1884 English cricket season
# 1884 English cricket season

1884 was the 98th season of cricket in England since the foundation of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). Australia toured England to compete for the Ashes. It was the seventh test series between the two sides. Fred Spofforth, an overseas bowler, took the most wickets, but England avenged its loss to the touring Australians in 1882 winning 1 test to 0.

## Ashes tour

| Cumulative record - Test wins | 1876-1884 |
| - | - |
| England | 5 |
| Australia | 7 |
| Drawn | 4 |

## Champion County

* Nottinghamshire

### Playing record (by county)

| County | Played | Won | Lost | Drawn |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| Derbyshire | 10 | 0 | 10 | 0 |
| Gloucestershire | 12 | 1 | 8 | 3 |
| Hampshire | 8 | 2 | 6 | 0 |
| Kent | 16 | 7 | 7 | 2 |
| Lancashire | 12 | 7 | 4 | 1 |
| Middlesex | 10 | 4 | 3 | 3 |
| Nottinghamshire | 10 | 9 | 0 | 1 |
| Somerset | 6 | 1 | 5 | 0 |
| Surrey | 18 | 9 | 4 | 5 |
| Sussex | 14 | 8 | 5 | 1 |
| Yorkshire | 16 | 8 | 4 | 4 |

Derbyshire's ignominy of losing every game has been repeated since in county cricket only by the same club in 1920.

## Leading batsmen (qualification 20 innings)

1884 English season leading batsmen :

| Name | Team | Matches | Innings | Not outs | Runs | Highest score | Average | 100s | 50s |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Allan Steel | Lancashire England MCC | 16 | 28 | 3 | 967 | 148 | 38.68 | 2 | 2 |
| William Scotton | Nottinghamshire England MCC | 19 | 31 | 5 | 897 | 134 | 34.50 | 2 | 3 |
| WG Grace | Gloucestershire England MCC | 26 | 45 | 5 | 1361 | 116 | 34.02 | 3 | 2 |
| Lord Harris | Kent England MCC | 25 | 47 | 5 | 1417 | 112 not out | 33.73 | 3 | 6 |
| Billy Newham | Sussex | 12 | 23 | 0 | 741 | 137 | 32.21 | 2 | 5 |

## Leading bowlers (qualification 1,000 balls)

1884 English season leading bowlers :

| Name | Team | Balls bowled | Runs conceded | Wickets taken | Average | Best bowling | 5 wickets in innings | 10 wickets in match |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Alfred Shaw | Nottinghamshire | 2968 | 744 | 71 | 10.47 | 8/28 | 7 | 2 |
| Tom Emmett | Yorkshire England | 4128 | 1250 | 107 | 11.68 | 8/32 | 10 | 3 |
| William Attewell | Nottinghamshire | 4600 | 1217 | 101 | 12.04 | 8/22 | 8 | 3 |
| John Crossland | Lancashire | 2100 | 893 | 71 | 12.57 | 7/35 | 6 | 3 |
| Fred Spofforth | Australians | 6308 | 2654 | 207 | 12.82 | 8/62 | 22 | 10 |

## Notable events

* 31 July and 1 August: Alfred Shaw achieved the notable feat of doing the hat-trick in each innings against Gloucestershire.
