1907 English cricket season
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1907 was the 18th season of County Championship cricket in England. Nottinghamshire won their first official title.[1] England played their sixth Test series against South Africa but it was the first to be held in England.[2]

South African tour

Main article: South African cricket team in England in 1907

This was the fourth South African tour of England following those in 1894, 1901 and 1904. The 1907 tour was the first to feature Test matches between England and South Africa in England, although the teams had played Tests in South Africa since 1888–89. England won the series 1–0 with two matches drawn.

Series summary

County Championship

Main article: 1907 County Championship
County Played Won Lost Drawn Abandoned Points Finished
Games		 %
1 Nottinghamshire 20 15 0 4 1 15 15 100.00
2 Worcestershire 18 8 2 10 0 6 10 60.00
2 Yorkshire 28 12 3 11 2 9 15 60.00
4 Surrey 28 12 4 12 0 8 16 50.00
5 Middlesex 20 8 4 8 1[a] 4 12 33.33
6 Lancashire 26 11 7 6 1[a] 4 18 22.22
7 Essex 22 10 7 5 0 3 17 17.64
8 Kent 26 12 9 5 0 3 21 14.28
9 Warwickshire 20 6 5 8 1 1 11 9.09
10 Gloucestershire 22 8 12 2 0 -4 20 -20.00
11 Leicestershire 20 6 10 4 0 -4 16 -25.00
12 Hampshire 24 6 11 7 0 -5 17 -29.41
13 Sussex 26 7 13 6 0 -6 20 -30.00
14 Somerset 18 3 12 3 0 -9 16 -66.66
15 Northamptonshire 20 2 12 6 0 -10 14 -71.42
16 Derbyshire 22 2 17 1 2 -15 19 -78.94
Details as recorded in John Wisden’s Cricketers’ Almanack.[6]

Points system:

Minor Counties Championship

An entirely new system of scoring was adopted for the Minor Counties Championship in 1907. With Oxfordshire dropping out and Lincolnshire and Worcestershire Second Eleven coming in, the twenty-one Minor Counties clubs were split into four divisions – North, Midlands, East and West – and a system of semi-finals between division leaders and a final was used to determine the winner.[7]

North

County Played Won Won on
1st inns		 No
result		 Possible
points		 Points
obtained		 %
1 Lancashire Second Eleven 9 5 3 0 45 34 75.55
2 Staffordshire 9 5 1 0 45 28 62.22
3 Durham 10 3 1 1 45 18 40.00
4 Yorkshire Second Eleven 10 2 2 1 45 16 35.55
5 Lincolnshire 10 3 0 0 50 15 30.00
6 Northumberland 10 1 1 2 40 8 20.00

One match between Lancashire Second Eleven and Staffordshire was abandoned without a ball bowled due to rain.

Midlands

County Played Won Won on
1st inns		 No
result		 Possible
points		 Points
obtained		 %
1 Surrey Second Eleven 8 6 1 0 40 33 82.50
2 Wiltshire 8 4 1 0 40 23 57.50
3 Berkshire 8 4 1 0 40 19 47.50
4 Buckinghamshire 8 2 0 0 40 10 25.00
5 Worcestershire Second Eleven 8 0 1 0 40 3 7.50

East

County Played Won Won on
1st inns		 No
result		 Possible
points		 Points
obtained		 %
1 Hertfordshire 8 6 1 0 40 33 75.00
2 Norfolk 8 4 1 0 40 23 57.50
3 Suffolk 8 2 1 1 35 13 37.14
4 Bedfordshire 8 2 1 0 40 13 32.50
5 Cambridgeshire 8 2 0 1 35 10 28.57

West

County Played Won Won on
1st inns		 No
result		 Possible
points		 Points
obtained		 %
1 Glamorgan 8 6 2 0 40 36 90.00
2 Devon 8 4 0 0 40 20 50.00
3 Dorset 8 2 1 0 40 13 32.50
4 Cornwall 8 1 2 0 40 11 27.50
5 Monmouthshire 8 1 1 0 40 8 20.00

Points system:

Matches with no first innings result are ignored when calculating maximum possible points.

Semi-finals

  1. 22 August – Lancashire Second Eleven 263 defeated Hertfordshire 85 and 101 by an innings and 77 runs[8]
  2. 29 August – Surrey Second Eleven 198 and 103 lost to Glamorgan 146 and 156 for six wickets by four wickets[9]

Final

Wisden Cricketers of the Year

Leading batsmen (qualification 20 innings)

1907 English season leading batsmen[11]
Name Team Matches Innings Not outs Runs Highest score Average 100s 50s
C.B. Fry Sussex 19 34 3 1449 187 46.74 4 5
“Plum” Warner Middlesex
MCC		 27 47 6 1891 149 46.12 3 13
Tom Hayward Surrey 34 58 6 2353 161 45.25 7 12
Albert Lawton Derbyshire
MCC		 12 21 1 835 129 41.75 3 4
Geoffrey Foster Oxford University
Worcestershire		 18 33 4 1182 163 40.75 2 6
Henry Foster Worcestershire
MCC		 19 33 3 1127 152 37.56 3 5
Jack Hobbs Surrey 37 63 6 2135 166 not out 37.45 4 15
Arthur Hill Hampshire 11 20 1 711 116 37.42 1 5
Percy Perrin Essex 20 34 2 1194 117 37.31 3 8
Tip Foster Worcestershire 16 25 1 888 174 37.00 2 4

Leading bowlers (qualification 1,000 balls)

1907 English season leading bowlers[12]
Name Team Balls bowled Runs conceded Wickets taken Average Best bowling 5 wickets
in innings 		10 wickets
in match
Reggie Schwarz South Africans 4269 1616 137 11.80 7/41 12 2
Albert Hallam Nottinghamshire 5617 2133 168 12.69 8/67 20 6
Schofield Haigh Yorkshire 3567 1308 102 12.82 7/13 8 1
Thomas Wass Nottinghamshire 5316 2328 163 14.28 8/65 17 6
William Huddleston Lancashire 2715 1092 76 14.36 7/42 7 2
Gordon White South Africans 1661 824 56 14.71 7/33 3 1
George Hirst Yorkshire 6831 2799 183 15.29 9/45 17 4
Colin Blythe Kent 6817 2822 183 15.42 10/30 17 6
Humphrey Gilbert Oxford University 1714 683 44 15.52 8/48 4 1
Wilfred Rhodes Yorkshire 6265 2693 173 15.56 6/19 13 2

Notable events

  1. The best bowling analysis in a first-class match, beaten only by Jim Laker when he took nineteen wickets for 90 runs for England against Australia in 1956.
  2. The first bowler to take seventeen wickets in a single day – a feat since equalled only by Hedley Verity in 1933 and Tom Goddard in 1939.[13]

Notes

a The match between Middlesex and Lancashire at Lord's was abandoned when it was found the pitch was trampled by impatient spectators.

References

  1. ^ Engel, Matthew (2004). Wisden Cricketers' Almanack 2004, pages 493-494. John Wisden & Company Ltd. ISBN 0-947766-83-9.
  2. ^ Wynne-Thomas, Peter (1983). The Hamlyn A-Z of Cricket Records. Hamlyn Publishing Group. ISBN 0-600-34667-6.
  3. ^ South Africa in British Isles 1907 (1st Test)
  4. ^ South Africa in British Isles 1907 (2nd Test)
  5. ^ South Africa in British Isles 1907 (3rd Test)
  6. ^ Pardon, p. 49.
  7. ^ Pardon, p. 394.
  8. ^ Lancashire Second XI v Hertfordshire in 1907
  9. ^ Glamorgan v Surrey Second XI in 1907
  10. ^ Glamorgan v Lancashire Second XI in 1907
  11. ^ First Class Batting in England in 1907
  12. ^ First Class Bowling in England in 1907
  13. ^ Frindall, p. 255.
  14. ^ "Gloucestershire v Northamptonshire in 1907". Retrieved 3 September 2012.
  15. ^ Webber, pp. 168-171.
  16. ^ Frindall, pp. 285-289.

Bibliography

External links

English cricket seasons
County Championship seasons
International cricket tours of England
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