George Parr's 130 — Only First-Class Century, Notts v Surrey, the Oval, July 1859

Parr had succeeded Clarke as AEE captain in late 1856 and as Notts captain from the same season. The 1859 season was the high point of his playing career: leading run-scorer in several fixtures and at the height of his powers as a leg-hitter.

Notts and Surrey were the two leading counties of the late 1850s. The fixture at the Oval was always heavily attended. The 1859 match drew an especially big crowd partly because Parr was due shortly to lead the tour to America.

George Parr was born at Radcliffe-on-Trent in May 1826 and grew up at Trent Bridge under Clarke's tutelage. By the late 1840s he was the leading leg-side hitter in England — his colleague William Caffyn described his method as reaching out with the left leg straight down the wicket, the knee bent, and sweeping the ball round in a half-circle. He was acclaimed by Wisden retrospectives as 'the only Nottinghamshire player of whom it could be justly claimed that he was in his day the Greatest Batsman in the World'. The 14 July 1859 innings of 130 against Surrey at the Oval was his only first-class century — first-class scoring of three figures was rare on the pitches of the day, and Parr's average run-making was based on consistency at fifty or sixty rather than centuries. The innings was made on a hot summer's day in front of a large crowd that had come specifically to watch him; reporters noted his trademark leg-side hitting in particular. Two months later Parr would lead the first English overseas tour to North America. The 130 also helped establish that, with Clarke dead, the AEE under Parr was a stronger and more popular outfit than ever.

“As a leg-hitter Parr will always be best known. His method was to reach out with the left leg straight down the wicket, bending the knee, and to sweep the ball round in a sort of half-circle.”

The 130 helped to establish Parr's standing in the eyes of those who would buy tickets for the North America tour two months later. He continued as Notts and AEE captain through the 1860s, retiring as a player in 1870. By the time he died in 1891, the elm tree at Trent Bridge that he habitually hit for six was already known as Parr's Tree.