1873 English cricket season

In the 1873 English cricket season, in only their fourth season as a first-class team, Gloucestershire was proclaimed joint Champion County by the media and went on to claim the still unofficial title four times in five seasons (1873-1874 & 1876-1877).

Player qualification rules came into force, with players having to decide at the start of a season whether they would play for the county of their birth or the county of residence. Before this, it was quite common for a player to play for two counties during the course of a single season, with by far the best-known case being star slow bowler James Southerton who played for his birth county Sussex when they had a match on and otherwise for Surrey. It is only since the residence qualifications were introduced that any quasi-official status can be ascribed to the oft-claimed Champion County title.[1]

Champion County[a]

Playing record (by county)[2]

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

Leading batsmen (qualification 15 innings)

1873 English season leading batsmen[3]
Name Team Matches Innings Not outs Runs Highest score Average 100s 50s
WG Grace Gloucestershire
MCC
20 32 7 1805 192 not out 72.20 6 8
Isaac Walker MCC
Middlesex
11 20 3 587 64 34.52 0 2
Fred Grace Gloucestershire 15 22 3 593 165 not out 31.21 1 3
William Oscroft Nottinghamshire 17 30 1 758 96 26.13 0 5
Harry Jupp Surrey 24 45 3 1052 94 25.04 0 8

Leading bowlers (qualification 800 balls)

1873 English season leading bowlers[4]
Name Team Balls bowled Runs conceded Wickets taken Average Best bowling 5 wickets
in innings
10 wickets
in match
William McIntyre Lancashire 1517 528 63 8.38 7/37 7 4
Alec Watson Lancashire 1119 445 48 9.27 6/38 5 1
Arnold Rylott MCC 1772 664 69 9.62 9/30 6 4
Fred Morley Nottinghamshire 1235 375 35 10.71 6/62 3 1
John Maude MCC
Oxford University
844 255 23 11.08 6/14 2 0

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 Includes the "County Cup" match at Lord’s between Kent and Sussex
c Includes a third Nottinghamshire v Yorkshire match organised privately by Nottinghamshire captain Richard Daft
d Hampshire, though regarded until 1885 as first-class, played no inter-county matches between 1868 and 1869 or 1871 and 1874

References

    • Birley, Derek (1999). A Social History of English Cricket. Aurum.; pp. 119-120
  1. Wynne-Thomas, Peter; The Rigby A-Z of Cricket Records; p. 53 ISBN 072701868X
  2. First Class Batting in England in 1873
  3. First Class Bowling in England in 1873

Bibliography

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/3/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.