1890 English cricket season
← 1889 1891 → |
1890 was the 104th season of cricket in England since the foundation of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and the first in which the County Championship was held as an official competition, following agreement between MCC and the leading county clubs at a meeting in December 1889. Surrey became the first official county champions after winning nine out of fourteen games.[1][2]
In Test cricket, England, captained by W. G. Grace, defeated Australia in a three-match series by 2–0 to win The Ashes. It was the 13th Test series between the teams.[1] William Gunn of Nottinghamshire was the season's highest run-scorer (1,621); George Lohmann of Surrey took the most wickets (220).[note 1]
Honours
- County Championship – Surrey
- Wisden (Five Great Wicket-Keepers) – Jack Blackham, Gregor MacGregor, Dick Pilling, Mordecai Sherwin, Henry Wood
Ashes tour
England won the three-match Test series 2–0. Only two matches were completed as one was abandoned due to persistent heavy rain:
- 1st Test at Lord's Cricket Ground – England won by 7 wickets
- 2nd Test at The Oval – England won by 2 wickets
- 3rd Test at Old Trafford Cricket Ground – abandoned without a ball being bowled (rain)
| Cumulative record - Test wins | 1876-1890 |
|---|---|
| England | 18 |
| Australia | 10 |
| Drawn | 4 |
County Championship
Overall first-class statistics
Leading batsmen
| 1890 English cricket season - leading batsmen | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Team(s) | Matches | Runs | Average | 100s | 50s |
| Billy Gunn | England, Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), North, Nottinghamshire, Players | 30 | 1,621 | 34.48 | 3 | 3 |
| Arthur Shrewsbury | England, North, Nottinghamshire, Players | 25 | 1,568 | 41.26 | 2 | 9 |
| W. G. Grace | England, Gentlemen, Gloucestershire, Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), South | 30 | 1,476 | 28.38 | 1 | 9 |
| Billy Murdoch | Australia | 33 | 1,394 | 24.45 | 2 | 6 |
| Bobby Abel | Surrey | 32 | 1,226 | 24.03 | 0 | 9 |
Leading bowlers
| 1890 English cricket season - leading bowlers | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Team(s) | Matches | Balls bowled | Wickets taken | Average |
| George Lohmann | England, Players, South, Surrey | 32 | 8,801 | 220 | 13.62 |
| Frederick Martin | England, Kent, Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), South | 29 | 8,507 | 190 | 13.05 |
| John Ferris | Australia | 30 | 7,727 | 186 | 14.28 |
| Charles Turner | Australia | 31 | 7,528 | 179 | 14.21 |
| Bobby Peel | England, North, Players, Yorkshire | 33 | 7,755 | 171 | 13.07 |
Notes
- ^ Some eleven-a-side matches played from 1772 to 1863 have been rated "first-class" by certain sources.[3] However, the term only came into common use around 1864, when overarm bowling was legalised. It was formally defined as a standard by a meeting at Lord's, in May 1894, of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and the county clubs which were then competing in the County Championship. The ruling was effective from the beginning of the 1895 season, but pre-1895 matches of the same standard have no official definition of status because the ruling is not retrospective.[4] Matches of a similar standard since the beginning of the 1864 season are generally considered to have an unofficial first-class status.[5] Pre-1864 matches which are included in the ACS' "Important Match Guide" may generally be regarded as top-class or, at least, historically significant.[6] For further information, see First-class cricket.
References
- ^ a b Wynne-Thomas, Peter (1983). The Hamlyn A-Z of Cricket Records. Hamlyn Publishing Group. ISBN 0-600-34667-6.
- ^ Engel, Matthew (2004). Wisden Cricketers' Almanack 2004. John Wisden & Company Ltd. pp. 493–494. ISBN 0-947766-83-9.
- ^ "First-Class matches in England in 1772". CricketArchive. Retrieved 29 November 2025.
- ^ Wisden (1948). Preston, Hubert (ed.). Wisden Cricketers' Almanack (85th ed.). London: Sporting Handbooks Ltd. p. 813. OCLC 851705816.
- ^ ACS 1982, pp. 4–5.
- ^ ACS 1981, pp. 1–40.
Bibliography
- ACS (1981). A Guide to Important Cricket Matches Played in the British Isles 1709–1863. Nottingham: ACS. OCLC 85045528.
- ACS (1982). A Guide to First-class Cricket Matches Played in the British Isles. Nottingham: ACS. OCLC 10586869.
- Warner, Pelham (1946). Lords: 1787–1945. London: Harrap. OCLC 877106024.
Annual reviews
- Lillywhite. James Lillywhite's Cricketers' Annual (Red Lilly) (1891 ed.). Lillywhite.
- Wisden. Pardon, Charles (ed.). Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, 28th edition (1891 ed.). London: John Wisden & Co. Ltd.
Further reading
- Altham, H. S.; Swanton, E. W. (1962). A History of Cricket, Volume 1 (to 1914) (5th ed.). London: George Allen & Unwin. OCLC 894274808.
- Birley, Derek (1999). A Social History of English Cricket. London: Aurum Press. ISBN 978-18-54107-10-7 – via Internet Archive.
- Bowen, Rowland (1970). Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development. London: Eyre & Spottiswoode. ISBN 978-04-13278-60-9.
- Major, John (2007). More Than A Game. London: HarperCollins. ISBN 978-00-07183-64-7 – via Internet Archive.