1891 English cricket season

1891 English cricket season

1891 was the second season of County Championship cricket in England. There were no international tours. The County Championship was won by Surrey in even more dominant fashion than previously as they won twelve of their 16 games. Debutants Somerset finished fifth out of the nine teams.[note 1]

Honours

County Championship

Final table

Team P W L D A Pts
1 Surrey 16 12 2 2 0 10
2 Lancashire 16 8 4 3 1 4
3 Middlesex 16 8 5 3 0 3
4 Nottinghamshire 14 5 4 5 0 1
5 Kent 16 4 5 6 1 -1
5 Somerset 12 5 6 1 0 -1
7 Sussex 14 4 7 3 0 -3
8 Yorkshire 16 5 10 1 0 -5
9 Gloucestershire 16 2 10 4 0 -8

Points system:

  • 1 for a win
  • 0 for a draw
  • −1 for a loss

Most runs in the County Championship

1891 County Championship - leading batsmen
Name Team Matches Runs Average 100s 50s
Bobby Abel Surrey 16 916 43.61 2 4
Arthur Shrewsbury Nottinghamshire 13 794 41.78 2 5
Billy Gunn Nottinghamshire 12 780 43.33 2 3
George Bean Sussex 14 773 33.60 2 4
Tim O'Brien Middlesex 15 755 35.95 2 3

Most wickets in the County Championship

1891 County Championship - leading bowlers
Name Team Matches Balls bowled Wickets taken Average
George Lohmann Surrey 16 4267 132 10.65
John Hearne Middlesex 15 3434 118 10.33
Arthur Mold Lancashire 15 3781 112 12.37
Frederick Martin Kent 15 4267 98 13.10
Johnny Briggs Lancashire 15 3214 89 12.96

Overall first-class statistics

Leading batsmen

1891 English cricket season - leading batsmen
Name Team(s) Matches Runs Average 100s 50s
Billy Gunn Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), North of England, Nottinghamshire, Players 23 1336 41.75 4 4
Bobby Abel Players, South of England, Surrey 24 1139 33.50 2 5
Arthur Shrewsbury North of England, Nottinghamshire, Players 17 1071 48.68 3 6
George Ulyett North of England, Players, Yorkshire 25 1068 24.83 2 6
George Bean Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), Players, South of England, Sussex 21 1002 30.36 2 5

Leading bowlers

1891 English cricket season - leading bowlers
Name Team(s) Matches Balls bowled Wickets taken Average
George Lohmann Players, South of England, Surrey 25 5943 177 11.66
Frederick Martin Kent, Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), Players, South of England 22 5735 140 13.37
William Attewell Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), North of England, Nottinghamshire, Players 28 7573 153 13.93
Arthur Mold Lancashire 19 4712 138 12.49
Sammy Woods Cambridge University, Gentlemen, Somerset, South of England 21 4640 134 16.72

Notes

  1. ^ 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

  1. ^ "First-Class matches in England in 1772". CricketArchive. Retrieved 29 November 2025.
  2. ^ Wisden (1948). Preston, Hubert (ed.). Wisden Cricketers' Almanack (85th ed.). London: Sporting Handbooks Ltd. p. 813. OCLC 851705816.
  3. ^ ACS 1982, pp. 4–5.
  4. ^ ACS 1981, pp. 1–40.

Bibliography

Annual reviews

Further reading