1896 English cricket season

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1896 English cricket season
1895
1897

1896 was the seventh season of County Championship cricket in England. Yorkshire won the championship title having lost only losing three of their 26 matches, setting a points percentage record with 68.42. Yorkshire's team did not possess the greatest performers statistically, such as Sussex with Ranjitsinhji, or Gloucestershire with W. G. Grace, but a well-rounded squad with four bowlers taking more than 70 wickets in the Championship and five batsmen scoring over 1000 runs gave them the title. Playing against Warwickshire at Edgbaston in May, Yorkshire scored 887 in their first innings, which is still the highest total in the history of the County Championship. [1]

Contents

The highlight of the season, however, was the Australian tour, where Australia won their first Test match in England since 1888, and gave England a fight up until the third Test. On a rain-affected pitch, however, England hauled in a 66-run third test victory thanks to Bobby Peel, who took six for 23. The win sealed the Ashes in favour of England by 2 wins to 1. [2]

Honours

County Championship

Final table

County Championship 1896 - Final Standings
TeamPWLDPtsGC1Pts/GC (as %)
1 Yorkshire 261637131968.42
2 Lancashire 22114771546.67
3 Middlesex 1683551145.45
4 Surrey 261772102441.67
5 Essex 125431911.11
6 Nottinghamshire 165560100.00
7 Derbyshire 16466-210-20.00
8 Hampshire 16583-313-23.08
9 Kent 18594-414-28.57
10 Gloucestershire 185103-515-33.33
11 Somerset 16376-410-40.00
12 Warwickshire 18387-511-45.45
13 Leicestershire 14284-610-60.00
14 Sussex 18297-711-63.64

Points system:

Most runs in the County Championship

1896 County Championship - leading batsmen
NameTeamMatchesRunsAverage100s50s
Ranjitsinhji Sussex 17169858.5576
WG Grace Gloucestershire 18156553.9646
John Brown Yorkshire 24155645.7647
Bobby Abel Surrey 26151642.1146
Frank Sugg Lancashire 22127839.9334

Most wickets in the County Championship

1896 County Championship - leading bowlers
NameTeamMatchesBalls bowledWickets takenAverage
Tom Richardson Surrey 25616319115.46
Arthur Mold Lancashire 21483613017.20
Johnny Briggs Lancashire 22688412219.77
J.T. Hearne Middlesex 16529411817.95
Charlie Townsend Gloucestershire 18368510121.84

Ashes tour

England won again, but this time faced a series-decider in the final match at The Oval, without George Lohmann of Surrey and William Gunn of Nottinghamshire, who went on a strike over match fees allegedly received by the amateur WG Grace. In the first Test at Lord's, England won by six wickets, chasing 108 to win, but Australia recovered to win the second Test at Old Trafford, despite 154 from Ranjitsinhji on debut - as the first Indian to play Test cricket, and only the second to score a century on Test debut. The third Test was ravaged by rain, and in poor playing conditions England won by 66 runs. The highest individual score in that match was 47 from Australian Joe Darling.

Cumulative record - Test wins1876-1896
England 25
Australia 15
Drawn6

Overall first-class statistics

Leading batsmen

1896 English cricket season - leading batsmen
NameTeam(s)MatchesRunsAverage100s50s
Ranjitsinhji England, Gentlemen, MCC, South of England, Sussex 29278057.9178
Bobby Abel England, Players, South of England, Surrey 35221842.65511
WG Grace England, Gentlemen, Gloucestershire, MCC, South of England30213542.70411
John Brown England, North of England, Players, Yorkshire 35187335.3348
Andrew Stoddart England, Gentlemen, MCC, Middlesex, South of England28167134.8147

Leading bowlers

1896 English cricket season - leading bowlers
NameTeam(s)MatchesBalls bowledWickets takenAverage
J T Hearne England, MCC, Middlesex, Players, South of England3510,01625714.28
Tom Richardson England, Players, South of England, Surrey 34828724616.32
Johnny Briggs England, Lancashire, North of England, Players 30870116519.71
Arthur Mold Lancashire, North of England27583015018.12
Hugh Trumble Australia 30570114815.81

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References

  1. "Warwickshire v Yorkshire". cricketarchive.co.uk. Retrieved 3 September 2012.
  2. Wynne-Thomas, Peter (1983). The Hamlyn A-Z of Cricket Records. Hamlyn Publishing Group. ISBN   0-600-34667-6.