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A. N. Hornby England (Eng)
Batting style	Right-handed batsman (RHB)
Bowling type	?
	Tests	First-class
Matches	3	437
Runs scored	21	16109
Batting average	3.50	23.45
100s/50s	0/0	16/75
Top score	9	188
Balls bowled	28	593
Wickets	1	11
Bowling average	0.00	23.45
5 wickets in innings	0	0
10 wickets in match	0	0
Best bowling	1/0	4/40
Catches/stumpings	0/0	313/3
Test debut: 2 January 1879 Last Test: 12 July 1884 Source: [1]

Tombstone of A.N. Hornby

Albert Neilson Hornby (Blackburn, Lancashire, 10 February 1847 – 17 December 1925 in Nantwich, Cheshire) was the England cricket captain who lost the Test match which gave rise to the Ashes, at home against the Australians in 1882.

The Test match in 1882 was a one-off game played at The Oval in London, England, and the English cricket team lost it to Australia. In response, the Sporting Times printed the following "obituary" to English cricket:

In Affectionate Remembrance of ENGLISH CRICKET, which died at the Oval on 29th AUGUST, 1882, Deeply lamented by a large circle of sorrowing friends and acquaintances R.I.P.

N.B. - The body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia.

A. N. Hornby captained England in only one more Test (his last), standing in for Lord Harris (who had stood out in protest) in the first Test of 1884. In 1882, Hornby also captained England at rugby, making him one of only two men to have captained England at both these sports, the other being Andrew Stoddart.

His lack of stature and excess of energy earned him the nickname "Monkey", while his players called him "The Boss", for his martinet approach to captaincy. In all cricket sources, however, he is referred to by his initials, and never by a nickname.

Hornby and his fellow Lancashire and England batsman Dick Barlow were immortalised in one of the best known of all cricket poems, At Lord's by Francis Thompson which contains the following celebrated lines:

It is little I repair to the matches of the Southron folk,

Though my own red roses there may blow;

It is little I repair to the matches of the Southron folk,

Though the red roses crest the caps, I know.

For the field is full of shades as I near a shadowy coast,

And a ghostly batsman plays to the bowling of a ghost,

And I look through my tears on a soundless-clapping host

As the run stealers flicker to and fro,

To and fro:

O my Hornby and my Barlow long ago !

• History of Test cricket (to 1883)
• History of Test cricket (1884 to 1889)

• Cricinfo page on A. N. Hornby
• CricketArchive page on A. N. Hornby