{{short description|English cricketer}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2026}} {{Use British English|date=May 2026}} {{Ambox | style = text-align: center; | text = '''This article is a work in progress which has scope for expansion.'''<br />Additional content may be found in the works listed under the "Bibliography" and "Further reading" sections. }} '''Thomas Boxall''' (dates unknown) was a famous English cricketer of the late 18th century. He was a very successful right arm bowler, believed to have been fast underarm.{{refn|group=note|name=status|Any match listed in the ACS' ''Important Match Guide'' (1981) is historically important, and therefore of the highest standard, whether or not a scorecard might exist. The same applies to numerous matches discovered by researchers since 1981.{{sfn|ACS|1981|pp=1–40}}<br />For further information, see First-class cricket.}}

==Career== According to ''Scores and Biographies'', Boxall was about 5&nbsp;ft 5in tall, strong and muscular. He may have been born at Ripley, Surrey but this is uncertain, especially as he played mainly for Kent. He was employed for a long time by the Kent patron Stephen Amherst. Amherst constructed an indoor practice area in a barn so that Boxall could bowl to him during the winter.{{sfn|Haygarth|1996|p=90}} The Walker brothers of Hambledon also did this at their farm.

Thomas Boxall made his known debut in the 1789 season,{{sfn|Haygarth|1996|p=90}} and made 89 known appearances in historically important matches from then until 1803.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Players/28/28061/28061.html |title=Thomas Boxall |publisher=CricketArchive |access-date=10 May 2026 |url-access=subscription}}</ref>

Near the end of his career, in 1801, Boxall published the earliest known instructional book on cricket called ''Rules and Instructions for Playing at the Game of Cricket''.{{sfn|Bowen|1970|p=268}}

==Notes== {{notelist|group=note}}

==References== {{reflist}}

==Bibliography== * {{cite book |last=ACS |author-link=Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians |title=A Guide to Important Cricket Matches Played in the British Isles 1709–1863 |year=1981 |publisher=ACS |location=Nottingham |url=https://archive.acscricket.com/online_library/match_guides/bi_imp_match_guide/index.html |oclc=85045528}} * {{cite book |last=Bowen |first=Rowland |author-link=Rowland Bowen |title=Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development |year=1970 |publisher=Eyre & Spottiswoode |location=London |isbn=978-04-13278-60-9}} * {{cite book |last=Haygarth |first=Arthur |author-link=Arthur Haygarth |title=Scores & Biographies, Volume 1 (1744–1826) |publisher=Frederick Lillywhite |location=Kennington |year=1996 |orig-year=1862 |isbn=978-19-00592-23-9}}

==Further reading== * {{cite book |last=Buckley |first=G. B. |author-link=G. B. Buckley |title=Fresh Light on 18th Century Cricket |year=1935 |publisher=Cotterell & Co. |location=Birmingham |oclc=23450280}} * {{cite book |last=Waghorn |first=H. T. |author-link=H. T. Waghorn |title=The Dawn of Cricket |publisher=J. W. McKenzie |location=London |year=2005 |orig-year=1906 |isbn=978-09-47821-17-3}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Boxall, Thomas}} Category:Brighton cricketers Category:English cricketers of 1787 to 1825 Category:English cricketers Category:Kent cricketers Category:Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Category:Middlesex cricketers Category:Non-international England cricketers Category:R. Leigh's XI cricketers Category:Surrey cricketers Category:West Kent cricketers Category:Year of birth missing Category:Year of death missing