James Burns (20 June 1866 â 11 September 1957) was an English cricketer. He played for Essex between 1890 and 1896 as a right-handed middle order batter and as an occasional left-arm slow bowler, and for Marylebone Cricket Club in occasional matches up to 1901. He was also a football player who played for West Bromwich Albion and Notts County.
Burns and George Higgins both scored centuries in Essex's first-ever County Championship fixture, the match against Warwickshire at Edgbaston in May 1895; Burns scored 114 and Higgins 118, and together they put on 205 for the fourth wicket. Neither scored any further centuries in first-class cricket.