What did Wisden say in 1890?

posted by John Winn

The year 1890 was a pivotal one in the development of English cricket and this is reflected in that year's John Wisden's Cricketers Almanack. Much of it is devoted to 'The Reforms of 1889' and a report on 'The Question of County Classification' and that season's fixtures are the first for the County Championship as an official competition. The season began on May 5th when Surrey played Hampshire at Kennington Oval and ended in mid September at Hastings when The South of England faced The Australians.

As the above photo suggests it is a compact volume extending to just over 350 pages and in the quaint style of the times the first section uses Roman numerals, i to li, and the second section runs from 1 to 301. Advertisements are mainly confined to the beginning and end of the book and not surprisingly are mainly for cricket related products, bats including 'Browning's Patent Triangular Bat, a bargain at 10 shillings, (50 pence) gloves, leg guards, horse powered lawn mowers, self-registering iron turnstiles etc. Non cricketing wares include billiard tables, tooth powder, boxing gloves and fur coats.

The 1889 reforms had been agreed at a meeting of MCC in May of that year. They included increasing the number of balls per over from four to five and changes to declaration regulations. The editor had written to many famous cricketers asking their opinion of the reforms and in general they had been well received. A further meeting, this time of The County Cricket Council, had been held at Lord's on December 9th 1889, Lord Harris in the chair with 18 counties represented. It was this meeting which decreed that eight counties, Gloucestershire, Kent, Lancashire, Middlesex, Notts, Surrey, Sussex and Yorkshire should contest the first championship. It was won by Surrey.

The editor of the Almanack at this time was Charles F Pardon and his preface was dated December 20th 1889 but sadly he died a few months later on 18th April 1890, aged 40. The editorship was taken over by his brother Sydney who held the post for 35 years. The 1890 edition lists 'Deaths in 1889' with just just 11 names included. The comprehensive obituary section did not appear until 1892. Perhaps the most interesting of the 1890 list is Mr CA Absolom of Cambridge University and Kent who was killed accidentally in Port of Spain on July 30th 1889 , aged 43. He played one test match, on the 1878/9 tour of Australia. In 1868 while playing for Cambridge he became the first man to be given out for obstructing the field. After cricket he travelled extensively in North and Central America and it was while he was working as ship's purser on the SS Muriel that he met his untimely death in an accident while cargo was being loaded. 

Under Sydney's guidance Wisden grew so that by 1924 it stretched to over 1000 pages, 1536 in 2020. A hardback version became available in 1896. In 1890 portraits of 'Nine Great Batsmen' appeared following the success of 'Six Great Bowlers' in 1889. Each county of course receives comprehensive coverage plus MCC matches, Public School Cricket, The Universities, Second Class Counties and Minor Counties. International cricket is confined to The Philadelphians in England and The English Team in South Africa. The Philadelphians had toured in 1884 but the '89 team were considered 'far superior'. The English team in South Africa under the captaincy of a man later to be a Hollywood actor, C. Aubrey Smith played two matches given the status of test matches. while all the other games were against sides comprising at least fifteen players the most intriguing of which took place at King Williamstown against Twenty-Two Cape Mounted Rifles. The Englishmen won comfortably and as far as is known nobody got shot.

The price of Wisden 1890 was one shilling,( five pence). A skilled manual worker at that time might have earned thirty shillings a week but an agricultural labourer only half that. A copy in decent condition today would cost several hundred pounds.