George Anderson (20 January 1826 – 27 November 1902) was an English

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er, who played

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...

for

Sheffield Cricket Club The Sheffield Cricket Club was founded in the 18th century and soon began to play a key role in the development of cricket in northern England. It was the direct forerunner of Yorkshire County Cricket Club and some of the teams fielded by Sheffi ...

from 1850 to 1862 and then for

Yorkshire County Cricket Club Yorkshire County Cricket Club is one of 18 first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Yorkshire. Yorkshire are the most successful team in English cricketing hi ...

from its inception in 1863 until 1869.

Life

He was born in

Aiskew Aiskew is a village in the civil parish of Aiskew and Leeming Bar, in the Hambleton District of North Yorkshire, England. The village is situated to the immediate north-east of Bedale and separated from it by Bedale Beck. History Remains of ...

Bedale Bedale ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the district of Hambleton, North Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the North Riding of Yorkshire, it is north of Leeds, south-west of Middlesbrough and south-west of the county town of ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

and showed athletic aptitude as a high and long jumper and as a cricketer. His cricket was greatly improved by the visit to Bedale of the eminent bowler William Clarke in 1848. He was employed as a clerk in his youth before making cricket his profession in early manhood. Anderson appeared at

Lord's Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and ...

in 1851, when he played for the North against the South, and for the Players against the Gentlemen in 1855. From 1857 until 1864 he was a member of the All England XIs captained by William Clarke, and George Parr. He visited Australia with Parr's team travelling on board the in the winter of 1863, but met with little success. His most successful season was in 1864, when in first-class matches he averaged 42 runs an innings, and scored 99 not out for Yorkshire against Notts. He captained the Yorkshire team for a few seasons and in May 1869 a match was played for his benefit at Dewsbury between the All England XI and the United All England XI. Anderson was a right-handed batsman. He played in 99 first-class games, mainly for Yorkshire teams, scoring 2,535 runs at an average of 16.35, with a highest score of 99 not out. His style as a batsman was described as "the model of manliness"; he had a good defence, and though he took time to get set, he was in his day the hardest and cleanest hitter of the best bowling. In 1862, he made a drive for eight runs at the Oval, when playing for the North of England against Surrey. Another hit by him off Bennett, the Kent slow bowler, was reputed to have pitched farther than any previously recorded at the Oval. On retiring from professional cricketing, Anderson became in 1873 actuary of the Bedale Savings Bank, and held the office until the bank's failure in 1894. He died at Bedale on 27 November 1902.

References

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Anderson, George 1826 births 1902 deaths Yorkshire cricketers All-England Eleven cricketers English cricketers English cricketers of 1826 to 1863 English cricketers of 1864 to 1889 People from Bedale Players cricketers Cricketers from Yorkshire Yorkshire with Stockton-on-Tees cricketers North v South cricketers Yorkshire and Durham cricketers