 and 1885 but not before then. Ashley-Cooper chose to classify the 1879 and 1881 Somerset matches as first-class and Wisden has continued to include these matches in Grace's totals.
It is worth noting that until publication of the ACS lists in the 1970s, Somerset's own publications had treated the club as first-class only since its entry into the County Championship in 1891. Since the ACS published its lists, Somerset's publications have included the matches between 1882 and 1885 as first-class but not those before 1882.
Grace's career bowling figures
Although not so controversial, there are also different versions of Grace's career bowling figures. In the 1916 Wisden obituary, his figures are 51,545 runs conceded, 2864 wickets + 12 wickets taken in innings where the runs conceded is not known, resulting in an average of 17.99. For some unknown reason the modern publications using these totals have added the wickets totals together (i.e. 2876) and give a resulting average of 17.92. The 2006 Playfair Cricket AnnualPlayfair Cricket Annual
Playfair Cricket Annual is a compact annual about cricket that is published in the United Kingdom each April, just before the English cricket season is due to begin. Its main purposes are to review the previous English season and to provide detailed career records and potted biographies of current...
is particularly confusing in this regard as for Alfred Shaw
Alfred Shaw
Alfred Shaw was an eminent Victorian cricketer and rugby footballer, who bowled the first ball in Test cricket and was the first to take five wickets in a Test innings . He who organised the first British Isles rugby tour to Australasia in 1888...
the wicket total is given as 2026+1, indicating the 1 wicket where the runs conceded is not known.
The Cricket Archive totals are 50,980 runs conceded and 2809 wickets taken. Many of the differences are because of the exclusion of the 10 matches listed above, in which he took 68 wickets (including all 12 of the wickets taken in innings where the runs conceded are not known). There are however a number of instances where the bowling figures differ from those used by Ashley-Cooper. Three of these result in changes to the number of wickets taken:
- 1874 Sussex v Gloucestershire at County Cricket Ground, HoveCounty Cricket Ground, HoveThe County Cricket Ground, also known as the Probiz County Ground for sponsorship reasons, is a cricket venue in Hove, England. It is home to Sussex County Cricket Club. It is one of the few county grounds to have deckchairs for spectators - which are in the colours of Sussex CCC - blue and white....
1st innings – Hall b G F GraceFred GraceGeorge Frederick Grace was the youngest of the three Grace brothers to play Test cricket for England.Although his elder brothers E. M. and W. G...
; not W.G. Grace - 1876 Nottinghamshire v Gloucestershire at Trent BridgeTrent BridgeTrent Bridge is a Test, One-day international and County cricket ground located in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England and is also the headquarters of Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club. As well as International cricket and Nottinghamshire's home games, the ground has hosted the Finals Day of...
2nd innings – Padley c E M GraceE M GraceEdward Mills Grace was a member of the famous cricketing Grace family and the elder brother of W G Grace and Fred Grace...
b W.G. Grace; not c E M Grace b G F Grace - 1878 Gloucestershire v Lancashire at Clifton College 1st innings – Kershaw c E M Grace b W.G. Grace; not c E M Grace b G F Grace
Jack Hobbs
The situation with Jack HobbsJack Hobbs
Sir John Berry "Jack" Hobbs was an English professional cricketer who played for Surrey from 1905 to 1934 and for England in 61 Test matches from 1908 to 1930....
is simpler than with Grace and relates to a match for The Reef v MCC during the tour of South Africa in 1909–10; and the tour of India and Ceylon by the Maharajkumar of Vizianagram
Maharajkumar of Vizianagram
Lieutenant Colonel Sir Vijayananda Gajapathi Raju , better known as the Maharajkumar of Vizianagram or Vizzy, was an Indian cricketer, cricket administrator and politician.- Childhood :...
's team in 1930-31. He did not score a century in the 1909–10 match but scored two in the 1930-31 tour.
Given that he was near the end of his career in 1930-31, his centuries total is subject to variation from this time only, when he had already scored over 170 centuries. Therefore, the date of his 100th century is uncontested and the date on which he passed Grace's total of centuries is only affected by different versions of Grace’s own centuries total.
The table below summarises Jack Hobbs' career figures with his original totals, as calculated by Wisden, and his alternative totals, that now appear on CricketArchive:
| career | I | NO | Runs | Avge | HS | 100 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 'original' | 1905–1934 | 1315 | 106 | 61237 | 50.65 | 316* | 197 |
| 'alternative' | 1905–1934 | 1325 | 107 | 61760 | 50.70 | 316* | 199 |
The Reef v MCC 1909–10
Playfair and Wisden figures include this match. CricketArchive does not. Hobbs scored 39 and 31.Wisden 1931 (part 1, page 329) states:
- I have also to acknowledge receipt of a letter from Mr. H.E. Holmes of Durban, enclosing the text of a pronouncement made by the South African Board of ControlCricket South AfricaCricket South Africa is the governing body for professional and amateur cricket in South Africa. The board was originally created as the United Cricket Board of South Africa in 1991.-History:...
to the effect that, in the opinion of that body, the contest between the MCC team and The Reef at Vogelfontein on December 22 and 23, 1909, was not a first-class match. In the course of this encounter Hobbs scored 70 runs which are counted in his first-class aggregate. Seeing that the game was regarded, at the time it was played, as first-class and until a little while ago had been left in undisputed possession of that rank, the need for raising any question about the matter after more than twenty years is not at all obvious. In any circumstances, I should not advise the dragging up of what, with all due respect to the recent ruling of the South African Board, must remain a debatable matter. The Reef team included some Test match players and others who had appeared in Inter-State games so it certainly had considerable claims to be regarded as first-class and from that standing, I cannot, all things considered, agree after such a long lapse of time to reduce it. Outside the merits of the case, is there not something rather grotesque in the idea of a controlling body sitting in solemn conclave over so small a matter and deciding to upset what had been accepted for twenty years?
Wisden therefore decided to ignore the ruling and has continued to recognise this match as first-class. Playfair also recognises the match but other sources including CricketArchive have accepted the SABC ruling and do not recognise it. It is possible that the SABC thought it was a 2 day match, but Wisden 1911 clearly states that "not a ball could be bowled on the first and fourth days" so it was actually planned as a 4 day match.
1930-31 tour of India and Ceylon
An MCC tour of India was planned for 1930-31 but due to civil disturbances it was cancelled. The Maharajkumar of Vizianagram (aka Vizzy) determined to organise his own tour which included many of India's principal players. In addition, Jack Hobbs and Herbert Sutcliffe were engaged. The matches were not reported in Wisden and are not included in its career totals for either Hobbs or Sutcliffe. At the time, Wisden rarely reported on Indian cricket except for the Bombay Tournament
Bombay Quadrangular
The Bombay Quadrangular was an influential cricket tournament held in Bombay, India from 1912 to 1936. At other times it was known variously as the Presidency Match, Bombay Triangular, and the Bombay Pentangular....
. Vizzy's team also toured Ceylon and played 3 three-day matches that were similarly disregarded by Wisden. They were however prominently featured in The Cricketer Spring Annual for 1932. In these matches, Jack Hobbs scored two centuries in Ceylon while Herbert Sutcliffe scored one century in India and one in Ceylon.
Other cricketers
Although the variations in career totals are most significant in the cases of Grace and Hobbs, there are differences for many other players too. Clearly the inclusion or exclusion of matches noted above affects the totals of all cricketers playing in these matches and there are other matches where there is disagreement regarding their first-class status. As described above, the sport's early scorecards often show differences in match details which lead to different totals. This is more common with bowling and fielding figures.A detailed comparison of differences between various publications was produced by Philip Bailey in 1987.
Liverpool and District v Yorkshire 1892
This is ranked as first-class by some sources, as are other Liverpool v Yorkshire matches between 1887 and 1894, but this particular match was not reported by contemporary publications. Playfair and Wisden figures exclude this match. CricketArchive includes it.- George Hirst – 4, 29*
Surrey v Essex at LeytonLeyton Cricket GroundLeyton Cricket Ground is a cricket ground in Leyton, London.-Cricket ground:...
1896
Wisden 1897 and CricketArchive have different scorecard data. In the Surrey second innings, Wisden has Bobby AbelBobby Abel
Robert Abel , nicknamed "The Guv'nor", was a Surrey and England opening batsman who was one of the most prolific run-getters in the early years of the County Championship...
4 and Tom Hayward
Tom Hayward
Thomas Walter Hayward was a cricketer who played for Surrey and England between the 1890s and the outbreak of World War I. He was primarily an opening batsman, noted especially for the quality of his off-drive...
8 while CricketArchive has Abel 8 and Hayward 4.
The Reef v MCC 1909–10
Playfair and Wisden figures include this match. CricketArchive does not. See above re Jack Hobbs.- David DentonDavid DentonDavid Denton was an English first-class cricketer. An attacking batsman, he had a long career with Yorkshire and played eleven Tests for England. His nickname of 'Lucky' came from his habit of surviving the numerous chances, that his attacking batting style naturally created for the opposition...
– 17, 22 - Frank WoolleyFrank WoolleyFrank Edward Woolley was an English cricketer, one of the finest all-rounders the game has seen. In a career lasting more than thirty years, he scored more first-class runs than anyone but Sir Jack Hobbs, and took over 2,000 wickets at an average of under 20...
– 3, 7* - Wilfred RhodesWilfred RhodesWilfred Rhodes was an English professional cricketer who played 58 Test matches for England between 1899 and 1930. In Tests, Rhodes took 127 wickets in and scored 2,325 runs, becoming the first Englishman to complete the double of 1,000 runs and 100 wickets in Test matches...
– 24, 56*
1922-23 Indian domestic season
Playfair and Wisden figures exclude these matches. CricketArchive includes them.- Wilfred Rhodes – 4 matches, 8 innings, 1 not out, 247 runs
1930–31 tour of India and Ceylon
Playfair and Wisden figures exclude this tour. CricketArchive includes it. See above re Jack Hobbs.- Herbert Sutcliffe – 7 matches, 10 innings, 1 not out, 532 runs, 2 centuries
Bowling
Of those who have taken 2,000 first-class wickets, the following are affected (this is limited to differences in the games played or wickets taken).Liverpool and District v Yorkshire 1892
See above. Playfair and Wisden figures exclude this match. CricketArchive includes it.- George Hirst – 1/40, 2/50
The Reef v MCC 1909–10
Playfair and Wisden figures include this match. CricketArchive does not.- Colin BlytheColin BlytheColin Blythe , also known as Charlie Blythe, was a Kent and England left arm spinner who is regarded as one of the finest bowlers of the period between 1900 and 1914 - sometimes referred to as the "Golden Age" of cricket.-Career:Blythe first played...
– 3/37 - Frank Woolley – 2/8
- Wilfred Rhodes – did not bowl
1917–18 Indian domestic season
Playfair and Wisden figures include Bengal Governor's XI v Maharaja of Cooch-Behar's XI. CricketArchive does not.- George DennettGeorge DennettGeorge Dennett was a left arm spinner for Gloucestershire between 1903 and 1926, and from his figures could be considered one of the best bowlers never to play Test cricket...
– 4/69 - Jack NewmanJack Newman (English cricketer)John Alfred 'Jack' Newman was an English cricketer who played for Hampshire...
– 5/22, 3/32
1918–19 Indian domestic season
Playfair and Wisden figures include Bengal Governor's XI v Maharaja of Cooch-Behar's XI and MC Bird's XI v Maharaja of Cooch-Behar's XI. CricketArchive does not.- Jack NewmanJack Newman (English cricketer)John Alfred 'Jack' Newman was an English cricketer who played for Hampshire...
– 5/94 (first match); 5/104, 4/34 (second match)
1922–23 Indian domestic season
See above. Playfair and Wisden figures exclude these matches. CricketArchive includes them.- Wilfred Rhodes – 4 matches, 329 runs, 17 wickets
Other differences
- Ewart AstillEwart AstillEwart Astill was, along with George Geary, the mainstay of the Leicestershire team from 1922 to about 1935. He played in nine Test matches but was never picked for a home Test or for the Ashes tour...
has 2431 wickets in Wisden and 2432 in CricketArchive - Jack WhiteJack White (cricketer)John Cornish White, known as "Farmer" or "Jack", was an English cricketer who played for Somerset and England. White was named Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1929...
has 2356 wickets in Wisden and 2355 in CricketArchive
White's difference is sourced to Somerset v Surrey at Recreation Ground (Bath)
Recreation Ground (Bath)
The Recreation Ground is a large open space in the centre of Bath, England, next to the River Avon, used for recreational purposes by Bath residents and the public generally....
in 1920. In the second innings, Wisden has Bill Hitch
Bill Hitch
John William "Bill" Hitch, born Radcliffe, Greater Manchester, on 7 May 1886, and died at Cardiff on 7 July 1965, was a cricketer who played for Surrey and England....
b White while CricketArchive has him b Jimmy Bridges
Jimmy Bridges
James John Bridges was an English cricketer who played for Somerset from 1911 to 1929.Bridges was a right-arm fast-medium bowler who batted right-handed....
.
ICC lists
The ICC maintains lists of matches that it regards as first-class or ListA. Generally, these are in agreement with CricketArchive but they exclude the unofficial Tests played in the rebel tours of South Africa in the 1970s and 1980s; in contrast, the limited over internationals played in these tours are recognised as ListA.See also: Variations in Test cricket statistics
Variations in Test cricket statistics
There has been widespread continuity in the definition of Test cricket since the 1880s and thus the statistics have involved little contention unlike the many variations in first-class cricket statistics. There have nonetheless been a few points of interest....