1897 was the eighth season of County Championship cricket in England. Lancashire won the championship for the first time, thanks mainly to only three losses in twenty-six matches. Surrey won more games, and beat Lancashire twice, but one more loss than Lancashire meant that they would have to be content with second place. They could have taken the championship if they had beaten Sussex in the last game at Hove but, after gaining a five-run lead on first innings, Surrey let Billy Murdoch, C. B. Fry and George Bean make half-centuries, and rain spoiled their chances of winning on the final day. At the bottom of the table, Derbyshire suffered a run of 16 matches without victory to finish last in the table and, with the end of the 1896 season having yielded three matches without a win, Derbyshire's streak ran to 19 matches without a win.
Honours
- County Championship – Lancashire
- Minor Counties Championship – Worcestershire
- Wisden – Frederick Bull, Willis Cuttell, Frank Druce, Gilbert Jessop, Jack Mason
County Championship
Final table
- 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
Most wickets in the County Championship
Overall first-class statistics
Leading batsmen
Leading bowlers
References
Annual reviews
- James Lillywhite's Cricketers' Annual (Red Lilly), Lillywhite, 1898
- Wisden Cricketers' Almanack 1898
External links
- Cricket in England in 1897
