Thomas Armitage (25 April 1848 – 21 September 1922) was an English

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 ...

er, who in 1877 took part in what are retrospectively recognised as the first two Test matches played by

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. The players in these matches having been alphabetically sorted, Armitage is the #1 capped England player.

Life and career

Armitage was born in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

, Yorkshire. He made his first-class debut for

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 ...

against

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The traditi ...

Trent Bridge Trent Bridge Cricket Ground is a cricket ground mostly used for Test, One-Day International and county cricket located in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England, just across the River Trent from the city of Nottingham. Trent Bridge is also t ...

in 1872, opening the batting in the first innings. He failed to make much of an impression in the game, scoring 0 and 1, taking 0–19 from eight overs and taking no catches. He next appeared for Yorkshire in 1874 against a United South of England XI, but again did little. Armitage's

county cricket Inter-county cricket matches are known to have been played since the early 18th century, involving teams that are representative of the historic counties of England and Wales. Since the late 19th century, there have been two county championship ...

career took off in 1875, when he took 22 wickets in nine matches at just 7.59 apiece, including 7–27 against

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

, and recorded the first of his four half-centuries, 68 not out against

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

. In 1876, he played 12 games and claimed 45 wickets, taking 13–46 in a match against Surrey bowling underarm lobs, and making his highest first-class score, of 95, against

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...

. Armitage was selected for the tour of Australia that winter, and in the spring of 1877 played in the first two Test matches, both at

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

. He is credited with being the first player to represent England, due to

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, and is therefore number one in the order of Test

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. However, he did almost nothing, bowling only 12 balls and scoring just 33 runs in three innings, and he never played for

again. He played for Yorkshire for a couple of years more, achieving some success in 1877, when he took 42 wickets, but he declined in 1878 and played in only one match in 1879, for United North of England against London United. He then emigrated to the United States, and seven years after his previous game he made one final first-class appearance, for Players of United States of America against

Gentlemen of Philadelphia The Philadelphian cricket team was a team that represented Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in first-class cricket between 1878 and 1913. Even with the United States having played the first ever international cricket match against Canada in 1844, t ...

, making 58 and taking 2–25. Armitage died in

Pullman, Chicago Pullman, one of Chicago's 77 defined community areas, is a neighborhood located on the city's South Side. Twelve miles from the Chicago Loop, Pullman is situated adjacent to Lake Calumet. The area known as Pullman encompasses a much wider ...

, in the

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, at the age of 74. Armitage's grandson, also called Tom, was a professional footballer for

Sheffield Wednesday F.C. Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot of ...

who died on New Year's Eve 1923, after suffering an injury on the pitch a few days earlier. Another grandson,

Len Armitage Leonard Armitage (20 October 1899 – 24 June 1972) was an English footballer who could play both in defence and attack. He made a total of 284 league appearances in a 15-year career in the Football League. In 1914, he signed with Sheffield ...

, was also a professional footballer.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Armitage, Tom 1848 births 1922 deaths English cricketers England Test cricketers Yorkshire cricketers Cricketers from Sheffield United North of England Eleven cricketers Players of United States of America cricketers English cricketers of 1864 to 1889