John Wisden was an English cricketer who played 187 first-class cricket matches for three English county cricket teams, Kent, Middlesex, and Sussex.
Though he was a cricketer he is more remembered for launching the eponymous Wisden Cricketers' Almanack in 1864, the year after he retired from First-Class cricket. He retired from cricket in 1863 at the relatively early age of 37 as a result of rheumatism and started publishing his annual Cricketers' Almanack the following year. He also published ‘Cricket and How to Play It’ in 1866. In retirement, he developed his business into a manufacturer and retailer of equipment for not just cricket but many sports.
Cricketing Career
July 1845, aged 18, only 5 feet, 4 inches tall and weighing just 7 stone (44 kg), he made his First-Class debut for Sussex against MCC, taking six wickets in the first innings and three in the second. He joined the All-England Eleven in 1846, moving allegiance to the United All-England Eleven in 1852. He was engaged to marry George Parr's sister Annie in 1849, but she died before the wedding, and he never married.
While bowling fast, he took on average nearly 10 wickets in each game. In 1850, when he was playing for the North against the South at Lord's, his off-cutter technique won him 10 wickets in the second innings, all clean bowled (still the only instance of all ten wickets being taken "bowled" in any first-class match).
He was also a competent batsman and scored two First-Class centuries, the first, exactly 100, against Kent at Tunbridge Wells in 1849, and in 1855 he notched up 148 against Yorkshire, the only First-Class century scored in 1855.
Due to his height, he was nicknamed the "Little Wonder" after the winner of The Derby in 1840, and later the "Cardinal". He was said to be the best all-rounder of his day. In all, he took 1,109 First-Class wickets with a bowling average of 10.32. He scored 4,140 First-Class runs with a batting average of 14.12, an average which was very good for the time.
Business and legacy
Wisden began a cricket-equipment business in Leamington Spa in 1850 and five years later opened a "cricket and cigar" shop in central London. He was also the cricket coach at Harrow School from 1852 to 1855 and owned The Cricketers, a public house at Duncton in Sussex.
After his death the business grew into a major international sports brand, receiving a Royal Warrant in 1911 as "Athletic Outfitters to the King".
In 1913, to mark the 50th edition of Wisden, the regular feature of Wisden Cricketers of the Year was abandoned. Only one Wisden cricketer was chosen for that particular year — John Wisden himself.
