Thomas Box (7 February 1808 – 12 July 1876) was a famous English

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er who is remembered as one of the most outstanding

wicketkeeper In cricket, the wicket-keeper is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket, ready to stop deliveries that pass the batsman, and take a catch, stump the batsman out, or run out a batsman when occasion arises. The wicket-ke ...

s of the 19th century.

Player

Box played in important matches from 1826 to 1856. Although he played several matches for

Marylebone Cricket Club The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's, Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London, England. The club was the governing body of cricket from 1788 to 1989 and retain ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

and

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

, he was most closely linked with cricket in his native county of Sussex. He played for the Sussex team during the early years of

roundarm bowling In cricket, roundarm bowling is a bowling (cricket), bowling style that was introduced in the first quarter of the 19th century and largely superseded underarm bowling by the 1830s. Using a roundarm action, the bowler (cricket), bowlers extend th ...

when his colleagues included

Jem Broadbridge James "Jem" Broadbridge (1795–1843) was an English professional cricketer who is widely considered the outstanding all-rounder in England during the 1820s. He played mainly for Sussex teams and made 102 known appearances in first-class cric ...

and

William Lillywhite Frederick William Lillywhite (13 June 1792 – 21 August 1854) was an English first-class cricketer during the game's roundarm era. One of the main protagonists in the legalisation of roundarm, he was one of the most successful bowlers of his ...

. He was a member of the Sussex team when the county club was founded in 1839 and continued to play for the club until he retired. In all, Box is known to have played in 248 important matches. He was a right-handed batsman who occasionally made useful scores. He had 456 innings, in 43 of which he was not out, and scored 4,936 runs at an average of 11.95 with a highest score of 79. He scored 8 half-centuries. He bowled very rarely, style unknown, and took just 8 wickets but with a best analysis of 5/45. As a wicketkeeper, he was highly successful and his known career record of 236 catches and 162 stumpings is outstanding.

Groundsman

In 1843 Sussex County Cricket Club granted Box a benefit match and the proceeds enabled him to lease the Hanover Arms public house in

Lewes Road, Brighton Lewes Road is a major road in the English seaside city of Brighton and Hove. It was part of the A27 cross-country trunk route until the Brighton Bypass took this designation in the 1990s; since then it has been designated the A270. The road run ...

. This had the

Royal New Ground The Royal New Ground, also known as "Box's Ground", in Brighton, Sussex was a venue for first-class cricket matches from 1814 to 1847. Originally called "Brown's Ground" in the 18th century, it was located where Park Crescent, Brighton now sta ...

attached and Box was called upon to manage the matches taking place there. As a result, it became popularly known as "Box's Ground". Sussex County Cricket Club used it until September 1847, after which Box leased the

Royal Brunswick Ground The Royal Brunswick Ground, also known as "C H Gausden's Ground", in Hove, Sussex was a venue for first-class cricket matches from 1848 to 1871. The ground was situated to the west of the Brunswick Town area of Hove, roughly where Third and F ...

, also in Hove, and the club moved there. Box relinquished the lease of the Brunswick Ground to the club in 1863. In 1864, on the death of his wife, Box moved to London where he became a publican again but without success. His final employment was as an attendant at the

Prince's Cricket Ground Prince's Cricket Ground in Chelsea, London was a cricket ground, created by the brothers George and James Prince as part of the Prince's Club, on which 37 first-class matches were played between 1872 and 1878. The ground was built on in 1883. Th ...

in Chelsea. On 12 July 1876, during a Middlesex v Nottinghamshire match, he collapsed and died three hours later.Tom Box
Cricinfo

References

External sources

* 1808 births 1876 deaths English cricketers of 1826 to 1863 19th-century British sportsmen Sussex cricketers North v South cricketers Hampshire cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Surrey cricketers Petworth cricketers Players cricketers Left-Handed v Right-Handed cricketers Married v Single cricketers All-England Eleven cricketers West of England cricketers Non-international England cricketers The Bs cricketers Gentlemen of Nottinghamshire cricketers Cambridge Town Club cricketers Gentlemen of Sussex cricketers Fast v Slow cricketers Nicholas Felix's XI cricketers Over 36 v Under 36 cricketers People from Ardingly Wicket-keepers Cricketers from West Sussex {{England-cricket-bio-1800s-stub