page_title: List of England Test cricketers
section_title: Early years: 1877–1889
hierarchical_section_title: List of England Test cricketers / Early years: 1877–1889
caption_attribution_description: English: Arthur Shrewsbury - who died in 1903 - no artist attributed - in the UK copyright lasts for 70 years next following 31 Dec after drawing was drawn
context_page_description: This is a list of England Test cricketers. A Test match is an international two-innings per side cricket match between two of the leading cricketing nations. The list is arranged in the order in which each player won his Test cap by playing for the England cricket team. Where more than one player won his first Test cap in the same Test match, those players are listed alphabetically by surname. In the text, the numbers that follow the players' names correspond to their place in the chronological list of English Test cricketers. Current players have their chronological number on the front of their shirts.
  Statistics are correct as of 25 August 2020, after the third Test of the 2020 Pakistan tour of England.
context_section_description: The early years of Test cricket saw a number of tours to Australia. Most of these tours were professional in nature, and as the sea voyage was around 42 days and the tours lasted many months, the sides were selected as much on availability as on cricketing aptitude. As a result of this, coupled with there only being a small number of Tests being played, there are many early cricketers with Test records of only a few matches. The key players who had their Test debut during this period include the great professional all-rounders George Ulyett (11), who played 25 Tests, and Billy Barnes (21), who played 21. England's Champion cricketer WG Grace (24) first played Test cricket in 1880. Although Test match cricket had not been invented in his heyday of the late 1860s and 1870s, he continued playing into his fifties, finally retiring from Test cricket at the turn of the century. Shrewsbury (35) and Stoddart (56) go down amongst the great captains of the period, as well as two of the many cricketing suicides. Johnny Briggs (47), who, bedevilled by mental illness, died young, notched up the most Test caps of the earliest era of Test match cricket.
caption: Arthur Shrewsbury (35) who was a leading figure in organising tours to Australia.
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