1895 English cricket season
The 1895 English cricket season was the inaugural season in which official first-class cricket was played, following the 1894 ruling.
Surrey won the County Championship title for the fifth time in six years, despite increased competition, as the tournament was expanded from nine to fourteen teams. The points system for the Championship was changed, as the teams played differing amount of games, and this new system involved dividing the number of points by the number of matches that ended in either a win or a loss. Draws were thus completely disregarded, as they gave zero points. Derbyshire was the best debutant team, taking fifth place.
Another championship made its bow as this season was the first to stage the Minor Counties Championship. The inaugural title was shared by three teams: Durham, Norfolk and Worcestershire.
In the early part of the season improved batting conditions and long spells of dry weather caused much heavier scoring than in previous seasons. There were a number of very large scores up until mid-July, when Archie MacLaren played his famous innings of 424 for Lancashire against Somerset at Taunton. However, after this point, rain returned and most pitches from 20 July onwards were sticky, with the result that bowlers dominanted the latter part of the season. Charlie Townsend got an amazing amount of spin on the ball on these treacherous pitches - taking 122 wickets in the last 11 county games - whilst established bowlers like Peel, Richardson, Mold and Briggs were also very difficult.
At the age of 46 (when the season began), WG Grace enjoyed a remarkable renaissance, being the leading run-scorer in all first-class matches and averaging over 50. He became the first player ever to score one thousand runs during the month of May and also the first to reach the career landmark of one hundred first-class centuries.
Honours
- County Championship - Surrey
- Minor Counties Championship - Durham, Norfolk, Worcestershire (shared title)
- Wisden - WG Grace
County Championship
Final table
| County Championship 1895 - Final Standings | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | P | W | L | D | A | Pts | GC1 | Pts/GC (as %) | |
| 1 | Surrey | 26 | 17 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 13 | 21 | 61.90 |
| 2 | Lancashire | 22 | 14 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 10 | 18 | 55.56 |
| 3 | Yorkshire | 26 | 14 | 7 | 5 | 0 | 7 | 21 | 33.33 |
| 4 | Gloucestershire | 18 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 14 | 14.29 |
| 5 | Derbyshire | 16 | 5 | 4 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 11.11 |
| 6 | Middlesex | 18 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 0.00 |
| 6 | Warwickshire | 18 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 0.00 |
| 8 | Somerset | 18 | 6 | 8 | 3 | 1 | -2 | 14 | -14.29 |
| 9 | Essex | 16 | 5 | 7 | 4 | 0 | -2 | 12 | -16.67 |
| 10 | Hampshire | 16 | 6 | 9 | 1 | 0 | -3 | 15 | -20.00 |
| 11 | Sussex | 18 | 5 | 9 | 4 | 0 | -4 | 14 | 28.57 |
| 12 | Leicestershire | 16 | 3 | 10 | 3 | 0 | -7 | 13 | -53.85 |
| 12 | Nottinghamshire | 18 | 3 | 10 | 5 | 0 | -7 | 13 | -53.85 |
| 14 | Kent | 18 | 3 | 11 | 4 | 0 | -8 | 14 | -57.14 |
- 1 Games completed
Points system:
- 1 for a win
- 0 for a draw, a tie or an abandoned match
- -1 for a loss
Most runs in the County Championship
| 1895 County Championship - leading batsmen | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Team | Matches | Runs | Average | 100s | 50s |
| Bobby Abel | Surrey | 26 | 1787 | 51.05 | 4 | 6 |
| Albert Ward | Lancashire | 21 | 1446 | 43.81 | 1 | 11 |
| WG Grace | Gloucestershire | 18 | 1424 | 50.85 | 4 | 3 |
| Ranjitsinhji | Sussex | 18 | 1364 | 41.33 | 2 | 10 |
| John Tunnicliffe | Yorkshire | 26 | 1167 | 27.13 | 2 | 6 |
Most wickets in the County Championship
| 1895 County Championship - leading bowlers | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Team | Matches | Balls bowled | Wickets taken | Average |
| Tom Richardson | Surrey | 25 | 6773 | 239 | 13.78 |
| Arthur Mold | Lancashire | 21 | 6484 | 182 | 13.71 |
| Bobby Peel | Yorkshire | 24 | 6884 | 136 | 14.80 |
| George Herbert Hirst | Yorkshire | 26 | 5516 | 130 | 16.93 |
| Charlie Townsend | Gloucestershire | 12 | 3376 | 124 | 12.58 |
Overall first-class statistics
Leading batsmen
| 1895 English cricket season - leading batsmen | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Team(s) | Matches | Runs | Average | 100s | 50s |
| WG Grace | England, Gentlemen, Gloucestershire, MCC, South of England | 29 | 2346 | 51.00 | 9 | 5 |
| Bobby Abel | Players, South of England, Surrey | 32 | 2057 | 44.71 | 5 | 6 |
| Albert Ward | England, Lancashire, North of England, Players | 27 | 1790 | 42.61 | 2 | 12 |
| Ranjitsinhji | England, Sussex | 21 | 1775 | 49.30 | 4 | 11 |
| Andrew Stoddart | Gentlemen, I Zingari, MCC, Middlesex, South of England | 25 | 1622 | 37.72 | 2 | 11 |
Leading bowlers
| 1895 English cricket season - leading bowlers | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Team(s) | Matches | Balls bowled | Wickets taken | Average |
| Tom Richardson | Players, South of England Surrey | 31 | 8456 | 290 | 14.37 |
| Arthur Mold | England, Lancashire, North of England, Players | 27 | 8143 | 213 | 15.96 |
| Bobby Peel | North of England, Players, Yorkshire | 32 | 8509 | 180 | 14.97 |
| Walter Mead | England, Essex, MCC, South of England | 23 | 6034 | 179 | 14.55 |
| George Herbert Hirst | North of England, Yorkshire | 32 | 6312 | 150 | 17.06 |
Annual reviews
- James Lillywhite's Cricketers' Annual (Red Lilly), Lillywhite, 1896
- Wisden Cricketers' Almanack 1896