1870 English cricket season

The 1870 English cricket season was in many ways a bridge between two eras of the game, and in a summer comparable for hot and dry weather to 1887, 1911, 1976 or 1995,^[1] saw W.G. Grace for the second of three successive years establish a record run aggregate, late-blooming slow bowler James Southerton become the first bowler to take 200 first-class wickets in a season and the first use of the heavy roller at Lord’s. Although the heavy roller had been patented several decades earlier, its use was never seriously considered by MCC management despite many protests over the danger posed by the Lord’s pitch where extremely frequent “shooters” alternated with balls that “flew”^[2] over the batsman’s head. These dangerous pitches were viewed as a symbol of virility by many amateur batsmen, however; though when remembering one of W.G.’s finest innings – 66 on one of the roughest Lord’s pitches against a very strong Yorkshire attack^[3] against Yorkshire^[4] – fast bowlers Freeman and Emmett wondered how the champion was not maimed or killed outright.^[5]

An unfortunate accident to George Summers which led to his death from head injuries four days after being hit by a sharply rising ball from John Platts that had struck a loose pebble^[2] showed that in its first year the heavy roller had not radically altered the Lord’s pitch; though it was to do so from the following season^[6]

A number of thrilling finishes occurred, most famously the University Match where a hat-trick by Frank Cobden gave Cambridge the match when Oxford looked certain to win.

Playing record (by county)^[7]

County	Played	Won	Lost	Drawn
Gloucestershire	2	2	0	0
Hampshire	2	0	2	0
Kent	8	2	6	0
Lancashire	4	3	1	0
Middlesex	2	1	1	0
Nottinghamshire	6	3	2	1
Surrey	14	5	9	0
Sussex	4	2	2	0
Yorkshire	6	5	0	1
^[a]

Leading batsmen (qualification 15 innings)

1870 English season leading batsmen^[8]
Name	Team	Matches	Innings	Not outs	Runs	Highest score	Average	100s	50s
WG Grace	Gloucestershire MCC	21	38	5	1808	215	54.78	5	9
Richard Daft	Nottinghamshire	9	15	4	565	117	51.36	1	3
Isaac Walker	MCC Middlesex	13	25	3	820	179	37.27	1	4
William Yardley	Cambridge University Kent MCC	13	25	1	643	100	26.79	1	4
Cuthbert Ottaway	Kent Cambridge University	9	18	2	427	69	26.68	0	4

Leading bowlers (qualification 800 balls)

1870 English season leading bowlers^[9]
Name	Team	Balls bowled	Runs conceded	Wickets taken	Average	Best bowling	5 wickets in innings	10 wickets in match
George Freeman	Yorkshire	1930	484	68	7.11	8/43	9	4
Frank Farrands	MCC	856	281	28	10.03	6/23	4	2
Jem Shaw	Nottinghamshire	3302	990	97	10.20	7/30	11	4
Walter Anstead	Surrey	1063	424	39	10.87	6/27	4	1
Edgar Willsher	Kent	3675	1062	84	12.64	7/22	9	2

Events

2–4 June: Gloucestershire CCC played its initial first-class match v. Surrey at Durdham Downs, near Bristol.
15 June: George Summers, during the MCC v Nottinghamshire match at Lord’s, is hit on the temple and dies four days later. It is generally thought that Summers should have been taken to hospital rather than ride a bumpy train to Nottingham.^[2]
27, 28 June: "Cobden's Match". William Yardley scores the first century in the University Match, which Cambridge won by two runs after a hat-trick by Cobden when Oxford needed only three runs
29 August: James Southerton becomes the first bowler to take 200 wickets in an English season when he takes his first wicket in Surrey’s last match against Yorkshire^[10]
4 November: Formation of Derbyshire CCC at a meeting in the Guildhall, Derby.

Notes

^a Cambridgeshire, though still regarded in 1870 as first-class, played no inter-county matches

References

↑ England and Wales Seasonal Precipitation Data
1 2 3 Death on a Summer’s Day
↑ Rae, Simon; W. G. Grace: A Life; pp. 88-89 ISBN
↑ Marylebone Cricket Club v Yorkshire in 1870
↑ The Memorial biography of W.G. Grace
↑ Baily’s Magazine of Sports and Pastimes, Volume 20 (1871); p. 286
↑ Wynne-Thomas, Peter; The Rigby A-Z of Cricket Records; p. 53 ISBN 072701868X
↑ First Class Batting in England in 1870
↑ First Class Bowling in England in 1870
↑ Surrey v Yorkshire in 1870

Annual reviews

John Lillywhite’s Cricketer’s Companion (Green Lilly), Lillywhite, 1871
Arthur Haygarth, Scores & Biographies, Volume 11 (1869-1870), Lillywhite, 1871
John Wisden's Cricketers' Almanack, 1871

External links

CricketArchive – season summaries

English cricket seasons

Historic era

1597 to 1725 1726 1727 1728 1729 1730 1731 1732 1733 1734 1735 1736 1737 1738 1739 1740 1741 1742 1743 1744 1745 1746 1747 1748 1749 1750 1751 1752 1753 1754 1755 1756 1757 1758 1759 1760 1761 1762 1763 1764 1765 1766 1767 1768 1769 1770 1771 1772 1773 1774 1775 1776 1777 1778 1779 1780 1781 1782 1783 1784 1785 1786 1787 1788 1789 1790 1791 1792 1793 1794 1795 1796 1797 1798 1799 1800 1801 1802 1803 1804 1805 1806 1807 1808 1809 1810 1811 1812 1813 1814 1815 1816 1817 1818 1819 1820 1821 1822 1823 1824

Pre-County Championship era

1825 1826 1827 1828 1829 1830 1831 1832 1833 1834 1835 1836 1837 1838 1839 1840 1841 1842 1843 1844 1845 1846 1847 1848 1849 1850 1851 1852 1853 1854 1855 1856 1857 1858 1859 1860 1861 1862 1863 1864 1865 1866 1867 1868 1869 1870 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889

County Championship era

1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017

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.