1879 English cricket season

1879 English cricket season
Cricket formats major, including inter-county

The 1879 English cricket season saw Lancashire claim a share of the title for the first time.

The summer was the coolest[1] and wettest[2] over the two-and-a-half centuries of climatic records in England, and during the early part of the twentieth century exceptionally wet seasons such as 1903, 1912, 1924 and 1927 were very frequently compared to 1879.

Champion County[a]

Playing record (by county)[3]

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

Leading batsmen (qualification 20 innings)

1879 English season leading batsmen[4]
Name Team Matches Innings Not outs Runs Highest score Average 100s 50s
WG Grace Gloucestershire 18 28 3 880 123 35.20 2 5
Monkey Hornby Lancashire
MCC
17 22 2 606 64 not out 30.30 0 3
Alfred Lyttelton Cambridge University
Middlesex
16 27 3 688 102 28.66 1 4
Allan Steel Cambridge University
Lancashire
15 23 3 553 93 27.65 0 3
William Oscroft Nottinghamshire 19 31 2 763 140 26.31 1 3

Leading bowlers (qualification 1,000 balls)

1879 English season leading bowlers[5]
Name Team Balls bowled Runs conceded Wickets taken Average Best bowling 5 wickets
in innings
10 wickets
in match
Arnold Rylott MCC 1234 291 37 7.86 6/67 1 1
William Mycroft Derbyshire
MCC
3052 738 88 8.38 8/32 7 3
Alfred Shaw Nottinghamshire
MCC
6381 1277 133 9.60 8/21 13 3
Tom Emmett Yorkshire 1901 622 63 9.87 7/54 6 1
James Lillywhite Sussex 1098 229 23 9.95 8/43 1 1

Notable events

Notes

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.
b Hampshire, though regarded until 1885 as first-class, played no inter-county matches

References

Annual reviews

External links