All-England Eleven
Encyclopedia
In cricket
, the term All-England (often rendered confusingly as "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. Teams of this type have always been "occasional elevens", per se, and there is a significant difference between them and the official England national cricket team which takes part in international fixtures. Nevertheless, they have invariably been strong sides and a typical All-England team would consist of leading first-class
players drawn from several county teams.
v All-England matches in July 1739.
The first match was at Bromley Common in Kent on Monday 9 July 1739. It was billed as between "eleven gentlemen of that county (i.e., Kent) and eleven gentlemen from any part of England, exclusive of Kent". Kent, described as "the unconquerable county" won by "a very few notches".
The second match was at the Artillery Ground
in Bunhill Fields, Finsbury on Monday 23 July 1739. This game was drawn and a report includes the phrase "eleven picked out of all (sic) England".
The name "All-England" took on a specific meaning in 1846 when William Clarke's All-England Eleven
, commonly known as the AEE, was founded as a touring team of leading players, its purpose being to take advantage of the new railway network and play matches at city venues, mainly in the North of England. Clarke's team was indeed a top-class side worthy of its title as, in 1846, it consisted of himself, Joe Guy
, George Parr
(all of Nottinghamshire), William Lillywhite
, Jemmy Dean
(both Sussex), William Denison
, Will Martingell
(both Surrey), Fuller Pilch
, Alfred Mynn
, Nicholas Wanostrocht
(aka "Felix") and William Hillyer
(all Kent). Their matches in Sheffield
, Manchester
and Leeds
were a huge success and very profitable, especially for Clarke himself who was careful to pay his players more than Marylebone Cricket Club
(MCC) did (from £4 to £6 per week) and so keep them interested. He kept the surplus for himself.
The AEE continued for several years to showcase the best players of the day. Subsequent additions to the squad included John Wisden
of Sussex, William Dorrinton
of Kent, Tom Sewell senior
and his son Tom Sewell junior
of Surrey. Because of its strength the AEE generally played "odds" matches against sides composed of twenty-two men, though these odds were reduced when opposed to such sides as Sheffield Cricket Club, Manchester Cricket Club and some county teams.
The AEE lasted until 1880. In all matches George Parr with 10,404 runs (av 16.78) was the leading batsman for the side and William Clarke himself took the most wickets (2,385).
(UEE) as a rival to the AEE. Clarke would have nothing to do with the UEE but he died in 1856 and, from 1857 to 1866, matches were played between these two teams which were perhaps the most important contests of the English season – certainly judged by the quality of the players.
The AEE/UEE concept expanded with the formation of other itinerant elevens, notably the United North of England Eleven
(UNEE) and the United South of England Eleven
(USEE), the latter showcasing WG Grace.
The travelling elevens ran their course over a period of some thirty seasons but interest in them waned as county cricket
grew and provided matches with a more competitive edge. With the advent of international cricket in the 1870s, especially following the hugely successful inaugural Australian tour
in 1878, the travelling elevens faded away.
The earliest first-class match involving a team styled "The Rest of England" took place at Bradford Park Avenue
in June 1883 when the opposition was a composite Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire XI. The combined counties won by 6 wickets.
In the 20th century, Test trial matches were occasionally staged (the last in 1976) and these were called England v The Rest, but it is generally understood that the England of these games was the national side while The Rest formed the All-England element.
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...
, the term All-England (often rendered confusingly as "England") has been used for various non-international teams that have been formed for short-term purposes since the 1739 English cricket season
1739 English cricket season
In the 1739 English cricket season, there were again very few match reports. The first Kent versus All-England games are a sign of very important matches to come.The earliest known cricket picture was first displayed this year...
and it indicates that the "Rest of England" is playing against, say, MCC
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...
or an individual county
County cricket
County cricket is the highest level of domestic cricket in England and Wales. For the 2010 season, see 2010 English cricket season.-First-class counties:...
team. Teams of this type have always been "occasional elevens", per se, and there is a significant difference between them and the official England national cricket team which takes part in international fixtures. Nevertheless, they have invariably been strong sides and a typical All-England team would consist of leading 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...
players drawn from several county teams.
Origin of the name
The term was first used in reports of two KentKent county cricket teams
Kent county cricket teams have been traced back to the 17th century but the county's involvement in cricket goes back much further than that. Kent, jointly with Sussex, is the birthplace of the sport...
v All-England matches in July 1739.
The first match was at Bromley Common in Kent on Monday 9 July 1739. It was billed as between "eleven gentlemen of that county (i.e., Kent) and eleven gentlemen from any part of England, exclusive of Kent". Kent, described as "the unconquerable county" won by "a very few notches".
The second match was at the Artillery Ground
Artillery Ground
The Artillery Ground in Finsbury is one of London's most centrally located cricket grounds, situated just off the City Road immediately north of the City of London...
in Bunhill Fields, Finsbury on Monday 23 July 1739. This game was drawn and a report includes the phrase "eleven picked out of all (sic) England".
Generic usage
The term then became a generic one and was used to denote countless teams over the next two hundred years. Sometimes, teams of this type were simply called "England", although they were not international teams, or were given names like "The Rest".William Clarke's All-England Eleven (the AEE)
William Clarke's All-England Eleven
The All-England Eleven was an itinerant all-professional first-class cricket team created in 1846 by Nottinghamshire cricketer William Clarke. Widely known by its acronym AEE, it took advantage of opportunities offered by the newly developed railways to play against local teams throughout Great...
, commonly known as the AEE, was founded as a touring team of leading players, its purpose being to take advantage of the new railway network and play matches at city venues, mainly in the North of England. Clarke's team was indeed a top-class side worthy of its title as, in 1846, it consisted of himself, Joe Guy
Joe Guy
Joseph Guy was an English professional cricketer who played first-class cricket from 1837 to 1854....
, George Parr
George Parr (cricketer)
George Parr was an English cricketer, whose first-class career lasted from 1844 to 1870....
(all of Nottinghamshire), William Lillywhite
William Lillywhite
Frederick William Lillywhite was a famous English cricketer during the game's roundarm era...
, Jemmy Dean
Jemmy Dean
James "Jemmy" Dean was an English cricketer who played for Sussex County Cricket Club in the 19th century....
(both Sussex), William Denison
William Denison (cricketer)
William Denison was involved in English cricket in the mid-19th century as a player, administrator and writer....
, Will Martingell
Will Martingell
William Martingell was an English professional cricketer who played first-class cricket from 1839 to 1860....
(both Surrey), Fuller Pilch
Fuller Pilch
Fuller Pilch was an English cricketer. Described as "the greatest batsman ever known until the appearance of W. G. Grace", the right-hand batting Pilch played 229 first class cricket matches between 1820 and 1854 for an assortment of counties, including Kent, Hampshire, Surrey and Surrey, as well...
, 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...
, Nicholas Wanostrocht
Nicholas Wanostrocht
Nicholas "Felix" Wanostrocht was a noted English amateur cricketer....
(aka "Felix") and William Hillyer
William Hillyer
William Richard Hillyer , was a prominent cricketer for Kent County Cricket Club, MCC and many other sides in the days before county and international cricket was organised into regular competitions....
(all Kent). Their matches in Sheffield
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...
, Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
and Leeds
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
were a huge success and very profitable, especially for Clarke himself who was careful to pay his players more than 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) did (from £4 to £6 per week) and so keep them interested. He kept the surplus for himself.
The AEE continued for several years to showcase the best players of the day. Subsequent additions to the squad included 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...
of Sussex, William Dorrinton
William Dorrinton
William Dorrinton was an English cricketer for Kent, Hampshire, Suffolk and the Marylebone Cricket Club in a 94–match first–class career which began in 1836 and lasted until 1847, a year before his death...
of Kent, Tom Sewell senior
Tom Sewell (cricketer)
Thomas Sewell was an English professional cricketer who played first-class cricket from 1830 to 1853....
and his son Tom Sewell junior
Tom Sewell junior
Thomas Sewell was an English professional cricketer who played first-class cricket from 1851 to 1868...
of Surrey. Because of its strength the AEE generally played "odds" matches against sides composed of twenty-two men, though these odds were reduced when opposed to such sides as Sheffield Cricket Club, Manchester Cricket Club and some county teams.
The AEE lasted until 1880. In all matches George Parr with 10,404 runs (av 16.78) was the leading batsman for the side and William Clarke himself took the most wickets (2,385).
United All-England Eleven (UEE)
In 1852, several players set up the United All-England ElevenUnited All-England Eleven
The United All-England Eleven was an English cricket team formed in 1852 by players breaking away from William Clarke's All-England Eleven . Key UEE players included John Wisden and Jemmy Dean, who became joint secretaries of the team....
(UEE) as a rival to the AEE. Clarke would have nothing to do with the UEE but he died in 1856 and, from 1857 to 1866, matches were played between these two teams which were perhaps the most important contests of the English season – certainly judged by the quality of the players.
The AEE/UEE concept expanded with the formation of other itinerant elevens, notably the United North of England Eleven
United North of England Eleven
The United North of England Eleven was an itinerant cricket team founded in 1869 by George Freeman and Roger Iddison with the backing of Lord Londesborough who became the team's president. As its name suggests, its purpose was to bring together the best players of England's northern counties and...
(UNEE) and the United South of England Eleven
United South of England Eleven
The United South of England Eleven was an itinerant cricket team founded in November 1864 by Edgar Willsher, as secretary, and John Lillywhite, as treasurer....
(USEE), the latter showcasing WG Grace.
The travelling elevens ran their course over a period of some thirty seasons but interest in them waned as county cricket
County cricket
County cricket is the highest level of domestic cricket in England and Wales. For the 2010 season, see 2010 English cricket season.-First-class counties:...
grew and provided matches with a more competitive edge. With the advent of international cricket in the 1870s, especially following the hugely successful inaugural Australian tour
Australian cricket team in England and North America in 1878
In 1878, an Australian cricket team made the inaugural first-class tour of England by a representative overseas side. The tour followed one made by an England cricket team to Australia in 1876/77, during which the first Test matches were played....
in 1878, the travelling elevens faded away.
Non-international England teams
Teams styled England and commonly referred to as All-England continued to play non-international matches into the 1880s but thereafter they tended to be given names such as The Rest because the England national team was by then well-established and understood to represent the country for the purpose of international cricket.The earliest first-class match involving a team styled "The Rest of England" took place at Bradford Park Avenue
Park Avenue (stadium)
Park Avenue is a sports ground on Horton Park Avenue in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. It was used for both cricket and football. It held 306 first class and 48 list A cricket matches between 1881 and 1996, and was home to former Football League club Bradford Park Avenue, to which it lent its...
in June 1883 when the opposition was a composite Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire XI. The combined counties won by 6 wickets.
In the 20th century, Test trial matches were occasionally staged (the last in 1976) and these were called England v The Rest, but it is generally understood that the England of these games was the national side while The Rest formed the All-England element.