Edward Sainsbury (5 July 1851 – 28 October 1930) was an English cricketer who represented, and captained, Somerset County Cricket Club in the late 19th century. During a 10-year first-class cricket career, he also represented Gloucestershire and the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC).
Most commonly employed as a right-handed opening batsman, Sainsbury was one of Somerset's most talented batsman during their formative years. His slow underarm bowling was effective in second-class cricket, but in an era when overarm bowling was becoming the standard, he was used sparingly in the first-class game. During his time at Somerset, the county gained first-class status. After being led for three seasons by Sainsbury's Lansdown team-mate Stephen Newton, Sainsbury was given the Somerset captaincy for the 1885 season. A combination of poor results and not being able to raise a full eleven during that season led to the county's removal from the first-class game, although Sainsbury remained as captain until 1888. By the time Somerset had improved sufficiently to return to first-class cricket in 1891, Sainsbury had moved to neighbouring county Gloucestershire, where he saw out his county cricket career.
Early life
Sainsbury was born on 5 July 1851 in Bath, Somerset, the youngest son of John Popham Sainsbury. He attended Sherborne School, an independent school in north-west Dorset. Playing for the school's cricket eleven he acquired a reputation for his slow underarm bowling, which could deceive even the most wary opponent into conceding his wicket. He was considered an even better batsman, and often opened the innings for the school.
Club and second-class county cricket
Sainsbury played alongside his older brother, Francis, for Lansdown Cricket Club from at least 1865. His first recorded appearance for a representative county side was in August 1877, when he played for Somerset, against their Dorset neighbours. He opened the batting for the Somerset team alongside Hamilton Ross. Both had been scoring plenty of runs for Lansdown in club cricket, and Sainsbury made 32, a respectable score in the match, which Somerset won by an innings. Only Edward Lloyd scored more, posting an unbeaten 110, one of the earliest centuries scored for a Somerset county side. Sainsbury also opened the bowling during the match, but he claimed only one wicket over the two innings and bowled just 13 of the 104 overs. A few days later he appeared again for the county side, against Clifton, who had the Australian Test cricketer, Billy Midwinter, in their team. Sainsbury scored 96 not out, including a "resolute" partnership with Stephen Newton, before rain forced the game to be drawn. Subsequently, he scored 7 and 81 against the Wiltshire Wanderers, and took ten wickets in the match, including six in the first innings. In two further appearances for Somerset in 1877, Sainsbury did not surpass the score he reached against Dorset but claimed two further wickets, both against the Gentlemen of Wiltshire. Sainsbury finished the season top of Somerset's batting averages, having scored 230 runs at an average of 46.00.
Sainsbury added himself to the list of early Somerset centurions during 1878, hitting 105 while batting at number 6 against Hertfordshire. In doing so, he batted for over four hours, and shared an eighth wicket partnership of 114 with Francis Reed, out of a Somerset total of 249. His bowling was also on form during the match, and after collecting two wickets in the first innings, he claimed five in the second. The Somerset side during the late 1870s reflected the strength of the Lansdown club: of the eleven players that represented Somerset in their match against the Marylebone Cricket Club in early August 1878, five of them also represented Lansdown when the London club travelled down to Bath. In between these two matches against the MCC, Sainsbury scored a half-century for Somerset during their match against Devon. Toward the end of August, Sainsbury's bowling once again came to the fore, as he claimed five wickets in the first innings against Worcestershire to help defend Somerset's lead and propel them to an innings victory. He once again led the Somerset batting averages, scoring 211 runs at an average of 35.16, while his 13 wickets were the second most in the team, at an average of 9.69.