1873 English cricket season
1873 was the 87th season of cricket in England since the foundation of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). In only their fourth season as a first-class team, Gloucestershire was proclaimed joint Champion County by the media and went on to claim the still unofficial title four times in five seasons (1873, 1874, 1876 and 1877).[note 1]
Player qualification rules came into force, with players having to decide at the start of a season whether they would play for the county of their birth or the county of residence. Before this, it was quite common for a player to play for two counties during the course of a single season, with by far the best-known case being star slow bowler James Southerton who played for his birth county Sussex when they had a match on and otherwise for Surrey. It is only since the residence qualifications were introduced that any quasi-official status can be ascribed to the oft-claimed Champion County title.[5]
Champion County
- Gloucestershire, Nottinghamshire (shared)
Playing record (by county)
| County | Played | Won | Lost | Drawn |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Derbyshire | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Gloucestershire | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 |
| Kent[b] | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 |
| Lancashire | 7 | 4 | 3 | 0 |
| Middlesex | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Nottinghamshire[c] | 7 | 5 | 1 | 1 |
| Surrey | 14 | 2 | 10 | 2 |
| Sussex[b] | 10 | 2 | 6 | 2 |
| Yorkshire[c] | 12 | 7 | 4 | 1 |
Leading batsmen (qualification 15 innings)
| 1873 English season leading batsmen[7] | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Team | Matches | Innings | Not outs | Runs | Highest score | Average | 100s | 50s |
| WG Grace | Gloucestershire Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) |
20 | 32 | 7 | 1805 | 192 not out | 72.20 | 6 | 8 |
| Isaac Walker | Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) Middlesex |
11 | 20 | 3 | 587 | 64 | 34.52 | 0 | 2 |
| Fred Grace | Gloucestershire | 15 | 22 | 3 | 593 | 165 not out | 31.21 | 1 | 3 |
| William Oscroft | Nottinghamshire | 17 | 30 | 1 | 758 | 96 | 26.13 | 0 | 5 |
| Harry Jupp | Surrey | 24 | 45 | 3 | 1052 | 94 | 25.04 | 0 | 8 |
Leading bowlers (qualification 800 balls)
| 1873 English season leading bowlers[8] | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Team | Balls bowled | Runs conceded | Wickets taken | Average | Best bowling | 5 wickets in innings |
10 wickets in match |
| William McIntyre | Lancashire | 1517 | 528 | 63 | 8.38 | 7/37 | 7 | 4 |
| Alec Watson | Lancashire | 1119 | 445 | 48 | 9.27 | 6/38 | 5 | 1 |
| Arnold Rylott | Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) | 1772 | 664 | 69 | 9.62 | 9/30 | 6 | 4 |
| Fred Morley | Nottinghamshire | 1235 | 375 | 35 | 10.71 | 6/62 | 3 | 1 |
| John Maude | Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) Oxford University |
844 | 255 | 23 | 11.08 | 6/14 | 2 | 0 |
Labels
a An unofficial seasonal title sometimes proclaimed by consensus of media and historians prior to December 1889 when the official County Championship was constituted. Although there are ante-dated claims prior to 1873, when residence qualifications were introduced, it is only since that ruling that any quasi-official status can be ascribed.
b Includes the "County Cup" match at Lord's between Kent and Sussex
c Includes a third Nottinghamshire v Yorkshire match organised privately by Nottinghamshire captain Richard Daft
d Hampshire, though regarded until 1885 as first-class, played no inter-county matches between 1868 and 1869 or 1871 and 1874
Notes
- ^ Some eleven-a-side matches played from 1772 to 1863 have been rated "first-class" by certain sources.[1] 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.[2] Matches of a similar standard since the beginning of the 1864 season are generally considered to have an unofficial first-class status.[3] Pre-1864 matches which are included in the ACS' "Important Match Guide" may generally be regarded as top-class or, at least, historically significant.[4] For further information, see First-class cricket.
References
- ^ "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.
- ^ * Birley, Derek (1999). A Social History of English Cricket. Aurum.; pp. 119–120
- ^ Wynne-Thomas, Peter; The Rigby A-Z of Cricket Records; p. 53 ISBN 072701868X
- ^ First Class Batting in England in 1873
- ^ First Class Bowling in England in 1873
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
- John Lillywhite's Cricketer's Companion (Green Lilly), Lillywhite, 1874
- James Lillywhite's Cricketers' Annual (Red Lilly), Lillywhite, 1874
- Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, 1874
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.