English cricket team in Australia in 1861–62

An English cricket team toured Australia in 1861–62. This was the first-ever tour of Australia by any overseas team and the second tour abroad by an English team, following the one to North America in 1859. The team is sometimes referred to as H. H. Stephenson's XI.

The idea for the tour came from the English proprietors of a Melbourne company called Spiers and Pond, which ran the Café de Paris in the city. Spiers was Felix William Spiers and Pond was Christopher Pond. Their representative in England, a Mr Mallam, had tried to interest Charles Dickens in a lecture tour of Australia and New Zealand but without success. Instead, having noted the success of the 1859 venture and the growing popularity of cricket in Australia, Spiers and Pond decided to attract a team of leading English cricketers. Mr Mallam therefore journeyed to Birmingham in September 1861 to watch the North v. South game at Aston Park.

During the game, Mallam met the cricketers at the nearby Hen and Chicken Hotel to make a business proposal. As a result, twelve players agreed to tour Australia next winter on terms of £150 per man plus expenses.

The team was captained by H. H. Stephenson (Surrey) who was joined by William Caffyn, Will Mortlock, George Griffith, William Mudie, Tom Sewell junior (all Surrey); Roger Iddison, Ned Stephenson (both Yorkshire); Tom Hearne, Charles Lawrence (both Middlesex); George Wells (Sussex); and George Bennett (Kent). Stephenson and Caffyn had toured America in 1859.

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