1878 was the 92nd season of cricket in England since the foundation of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). The first official tour by an Australian team was undertaken, although it played no Test matches. A match at Old Trafford inspired a famous poem.
| County | Played | Won | Lost | Drawn |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Derbyshire | 10 | 3 | 6 | 1 |
| Gloucestershire | 10 | 4 | 2 | 4 |
| Hampshire | 4 | 0 | 3 | 1 |
| Kent | 12 | 6 | 4 | 2 |
| Lancashire | 10 | 5 | 3 | 2 |
| Middlesex | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| Nottinghamshire | 14 | 7 | 3 | 4 |
| Surrey | 12 | 3 | 6 | 3 |
| Sussex | 8 | 1 | 7 | 0 |
| Yorkshire | 14 | 7 | 5 | 2 |
| 1878 English season leading batsmen [2] | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Team | Matches | Innings | Not outs | Runs | Highest score | Average | 100s | 50s |
| John Selby | Nottinghamshire | 21 | 31 | 1 | 938 | 107 | 31.26 | 1 | 8 |
| Edward Lyttelton | Cambridge University Middlesex MCC | 16 | 26 | 0 | 779 | 113 | 29.96 | 1 | 3 |
| WG Grace | Gloucestershire MCC | 24 | 42 | 2 | 1151 | 116 | 28.77 | 1 | 5 |
| Frank Penn | Kent MCC | 12 | 20 | 1 | 534 | 160 | 28.10 | 1 | 3 |
| George Ulyett | Yorkshire | 28 | 51 | 4 | 1270 | 109 | 27.02 | 1 | 9 |
| 1878 English season leading bowlers [3] | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Team | Balls bowled | Runs conceded | Wickets taken | Average | Best bowling | 5 wickets in innings | 10 wickets in match |
| Arnold Rylott | MCC | 1944 | 451 | 53 | 8.50 | 8/15 | 6 | 3 |
| Allan Steel | Cambridge University Lancashire | 4493 | 1547 | 164 | 9.43 | 9/63 | 19 | 9 |
| Harry Boyle | Australians | 1443 | 483 | 51 | 9.47 | 7/48 | 4 | 0 |
| Tom Garrett | Australians | 1042 | 318 | 32 | 9.93 | 7/38 | 2 | 1 |
| William Mycroft | Derbyshire MCC | 4185 | 1196 | 116 | 10.31 | 8/36 | 11 | 5 |
a An unofficial seasonal title sometimes proclaimed by consensus of media and historians prior to December 1889 when the official County Championship was constituted. Although there are ante-dated claims prior to 1873, when residence qualifications were introduced, it is only since that ruling that any quasi-official status can be ascribed.
b Middlesex, Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire were all seen as having some claims to the "Championship", but the general consensus was that none of these teams could claim superiority