1897 English cricket season

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1897 English cricket season
1896
1898

1897 was the eighth season of County Championship cricket in England. Lancashire won the championship for the first time, thanks mainly to only three losses in twenty-six matches. Surrey won more games, and beat Lancashire twice, but one more loss than Lancashire meant that they would have to be content with second place. They could have taken the championship if they had beaten Sussex in the last game at Hove but, after gaining a five-run lead on first innings, Surrey let Billy Murdoch, C. B. Fry and George Bean make half-centuries, and rain spoiled their chances of winning on the final day. At the bottom of the table, Derbyshire suffered a run of 16 matches without victory to finish last in the table and, with the end of the 1896 season having yielded three matches without a win, Derbyshire's streak ran to 19 matches without a win.

Contents

Honours

County Championship

Final table

County Championship 1897 – Final Standings
TeamPWLDPtsGC1Pts/GC (as %)
1 Lancashire 261637131968.42
2 Surrey 261745132161.90
3 Essex 167275955.56
4 Yorkshire 26135881844.44
5 Gloucestershire 1875621216.67
6 Sussex 20569−111−9.09
7 Middlesex 16349−17−14.29
7 Warwickshire 183411−17−14.29
9 Hampshire 18477−311−27.27
10 Nottinghamshire 16259−37−42.86
11 Somerset 16394−612−50.00
12 Kent 182106−812−66.67
13 Leicestershire 141103−911−81.82
14 Derbyshire 16097−99−100.00

Points system:

Most runs in the County Championship

1897 County Championship – leading batsmen
NameTeamMatchesRunsAverage100s50s
Bobby Abel Surrey 26183350.9165
Jack Brown Yorkshire 22143143.3636
Ted Wainwright Yorkshire 25137239.2054
David Denton Yorkshire 26132834.0528
Ranjitsinhji Sussex 19131842.5136

Most wickets in the County Championship

1897 County Championship – leading bowlers
NameTeamMatchesBalls bowledWickets takenAverage
Tom Richardson Surrey 26699023814.23
Johnny Briggs Lancashire 26577014016.38
Frederick Bull Essex 16436510920.38
Willis Cuttell Lancashire 2651910217.77
John Hearne Middlesex 16533310218.52

Overall first-class statistics

Leading batsmen

1897 English cricket season – leading batsmen
NameTeam(s)MatchesRunsAverage100s50s
Bobby Abel Players, South of England, Surrey 32209944.6567
Ranjitsinhji Gentlemen, MCC, Sussex 26194045.1157
Jack Brown North of England, Players, Yorkshire 29180942.0639
George Brann Gentlemen, South of England, Sussex 26162636.95312
Ted Wainwright North of England, Players, Yorkshire 32161235.8256

Leading bowlers

1897 English cricket season – leading bowlers
NameTeam(s)MatchesBalls bowledWickets takenAverage
Tom Richardson Players, South of England, Surrey 30801927314.45
John Hearne MCC, Middlesex, Players 26811317317.72
Johnny Briggs Lancashire 28646515516.51
Cyril Bland South of England, Sussex 26570312921.66
Willis Cuttell Lancashire, North of England29560912016.45

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