Thomas Russell

Who was Thomas Russell?

Thomas Russell His birth was registered as Thomas Marychurch Freeman was an English cricketer. He was a right-handed batsman and wicket-keeper who played for Essex and Marylebone Cricket Club. He was born in Lewisham and died in Leyton.

Russell played his first two matches for Essex in miscellaneous fixtures against Leicestershire during the 1893 season, featuring in a game against a team of touring Australians just six weeks later, a match in which one-time Test cricketer and Wisden Cricketer of the Year Walter Mead picked up seventeen wickets, the most valuable haul ever made in a first-class cricket match by an Essex player.

Russell's debut first-class match came in 1894, when Essex played in eight miscellaneous first-class fixtures against county-representative teams who, the following year, would convene to set up the brand new County Championship, running its first full season in 1895. Russell performed well, scoring two half-centuries, and making twenty-seven catches and six stumpings as a wicket-keeper. His debut century would follow in a game against Surrey which the team would win by an innings margin.