Editing Archie MacLaren (section)

==Test cricketer==

===Test debut===
[[File:Stoddart's Team 1894.jpg|thumb|alt=Head-shot photographs of the English cricketers arranged around an image of Stoddart in the centre|Stoddart's team which toured Australia in 1894–95: MacLaren is at the bottom left]]
Approached to organise a touring team by the Australian cricket authorities, Stoddart had been unable to persuade several leading batsmen to join his squad.<ref>Frith, p. 14.</ref> Stoddart only took 13 men, of whom two were [[wicket-keeper]]s (only one of whom could realistically play in each match) and one was a [[Lob bowling|lob bowler]] who did not play any Test matches; this guaranteed MacLaren's selection for all the matches against Australia.<ref name=D20/> Consequently, he retained his place even when his form was poor.<ref name=D24-6/> In his first game, against [[South Australia cricket team|South Australia]], he scored 228,<ref name=D21>Down (1981), p. 21.</ref> and hit another half-century in the build-up to the first Test. He made his international debut on 14 December 1894,<ref name=figures/> scoring 4&nbsp;and 20 as England won despite being asked to [[follow on]].<ref>Down (1981), pp. 22–23.</ref> England also won the next game, although MacLaren was [[caught]] from the opening delivery of the match, the first time anyone had been dismissed by the first ball of a Test.<ref>Down (1981), p. 24.</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Records: Test matches: Batting records: Dismissed by the first ball of a match|url=http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/records/283164.html|publisher=ESPNcricinfo|access-date=7 November 2012}}</ref> Australia took the third and fourth Tests to level the series. MacLaren had little personal success, and averaged only 12.50 in the series after four games.<ref name=D24-6/>

By then, MacLaren was in financial difficulties. As an amateur, his expenses were covered by the tour organisers but he received no money for playing. To support him financially, the Lancashire committee had given him £100 before the tour.<ref name=D20/> By the latter stages of the tour, his money was running out; most of it was probably spent betting on [[Horse racing|horse races]], and he sent Lancashire a request for further money. Just before the final Test, he received a £60 advance on his expenses for the upcoming English season. For the fifth Test, he dropped down from opening the batting, which he had done throughout the series, to batting at [[Batting order (cricket)|number five]],<ref name=D24-6>Down (1981), pp. 24–26.</ref> and responded with his first Test century. Batting with greater caution than usual, he scored 120 before accidentally [[Hit wicket|standing on his own wicket]].<ref>Down (1981), pp. 26–27.</ref> England won the match to take the series 3–2, amid great public interest in England and Australia.<ref name=figures>{{Cite web| title = Player Oracle AC MacLaren| url =https://cricketarchive.com/cgi-bin/player_oracle_reveals_results2.cgi?playernumber=177&testing=0&opponentmatch=exact&playername=&resulttype=All&matchtype=All&teammatch=exact&startwicket=&homeawaytype=All&opponent=&endwicket=&wicketkeeper=&searchtype=InningsList&howout=All&endscore=&playermatch=contains&branding=cricketarchive&captain=&endseason=&startscore=&team=&startseason=
| publisher = CricketArchive| access-date =4 November 2012}}</ref><ref>Frith, pp. 158–59, 196.</ref> MacLaren scored 240 runs at 26.67 in the Test series, finishing fourth in the English averages.<ref>Frith, p. 184.</ref> He performed more effectively in the lesser matches,<ref>Gibson, p. 63.</ref> and following some final tour fixtures, he totalled 803 runs at 47.23 in all first-class games.<ref name=fcbatting/><ref name=figures/> On the six-week outward journey MacLaren met (Kathleen) Maud Power, an Australian socialite and the daughter of a horse racing official. They were married in 1898.<ref name=ODNB/><ref>Frith, pp. 33–37.</ref>

===World record holder===
MacLaren returned home via Japan, missing the start of the 1895 cricket season.<ref name=D29/> In his absence, he was named as a [[Wisden Cricketers of the Year|"Young Batsman of the Year"]] in ''Wisden'' for his performances in 1894.<ref>{{Cite web|url = http://www.espncricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/154807.html | title = AC MacLaren (Young Batsman of the Year)| work = Wisden Cricketers' Almanack  | year = 1895 | publisher = John Wisden & Co | location = London |access-date =7 November 2012}}</ref> After playing two games for Lancashire, MacLaren accepted the offer of a teaching job in a [[Preparatory school (United Kingdom)|preparatory school]] in Harrow; although still Lancashire's captain, he missed several matches, to the disquiet of its supporters. The team's results were mixed in his absence, and he returned to play [[Somerset County Cricket Club|Somerset]] at [[Taunton Cricket Ground|Taunton]].<ref name=D29>Down (1981), p. 29.</ref> On the first day of the three-day game, MacLaren scored 289 not out in 330 minutes. On the second day, he took his score to 424 before he was dismissed, surpassing the previous highest individual innings in first-class cricket,<ref name="Record">Down (1981), pp. 30–33.</ref> [[W. G. Grace]]'s score of 344, made in 1876.<ref name=fcrecord>{{cite web|title=Highest Individual Innings in First-Class matches|url= http://www.wisdenrecords.com/Records/First_Class/Overall/Batting/Highest_Player_Scores.html| work=Wisden Records| publisher=Wisden| access-date=4 November 2012}}</ref> MacLaren batted for 470 minutes in total and hit 62 [[Boundary (cricket)#Scoring runs|fours]] and a [[Boundary (cricket)#Scoring runs|six]].{{refn|At the time, the ball had to be struck out of the ground, not just over the boundary rope to score a six.<ref name=G84/>|group=notes}}<ref name=G84>Gibson, p. 84.</ref> This remained the highest score in first-class cricket until 1923 when [[Bill Ponsford]] scored 429 in Australia,<ref name="Record"/> and was the largest first-class innings in England until [[Brian Lara]] scored 501 in 1994.{{refn|Modern assessments of the merit of the innings vary. MacLaren's biographer Michael Down suggests that the innings was a considerable achievement: unlike several other scores exceeding 400, it came in England where scores are generally low, and was made in a three-day game. It was also the first time anyone had passed 400 in first-class cricket.<ref>Down (1981), p. 35.</ref> Cricket writer Alan Gibson, in assessing the innings, notes in its favour that sixes had to be hit out of the ground. On the other hand, he also notes that there was no provision in the laws to [[Cricket ball#Condition of a cricket ball|change the ball]], which made batting easier, and that one of the bowlers was a 17-year-old chosen simply to fill a place in the team.<ref name=G84/>|group=notes}}<ref name=fcrecord/> In total, Lancashire scored 801 runs and won the game by an innings.<ref name="Record"/> After a spell of lower scores,<ref name=D37/> MacLaren played several big innings, including three consecutive centuries in the last three games of the season.<ref>Wynne-Thomas, p. 62.</ref> He ended 1895 top of the national batting averages with 1,229 runs at 51.20.{{refn|MacLaren finished top of the averages for those batsmen who had played more than ten innings.<ref name=D37/>|group=notes}}<ref name=D37>Down (1981), p. 37.</ref> MacLaren was elected a life member of Lancashire in recognition of his achievements.<ref>Down (1981), p. 38.</ref>

Teaching commitments left MacLaren unavailable for the start of the 1896 season, and his first appearance came in July.<ref name=figures/><ref name=D39>Down (1981), p. 39.</ref> Although he had batted only once in the season, he was chosen to play in the second Test match of the summer between England and Australia,<ref name=D39/> a selection made controversial by his lack of cricket.<ref>{{Cite web|url = http://www.espncricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/153735.html | title = England v Australia 1896 (Second Test)| work = Wisden Cricketers' Almanack  | year = 1897 | publisher = John Wisden & Co | location = London |access-date =5 November 2012}}</ref> As the Test was played at Old Trafford, the England team was chosen by the Lancashire committee, who recognised that MacLaren would attract spectators as a local player.{{refn|There was no national group of selectors at the time, and the team for each match was chosen by a different county authority.<ref name=D39/>|group=notes}}<ref name=D39/> He was dismissed by the first ball he faced in the first innings, and scored 15 runs in the second as England were defeated.<ref name=figures/><ref>Down (1981), p. 40.</ref> Shortly after the Test, he scored 226 against [[Kent County Cricket Club|Kent]] to take Lancashire to a draw in a match they seemed likely to lose.<ref>Down (1981), p. 41.</ref> This was enough for him to retain his place in the team for the final Test match, where he scored 20 and 6.<ref>Down (1981), pp. 41–42.</ref> He batted effectively for the rest of the season, finishing with 713 runs for Lancashire at 54.85. Critics praised his batting, but his absences may have prevented the team from winning the Championship; they finished second.<ref>Down (1981), p. 43.</ref> In all first-class matches, he scored 922 runs at 36.88.<ref name=fcbatting/>

===Second tour of Australia===
MacLaren's teaching duties meant that in 1897 he again missed the start of the cricket season, and he felt it necessary to resign as Lancashire's captain. When he began playing, he scored heavily, including another double century against Kent, and his runs helped Lancashire to win the County Championship:<ref>Down (1981), p. 45.</ref> concentrating on aggressive batting, he scored faster than in previous years, and hit 974 runs at 51.26.<ref name=fcbatting/><ref>Wynne-Thomas, pp. 67–68.</ref> At the end of the season, MacLaren was included in Stoddart's second Australian touring team. Despite high expectations of success, the Test series was lost 4–1.<ref name=Wisden99>{{Cite web|url = http://www.espncricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/154329.html | title = England in Australia, 1897–98| work = Wisden Cricketers' Almanack  | year = 1899 | publisher = John Wisden & Co | location = London |access-date =7 November 2012}}</ref> Although nominally captain, Stoddart played in only two Tests; he was grief-stricken after the death of his mother and disillusioned by the failures of his team.<ref>Gibson, pp. 69–70.</ref> MacLaren, after an unproductive start to the tour, scored 142 and 100 against [[New South Wales cricket team|New South Wales]] to become the first batsman to score two centuries in the same Australian first-class match.<ref name=figures/><ref>Down (1981), p. 47.</ref> In the absence of Stoddart, he captained the England team in the first Test.<ref name=D47-8>Down (1981), pp. 47–48.</ref> He scored 109 in the first innings, batting more cautiously than usual, and 50 not out in the second as England won by nine wickets.<ref name=figures/><ref>Down (1981), pp. 48–49.</ref> His captaincy proved controversial when he refused to recall the Australian batsman [[Charlie McLeod]] to the wickets after he was dismissed; McLeod was out to a [[no-ball]] but, being deaf, did not hear the umpire's call and was run out when he left his [[Crease (cricket)|crease]].<ref>Gibson, p. 70.</ref> With Stoddart still absent, MacLaren was captain in the second Test. Australia won by an innings, and MacLaren was criticised in the Australian press for complaining about the pitch.<ref>Down (1981), p. 49.</ref> Commentators also suggested that he underused the bowling of [[Ted Wainwright]].<ref name="Down (1981), p. 50">Down (1981), p. 50.</ref> Stoddart returned for the third and fourth Tests, both of which England lost by an innings. MacLaren scored 124 in the third game, but was mocked in the press after the fourth when he claimed that a fly in his eye caused him to be dismissed.<ref name="Down (1981), p. 50"/> When Stoddart withdrew from the final match, MacLaren once more assumed the leadership. He scored 65 in the first innings but could not prevent Australia winning again.<ref name=D51>Down (1981), p. 51.</ref>

In all first-class matches, MacLaren scored 1,037 runs at 54.57;<ref name=fcbatting/> in the Test matches, he aggregated 488 runs at an average of 54.22.<ref name=tbat>{{cite web|title=Test Batting and Fielding in Each Season by Archie MacLaren |url-access=subscription  |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/0/177/t_Batting_by_Season.html|publisher=CricketArchive|access-date=10 November 2012}}</ref> ''Wisden'' noted that MacLaren batted "magnificently" and commented: "Of all the English players the one who had the best cause to look back upon the trip with satisfaction was MacLaren."<ref name=Wisden99/> At the conclusion of the tour, on 17 March 1898, he married Power.<ref name=ODNB/><ref name="D51" /> The wedding attracted media attention and was well attended.<ref name=D52>Down (1981), p. 52.</ref> The couple later had two sons.<ref name=D162/>