English national cricket captains

This is a list of all English national cricket captains, comprising all of the men, boys and women who have captained an English national cricket team at official international level. England played in the first Test match in 1877 and have played more Test matches, and had more captains, than any other team. In the 19th century, the captains for overseas tours were chosen by the promoters, with James Lillywhite, Alfred Shaw and Arthur Shrewsbury being the main professional promoters. However, some amateur tours went abroad under Lord Harris and Lord Hawke. Home captains were selected by the home ground authority, who often went for their local favourites.

Men's Test match captains

This is a list of cricketers who have captained the English cricket team for at least one Test match. It has been updated to the end of the Test series against Australia in September 2005. The next Test match to be added will be the first Test against Pakistan, which starts on 12 November 2005. Where a player has a dagger (†) next to a Test match series in which he captained at least one Test, that denotes that player deputised for the appointed captain or were appointed by the home authority for a minor proportion in a series. The dagger classification follows that adopted by Wisden Cricketers' Almanack.

Related Topics:
Captained - English cricket team - Test match - Australia - Pakistan - 12 November - 2005 - Wisden Cricketers' Almanack

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• ¹ W. G. Grace, playing his last Test was 50 years and 320 days old when the match ended. Only Wilfred Rhodes, who was making his debut in this Test, played Test cricket at a greater age.
• ² Monty Bowden, aged 23 years 144 days, became England's youngest captain on 25 March 1889, three years before dying in Umtali Hospital - a glorified mud hut where his body had to be protected from marauding lions prior to being interred in a coffin made from whiskey cases.
• ³ Shrimp Leveson-Gower's surname was pronounced Loosen Gore.
• ⁴George Mann was the son of Frank Mann, making them the first father and son to both captain England.
• ⁵ Arthur Gilligan and Harold Gilligan were brothers: the first brothers to captain England.
• ⁶England had two overlapping Test series in the winter of 1929/30. Their first Test against New Zealand started on 10 January 1930. Their first Test against the West Indies started on 11 January 1930, making the first time England had simultaneously played two Test matches at once.
• ⁷Harold Gilligan's Cricinfo profile http://www.cricinfo.com/db/PLAYERS/ENG/G/GILLIGAN_AHH_01000525/ is wrong. He captained England in all four Tests that he played in - the whole England v. New Zealand series of 1929/30
• ⁸ Chris Cowdrey is the son of Colin Cowdrey, making them the second father and son to both captain England after George and Frank Mann.
• ⁹In 1970, South Africa were due to tour England. However, the Basil D'Oliveira affair, and South Africa's subsequent withdrawal from international cricket left England without a touring side that summer. A Rest of the World XI was hastily arranged to play a 5 match series, which originally was regarded as a Test series. Later the matches were stripped of Test status. The Rest of the World XI won the series 4-1, with Ray Illingworth captaining England in each match.
• ¹⁰The third Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Australia in 1970/1 was abandoned without a ball being bowled and is excluded from these statistics. This is in line with the approach adopted by Wisden and most statisticians, although the match has been recognised as an official Test match by the Australian Board of Control. In its place, once the rain cleared, the two teams played a limited overs game, which was retrospectively recognised as the first one-day international.