George Brown (cricketer, born 1783)

George Brown (27 April 1783 – 25 June 1857) was an English professional cricketer who played first-class cricket from 1819 to 1838.

George Brown

Personal information
Born	(1887-10-06)6 October 1887 Cowley, Oxfordshire
Died	25 June 1857(1857-06-25) (aged 73) Winchester, Hampshire, England
Batting	Right-handed
Bowling	Right-arm fast
Relations	John Brown (son) George Brown, Jr. (son)
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1819–1828	Hampshire
1825–1838	Sussex
Career statistics
Competition First-class Matches 51 Runs scored 1,053 Batting average 11.44 100s/50s 0/2 Top score 70 Balls bowled 2,563 Wickets 89 Bowling average 11.33 5 wickets in innings 5 10 wickets in match 1 Best bowling 6/? Catches/stumpings 51/–
Source: Cricinfo, 25 December 2009

A right-handed batsman and fast underarm bowler who played for Hampshire and Sussex, he made 51 known appearances in first-class matches. He represented the Players in the Gentlemen v Players series.

Brown was credited with 89 wickets in his career (i.e., bowled only) with a best return of six in one innings. He had a reputation for extreme pace and was widely known as "Brown of Brighton". He is said, though the story may be apocryphal, to have once killed a dog when a ball he had bowled went past the stumps and through a coat held by the longstop, hitting the dog which was behind the coat. Another of his longstops, a man called Dench, insisted on fielding with a sack of straw tied to his chest for protection. E H Budd played against both Brown and Walter Marcon, who had a similar reputation, and Budd said that "Brown was not more terrific in his speed than Marcon", an elaborate way of saying that they were both extremely fast. Brown was a useful batsman and made 1053 runs at 11.44 with a top score of 70 which he scored during the first of the three roundarm trial matches. He died in Winchester, Hampshire.