1847 English cricket season

1847 English cricket season

← 1846 1848 →

The All-England Eleven in 1847.
Left to right: Joe Guy, George Parr, Will Martingell, Alfred Mynn, William Denison, Jemmy Dean, William Clarke, Nicholas Felix, Oliver Pell, William Hillyer, William Lillywhite, William Dorrinton, Fuller Pilch and Tom Sewell.

1847 was the 61st season of cricket in England since the foundation of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). ^{[note 1]} Kent had a strong team including Nicholas Felix, William Hillyer, Alfred Mynn and Fuller Pilch. A noted highlight was the first recorded "match double" in an important match.

Important matches

• 1847 match list

Events

• 27 to 29 May: In the game between MCC and Oxford University, William Hillyer completes the first recorded "match double" of 100 runs and ten wickets in a first-class game, ^[5] scoring 26 and 83 and taking thirteen wickets. ^[6] The feat was not accomplished again until 1859 when Edward Walker achieved it, but since then has been accomplished numerous times, most frequently by W. G. Grace. ^[5]

Leading batsmen

N Felix was the leading runscorer with 591 @ 28.14

Other leading batsmen were: F Pilch, OC Pell, J Dean, A Haygarth, A Mynn, W Clarke, WR Hillyer, T Box

Leading bowlers

WR Hillyer was the leading wicket-taker with 134

Other leading bowlers were: A Mynn, FW Lillywhite, J Dean, W Clarke, J Wisden, JM Lee, C Arnold

Notes

1. Some eleven-a-side matches played from 1772 to 1863 have been rated "first-class" by certain sources. ^[1] However, the term only came into common use around 1864, when overarm bowling was legalised. It was formally defined as a standard by a meeting at Lord's, in May 1894, of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and the county clubs which were then competing in the County Championship. The ruling was effective from the beginning of the 1895 season, but pre-1895 matches of the same standard have no official definition of status because the ruling is not retrospective. ^[2] Matches of a similar standard since the beginning of the 1864 season are generally considered to have an unofficial first-class status. ^[3] Pre-1864 matches which are included in the ACS' "Important Match Guide" may generally be regarded as top-class or, at least, historically significant. ^[4] For further information, see First-class cricket.

References

1. "First-Class matches in England in 1772" . CricketArchive. Retrieved 29 November 2025.
2. Wisden (1948). Preston, Hubert (ed.). Wisden Cricketers' Almanack (85th ed.). London: Sporting Handbooks Ltd. p. 813. OCLC   851705816.
3. ACS 1982, pp. 4–5.
4. ACS 1981, pp. 1–40.
5. Frindall, Bill (editor); The Wisden Book of Cricket Records (Fourth Edition); pp. 317–320. ISBN   0747222037
6. Oxford University v Marylebone Cricket Club in 1847

Bibliography

• ACS (1981). A Guide to Important Cricket Matches Played in the British Isles 1709–1863. Nottingham: ACS. OCLC   85045528.
• ACS (1982). A Guide to First-class Cricket Matches Played in the British Isles. Nottingham: ACS. OCLC   10586869.
• Warner, Pelham (1946). Lords: 1787–1945. London: Harrap. OCLC   877106024.

Further reading

• Altham, H. S.; Swanton, E. W. (1962). A History of Cricket, Volume 1 (to 1914) (5th ed.). London: George Allen & Unwin. OCLC   894274808.
• Birley, Derek (1999). A Social History of English Cricket. London: Aurum Press. ISBN   978-18-54107-10-7 – via Internet Archive.
• Bowen, Rowland (1970). Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development. London: Eyre & Spottiswoode. ISBN   978-04-13278-60-9.
• Major, John (2007). More Than A Game. London: HarperCollins. ISBN   978-00-07183-64-7 – via Internet Archive.

External links

• CricketArchive – season summaries