1896 English cricket season

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]

1896 English cricket season
1895
1897

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

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County Championship

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Final table

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County Championship 1896 - Final Standings
Team P W L D Pts GC1 Pts/GC (as %)
1 Yorkshire 26 16 3 7 13 19 68.42
2 Lancashire 22 11 4 7 7 15 46.67
3 Middlesex 16 8 3 5 5 11 45.45
4 Surrey 26 17 7 2 10 24 41.67
5 Essex 12 5 4 3 1 9 11.11
6 Nottinghamshire 16 5 5 6 0 10 0.00
7 Derbyshire 16 4 6 6 -2 10 -20.00
8 Hampshire 16 5 8 3 -3 13 -23.08
9 Kent 18 5 9 4 -4 14 -28.57
10 Gloucestershire 18 5 10 3 -5 15 -33.33
11 Somerset 16 3 7 6 -4 10 -40.00
12 Warwickshire 18 3 8 7 -5 11 -45.45
13 Leicestershire 14 2 8 4 -6 10 -60.00
14 Sussex 18 2 9 7 -7 11 -63.64
  • 1 Games completed

Points system:

  • 1 for a win
  • 0 for a draw, a tie or an abandoned match
  • -1 for a loss
  • Total points were then divided by the number of games completed, which determined the ranking

Most runs in the County Championship

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1896 County Championship - leading batsmen
Name Team Matches Runs Average 100s 50s
Ranjitsinhji Sussex 17 1698 58.55 7 6
WG Grace Gloucestershire 18 1565 53.96 4 6
John Brown Yorkshire 24 1556 45.76 4 7
Bobby Abel Surrey 26 1516 42.11 4 6
Frank Sugg Lancashire 22 1278 39.93 3 4

Most wickets in the County Championship

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1896 County Championship - leading bowlers
Name Team Matches Balls bowled Wickets taken Average
Tom Richardson Surrey 25 6163 191 15.46
Arthur Mold Lancashire 21 4836 130 17.20
Johnny Briggs Lancashire 22 6884 122 19.77
J.T. Hearne Middlesex 16 5294 118 17.95
Charlie Townsend Gloucestershire 18 3685 101 21.84

Ashes tour

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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 wins 1876-1896
England 25
Australia 15
Drawn 6

Overall first-class statistics

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Leading batsmen

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1896 English cricket season - leading batsmen
Name Team(s) Matches Runs Average 100s 50s
Ranjitsinhji England, Gentlemen, MCC, South of England, Sussex 29 2780 57.91 7 8
Bobby Abel England, Players, South of England, Surrey 35 2218 42.65 5 11
WG Grace England, Gentlemen, Gloucestershire, MCC, South of England 30 2135 42.70 4 11
John Brown England, North of England, Players, Yorkshire 35 1873 35.33 4 8
Andrew Stoddart England, Gentlemen, MCC, Middlesex, South of England 28 1671 34.81 4 7

Leading bowlers

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1896 English cricket season - leading bowlers
Name Team(s) Matches Balls bowled Wickets taken Average
J T Hearne England, MCC, Middlesex, Players, South of England 35 10,016 257 14.28
Tom Richardson England, Players, South of England, Surrey 34 8287 246 16.32
Johnny Briggs England, Lancashire, North of England, Players 30 8701 165 19.71
Arthur Mold Lancashire, North of England 27 5830 150 18.12
Hugh Trumble Australia 30 5701 148 15.81

Annual reviews

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References

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  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.
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