1864 English cricket season

Inter-county cricket

Events

• Law 10 was rewritten by the MCC to allow a bowler to bring his arm through at any height providing he kept it straight and did not throw the ball. The issue of overarm bowling had crystallised in the Willsher-Lillywhite incident of August 1862.
• 12 January - formation of Lancashire CCC at a meeting in Manchester.
• 27–29 January - Otago v. Canterbury at Dunedin was the start of first-class cricket in New Zealand.
• Madras v. Calcutta was the start of first-class cricket in India.
• First issue of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack. It was titled John Wisden’s Cricketers’ Almanac until the 1937 edition.
• 6–7 June - Middlesex CCC played its initial first-class match v. Sussex at Islington
• 9 June - Playing for MCC against Oxford University, H.E. Bull becomes only the second player, and the first since 1827, to be dismissed hit the ball twice in a first-class game.
• 7–8 July - Hampshire CCC played its initial first-class match v. Sussex at the Antelope Ground, Southampton
• 11–12 July - First appearance of WG Grace in a "big" match, though his first-class debut would not occur till the following season.
• MCC finally purchased the freehold of Lord's Cricket Ground for £18,333 6s 8d with money advanced by William Nicholson.

  Leading batsmen (qualification 10 innings)

Leading bowlers (qualification 800 balls)

Annual reviews

• Fred Lillywhite, The Guide to Cricketers, Lillywhite, 1865
• John Lillywhite's Cricketer's Companion, Lillywhite, 1865
• Arthur Haygarth, Scores & Biographies, Volume 8 , Lillywhite, 1865