1880 English cricket season

1880 English cricket season

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1880 was the 94th season of cricket in England since the foundation of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). The second tour by a representative Australian team was undertaken and they took part in the (retrospective) first Test match to be played in England. County cricket was dominated by the Nottinghamshire bowlers Alfred Shaw and Fred Morley. ^{[note 1]}

Champion County

^[a]

• Nottinghamshire

Playing record (by county)

County	Played	Won	Lost	Drawn
Derbyshire	8	2	5	1
Gloucestershire	10	4	1	5
Hampshire	2	0	2	0
Kent	10	5	3	2
Lancashire	12	6	3	3
Middlesex	8	2	4	2
Nottinghamshire	10	6	1	3
Surrey	14	2	7	5
Sussex	8	2	4	2
Yorkshire	14	5	4	5

^[5]

Leading batsmen (qualification 20 innings)

1880 English season leading batsmen [6]
Name	Team(s)	Matches	Innings	Not outs	Runs	Highest score	Average	100s	50s
WG Grace	Gloucestershire England	16	27	3	951	152	39.62	2	5
Lord Harris	Kent Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) England	16	26	2	772	123	32.16	1	5
Alexander Webbe	Middlesex England	14	24	1	708	142	30.78	1	2
Ivo Bligh	Cambridge University Kent	21	38	5	1013	105	30.69	1	8
Billy Barnes	Nottinghamshire Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) England	28	47	4	1220	143	28.37	2	5

Leading bowlers (qualification 1,000 balls)

1880 English season leading bowlers [7]
Name	Team	Balls bowled	Runs conceded	Wickets taken	Average	Best bowling	5 wickets in innings	10 wickets in match
Alfred Shaw	Nottinghamshire Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) England	8532	1589	186	8.54	8/31	14	5
Frederick Jellicoe	Oxford University Hampshire	1045	301	32	9.40	7/23	3	1
George Nash	Lancashire	1501	471	49	9.61	8/31	4	2
Arnold Rylott	Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC)	1162	394	39	10.10	7/43	6	1
Dick Barlow	Lancashire	2439	639	62	10.30	7/16	4	1

Notable events

See also: History of Test cricket (to 1883) and Australian cricket team in England in 1880

• The first Test match in England was played at The Oval from 6 to 8 September and England won by five wickets.
• Alfred Shaw achieved the lowest-ever average by any bowler taking over 100 first-class wickets. ^[8] No bowler has had a single-figure average for over 100 wickets since.

Labels

^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.

Notes

1. Some eleven-a-side matches played from 1772 to 1863 have been rated "first-class" by certain sources. ^[1] However, the term only came into common use around 1864, when overarm bowling was legalised. It was formally defined as a standard by a meeting at Lord's, in May 1894, of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and the county clubs which were then competing in the County Championship. The ruling was effective from the beginning of the 1895 season, but pre-1895 matches of the same standard have no official definition of status because the ruling is not retrospective. ^[2] Matches of a similar standard since the beginning of the 1864 season are generally considered to have an unofficial first-class status. ^[3] Pre-1864 matches which are included in the ACS' "Important Match Guide" may generally be regarded as top-class or, at least, historically significant. ^[4] For further information, see First-class cricket.

References

1. "First-Class matches in England in 1772" . CricketArchive. Retrieved 29 November 2025.
2. Wisden (1948). Preston, Hubert (ed.). Wisden Cricketers' Almanack (85th ed.). London: Sporting Handbooks Ltd. p. 813. OCLC   851705816.
3. ACS 1982, pp. 4–5.
4. ACS 1981, pp. 1–40.
5. Wynne-Thomas, Peter; The Rigby A-Z of Cricket Records; p. 54 ISBN   072701868X
6. First Class Batting in England in 1880
7. First Class Bowling in England in 1880
8. Webber, Roy; The Playfair Book of Cricket Records; p. 173. Published 1951 by Playfair Books

Bibliography

• ACS (1981). A Guide to Important Cricket Matches Played in the British Isles 1709–1863. Nottingham: ACS. OCLC   85045528.
• ACS (1982). A Guide to First-class Cricket Matches Played in the British Isles. Nottingham: ACS. OCLC   10586869.
• Warner, Pelham (1946). Lords: 1787–1945. London: Harrap. OCLC   877106024.

Annual reviews

• John Lillywhite's Cricketer's Companion (Green Lilly), Lillywhite, 1881
• James Lillywhite's Cricketers' Annual (Red Lilly), Lillywhite, 1881
• Wisden Cricketers' Almanack , 1881

Further reading

• Altham, H. S.; Swanton, E. W. (1962). A History of Cricket, Volume 1 (to 1914) (5th ed.). London: George Allen & Unwin. OCLC   894274808.
• Birley, Derek (1999). A Social History of English Cricket. London: Aurum Press. ISBN   978-18-54107-10-7 – via Internet Archive.
• Bowen, Rowland (1970). Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development. London: Eyre & Spottiswoode. ISBN   978-04-13278-60-9.
• Major, John (2007). More Than A Game. London: HarperCollins. ISBN   978-00-07183-64-7 – via Internet Archive.