1997 English cricket season

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1997 English cricket season
1996
1998

The 1997 cricket season was the 98th in which the County Championship has been an official competition. The season centred on the six-Test Ashes series against Australia. England won the first, at Edgbaston, by the decisive margin of nine wickets, and the rain-affected second Test at Lord's was drawn, but any English optimism was short-lived. Australia won the next three games by huge margins to secure the series and retain The Ashes, and England's three-day victory in the final game at The Oval was little more than a consolation prize. It was the 68th test series between the two sides with Australia finally winning 3-2 [1] The three-match ODI series which preceded the Tests produced a statistical curiosity, with England winning each match by an identical margin, six wickets.

Contents

The Britannic Assurance County Championship went to Glamorgan for the first time since 1969, by a margin of just four points from Kent. The combination of captain Matthew Maynard and Steve James' batting and Waqar Younis' and Steve Watkin's bowling propelled them to the title, although the matter was not settled until the final match of the season, when Glamorgan's maximum-points thrashing of Somerset at Taunton ensured that Kent's own victory over Surrey was irrelevant. [2] [3]

In one-day cricket, Warwickshire won the AXA Life League by two points from Kent, but were themselves thrashed by nine wickets by Essex in the final of the NatWest Trophy. The honours in the Benson & Hedges Cup went to Surrey, who beat Kent by eight wickets in the final.

Ali Brown's 203 for Surrey in the AXA Life League against Hampshire in July remains the only double century ever scored in a 40-over List A match. [4]

Honours

Statistical highlights

First-class

List A

Ashes tour

Cumulative record - Test wins1876-1997
England 92
Australia 114
Drawn85

County Championship

Sunday League

NatWest Trophy

Benson & Hedges Cup

Averages

First-class

Batting

Qualification: eight innings

English first-class batting averages, 1997
PlayerTeam(s)MINORunsHSAve10050
Graeme Hick Worcestershire 182861,524303*69.2764
Steve James Glamorgan 183041,77516268.2678
Matthew Maynard Glamorgan 182571,170161*65.0037
Ricky Ponting Australia 812357112763.4422
Darren Lehmann Yorkshire 172721,57518263.00410
Neil Johnson Leicestershire 1218581915063.0025

Bowling

Qualification: ten wickets

English first-class bowling averages, 1997
PlayerTeam(s)BallsMdnsRunsWktsBBAve5wI10wM
Hamish Anthony MCC 25211113106-3411.3011
Allan Donald Warwickshire 2,327123928606-5515.6331
Mike Smith England, Gloucestershire 3,0741251,464836-4517.6353
Paul Reiffel Australia 1,13249520285-4918.2720
Kevan James Hampshire 96737504278-4918.6621
Saqlain Mushtaq Surrey 1,52975617325-1719.2842

List A

Batting

Qualification: eight innings

English List A batting averages, 1997
PlayerTeam(s)MINORunsHSAve10050
Mike Roseberry Durham 109525291*63.0002
Chris Adams Derbyshire 1919398813861.7553
Neil Fairbrother Lancashire 202077928860.9209
Kim Barnett Derbyshire 16141751112*57.7623
Rob Bailey Northamptonshire 23225859153*50.5218
Matthew Hayden Hampshire 23221920120*46.6634

Bowling

Qualification: ten wickets

English List A bowling averages, 1997
PlayerTeam(s)BallsMdnsRunsWktsBBAve5wI
Allan Donald Warwickshire 1,11621718535-1013.543
Peter Martin Lancashire 99820649435-2115.092
David Leatherdale Worcestershire 6635512325-1016.001
Devon Malcolm Derbyshire 3786262167-3516.371
Phil Newport Worcestershire 60613370224-3716.810
Darren Gough England, Yorkshire 1,06112752417-2718.342

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References

  1. "Ashes on CricInfo". ESPN Cricinfo.
  2. Engel, Matthew (2004). Wisden Cricketers' Almanack 2004, pages 493-494. John Wisden & Company Ltd. ISBN   0-947766-83-9.
  3. "Alan Lee Cricket Correspondent. "Glamorgan prove value of team ethic." Times [London, England] 22 Sept. 1997". The Times .
  4. "Individual Scores of 150 and More in a ListA Match". CricketArchive. Retrieved 14 October 2006.

External sources

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