Thomas Hayward

Who was Thomas Hayward?

Thomas Hayward was a Cambridgeshire and All-England Eleven cricketer who was generally reckoned to be one of the outstanding batsmen of the 1850s and 1860s. In the early 1860s, he and Robert Carpenter, his Cambridgeshire colleague, were rated as the two finest batsmen in England. Richard Daft was among those ranking them as equal first, though George Parr reckoned Carpenter the better of the two.

He played as a right-handed batsman for Cambridge Town Club and Cambridgeshire 1854-1872 and also for numerous representative teams. In 1859 he took part in the first ever overseas cricket tour when he was a member of the England team visiting North America.

His overall first-class career record covered 118 matches. He scored 4789 runs at an average of 25.33 with a highest score of 132 and 6 centuries. He took 62 catches.

Hayward was also a good right arm medium pace bowler, using the prevailing roundarm style. His bowling figures were 267 wickets for 3937 runs at an average of 15.81. His best innings analysis was an impressive 9-30. He took 5wI on 19 occasions and 10wM in 2 matches.

Hayward was from a famous cricketing family.