Name:

Lillywhite, James

Nickname:

Jim

Date of Birth:

23 Feb 1842

Gender:

Male

Career:

Test: 1877 - 1877
First Class: 1862 - 1881

Teams:

England (Country)
Sussex (Regional)

Spofforth and the Ashes myth

Jim Lillywhite: Captained England in first ever Test

James Lillywhite (jnr) was an accurate slow left-arm bowler and a powerful lower-order batsman.

He came from a cricketing family where five close relations all played for Sussex. Between 1862 and 1881, he appeared in all of Sussex's matches.

Lillywhite toured Australia six times, first under the captaincy of W G Grace in 1873/74. He captained England in the inaugural Test of 1876-77. He was the last survivor of that match and outlived the rest of his team by seven years.

Lillywhite played in 256 first-class matches, 157 of them for Sussex. He took 1140 wickets at 15.38. In his 2 Tests, he took 8 wickets at 15.75.

After retirement, he was a first-class umpire for 8 years and stood in six Test Matches. In 1879 he took over the family firm which then became John & James Lillywhite & Co., in 1882 it became James Lillywhite & Co.

He died aged 77 at Westerton, Chichester, Sussex, 25th October 1929.

Source: CricketCrowd Staff Reporter