1997 English cricket season

The 1997 cricket season was the 400th in England since the earliest known definite reference to cricket in January 1597 (i.e., Old Style – 1598 New Style), and the 97th 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. The three-match ODI series which preceded the Tests produced a statistical curiosity, with England winning each match by an identical margin, six wickets.

The 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.

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. [1]

Honours

Statistical highlights

First-class

List A

Tables

County Championship

Points awarded: Win: 16 points. Draw: 3 points. Draw with scores level (DrT): 8 points. Draw in one-innings game (Dr1): 8 points. Abandoned: 3 points.

Britannic Assurance County Championship, 1997
Pos Team Pld Won Lst Drn DrT Dr1 Abd BatB BwlB Pts
1 Glamorgan 17 8 2 7 0 0 0 50 57 256
2 Kent 17 8 4 4 1 0 0 44 60 252
3 Worcestershire 17 6 3 7 1 0 0 49 54 228
4= Middlesex 17 7 4 6 0 0 0 33 56 219
4= Warwickshire 17 7 2 7 0 0 1 32 51 219
6 Yorkshire 17 6 3 8 0 0 0 41 54 215
7 Gloucestershire 17 6 6 4 0 1 0 35 60 206
8= Essex 17 5 6 6 0 0 0 39 55 192
8= Surrey 17 5 5 7 0 0 0 39 52 192
10 Leicestershire 17 4 1 11 0 0 1 37 54 191
11 Lancashire 17 5 6 6 0 0 0 34 54 186
12 Somerset 17 3 3 11 0 0 0 38 64 183
13 Nottinghamshire 17 4 3 10 0 0 0 26 55 175
14 Hampshire 17 3 5 8 0 0 1 42 41 158
15 Northamptonshire 17 3 5 8 0 1 0 33 48 156
16 Derbyshire 17 2 9 6 0 0 0 32 59 141
17 Durham 17 2 8 6 0 0 1 22 56 131
18 Sussex 17 1 10 6 0 0 0 24 57 115

AXA Life League

Points awarded: Win: 4 points. Tie / No Result / Abandoned: 2 points.
NRR = Net Run Rate: runs per 100 balls scored less runs per 100 balls conceded, adjusting to team's full allocation if all out, and including no result matches.

AXA Life League, 1997
Pos Team Pld Won Tie Lst NoR Abd Pts NRR
1 Warwickshire 17 13 0 4 0 0 52 14.141
2 Kent 17 12 0 4 1 0 50 7.709
3 Lancashire 17 10 1 4 1 1 46 1.894
4 Leicestershire 17 9 1 5 0 2 42 7.116
5 Surrey 17 9 0 5 1 2 42 1.061
6 Somerset 17 9 0 6 0 2 40 4.316
7 Essex 17 9 1 6 0 1 40 –2.382
8 Worcestershire 17 8 1 6 1 1 38 6.871
9 Northamptonshire 17 8 0 6 0 3 38 2.789
10 Yorkshire 17 8 1 7 0 1 36 5.249
11 Gloucestershire 17 7 0 6 2 2 36 1.011
12 Nottinghamshire 17 7 0 7 0 3 34 –0.199
13 Glamorgan 17 5 0 9 0 3 26 –4.016
14 Derbyshire 17 4 0 9 0 4 24 –3.047
15 Hampshire 17 5 0 11 1 0 22 –4.733
16 Middlesex 17 3 1 10 1 2 20 –8.287
17 Durham 17 3 0 13 0 1 14 –12.273
18 Sussex 17 2 0 13 0 2 12 –16.724

Averages

First-class

Batting

Qualification: eight innings

English first-class batting averages, 1997
Player Team(s) M I NO Runs HS Ave 100 50
Graeme Hick Worcestershire 18 28 6 1,524 303* 69.27 6 4
Steve James Glamorgan 18 30 4 1,775 162 68.26 7 8
Matthew Maynard Glamorgan 18 25 7 1,170 161* 65.00 3 7
Ricky Ponting Australia 8 12 3 571 127 63.44 2 2
Darren Lehmann Yorkshire 17 27 2 1,575 182 63.00 4 10
Neil Johnson Leicestershire 12 18 5 819 150 63.00 2 5

Bowling

Qualification: ten wickets

English first-class bowling averages, 1997
Player Team(s) Balls Mdns Runs Wkts BB Ave 5wI 10wM
Hamish Anthony MCC 252 11 113 10 6-34 11.30 1 1
Allan Donald Warwickshire 2,327 123 928 60 6-55 15.63 3 1
Mike Smith England, Gloucestershire 3,074 125 1,464 83 6-45 17.63 5 3
Paul Reiffel Australia 1,132 49 520 28 5-49 18.27 2 0
Kevan James Hampshire 967 37 504 27 8-49 18.66 2 1
Saqlain Mushtaq Surrey 1,529 75 617 32 5-17 19.28 4 2

List A

Batting

Qualification: eight innings

English List A batting averages, 1997
Player Team(s) M I NO Runs HS Ave 100 50
Mike Roseberry Durham 10 9 5 252 91* 63.00 0 2
Chris Adams Derbyshire 19 19 3 988 138 61.75 5 3
Neil Fairbrother Lancashire 20 20 7 792 88 60.92 0 9
Kim Barnett Derbyshire 16 14 1 751 112* 57.76 2 3
Rob Bailey Northamptonshire 23 22 5 859 153* 50.52 1 8
Matthew Hayden Hampshire 23 22 1 920 120* 46.66 3 4

Bowling

Qualification: ten wickets

English List A bowling averages, 1997
Player Team(s) Balls Mdns Runs Wkts BB Ave 5wI
Allan Donald Warwickshire 1,116 21 718 53 5-10 13.54 3
Peter Martin Lancashire 998 20 649 43 5-21 15.09 2
David Leatherdale Worcestershire 663 5 512 32 5-10 16.00 1
Devon Malcolm Derbyshire 378 6 262 16 7-35 16.37 1
Phil Newport Worcestershire 606 13 370 22 4-37 16.81 0
Darren Gough England, Yorkshire 1,061 12 752 41 7-27 18.34 2

Notes

  1. ↑ "Individual Scores of 150 and More in a ListA Match". CricketArchive. Retrieved 2006-10-14.

External sources

Annual reviews

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