Thomas Hayward (cricketer)

Thomas Hayward (born 21 March 1835 at Chatteris in Cambridgeshire; died 21 July 1876 at Cambridge) was a Cambridgeshire and All-England Eleven cricketer who was generally reckoned to be one of the outstanding batsmen of the 1850s and 1860s. In the early 1860s, he and Robert Carpenter, his Cambridgeshire colleague, were rated as the two finest batsmen in England. Richard Daft was among those ranking them as equal first, though George Parr reckoned Carpenter the better of the two. [Simon Wilde, "Number One: The World's Best Batsmen and Bowlers", Victor Gollancz, 1998, ISBN 978-0-575-06453-9, p49.]

He played as a right-handed batsman for Cambridge Town Club and Cambridgeshire 1854-1872 and also for numerous representative teams. In 1859 he took part in the first ever overseas cricket tour when he was a member of the England team visiting North America.

His overall first-class career record covered 118 matches. He scored 4789 runs at an average of 25.33 with a highest score of 132 and 6 centuries. He took 62 catches.

Hayward was also a good right arm medium pace bowler, using the prevailing roundarm style. His bowling figures were 267 wickets for 3937 runs at an average of 15.81. His best innings analysis was an impressive 9-30. He took 5wI on 19 occasions and 10wM in 2 matches.

Hayward was from a famous cricketing family and his nephew was the Surrey and England batsman Tom Hayward.

At the end of the 1859 English cricket season, Hayward was one of the 12 players who took part in cricket's first-ever overseas tour when an England cricket team led by George Parr visited North America.

References

External sources

* [http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Players/30/30092/30092.html CricketArchive]

Further reading

* H S Altham, "A History of Cricket, Volume 1 (to 1914)", George Allen & Unwin, 1926
* Derek Birley, "A Social History of English Cricket", Aurum, 1999
* Rowland Bowen, "Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development", Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1970
* Arthur Haygarth, "Scores & Biographies, Volumes 3-9 (1841-1866)", Lillywhite, 1862-1867
* John Major, "More Than A Game", HarperCollins, 2007 – includes the famous 1859 touring team photo taken on board ship at Liverpool