The 1883 English cricket season was the 20th since the legalisation of overarm bowling. There was the first of four successive titles won by Notts, and the beginning of the "Great Revival" of Surrey,Pardon, Sydney H. (editor); John Wisden's Cricketers' Almanack; Forty-Seventh Edition (1905), pp. 173–174 who had been among the weaker counties since 1866.
Champion County
Nottinghamshire
Playing record (by county) County Played Won Lost Drawn Derbyshire 8 2 5 1 Gloucestershire 12 3 6 3 Hampshire 6 2 3 1 Kent 10 2 6 2 Lancashire 12 6 5 1 Middlesex 10 4 2 4 Nottinghamshire 12 4 1 7 Somerset 6 1 5 0 Surrey 20 10 5 5 Sussex 12 4 7 1 Yorkshire 16 9 2 5 Wynne-Thomas, Peter; The Rigby A-Z of Cricket Records; p. 54
Leading batsmen (qualification 20 innings) 1883 English season leading batsmenFirst Class Batting in England in 1883 Name Team Matches Innings Not outs Runs Highest score Average 100s 50sWalter Read Surrey 22 39 6 1573 168 47.66 2 13CT Studd MiddlesexMarylebone Cricket Club (MCC) 20 34 5 1193 175 not out 41.13 2 4WG Grace GloucestershireMarylebone Cricket Club (MCC) 22 41 2 1352 112 34.66 1 9Louis Hall Yorkshire 26 44 9 1180 127 33.73 2 3Bunny Lucas MiddlesexMarylebone Cricket Club (MCC) 12 23 3 664 97 33.23 0 4
Leading bowlers (qualification 1,000 balls) 1883 English season leading bowlersFirst Class Bowling in England in 1883 Name Team Balls bowled Runs conceded Wickets taken Average Best bowling 5 wicketsin innings 10 wicketsin matchAlec Watson Lancashire 3762 1135 96 11.82 7/36 9 2Alfred Shaw Nottinghamshire 4247 840 67 12.53 7/22 7 0John Crossland Lancashire 2191 934 72 12.97 8/57 6 0George Harrison Yorkshire 3143 1326 100 13.26 7/43 6 1George Robinson Oxford University 1015 471 35 13.45 6/38 2 0
Notable events 30 January – England won the deciding match of the scheduled three-Test series in Melbourne (although an additional match was arranged later). Some ladies burned the bails and placed the resultant ashes in a small urn. This was presented to England's captain, Ivo Bligh, who had promised to "recover those ashes". The urn is kept in a glass case at Lord's but England and Australia have been playing for the Ashes ever since. 25 May – Surrey, in a season that marked their revival from a lowly position since 1866 to the champion eleven of the late 1880s and early 1890s, break the record highest team total in county cricket by scoring 650 against Hampshire.Webber, Roy; The Playfair Book of Cricket Records; p. 18. Published 1951 by Playfair Books. George Harrison became the first bowler to take 100 wickets in the season in which he made his debut in first-class cricket.Webber; The Playfair Book of Cricket Records; pp. 176–177 George Ulyett scored 1,562 runs with a highest score of 84. Not until Charles Harris in 1935 did a player scoring no centuries score more runs in a season. Ulyett's feat of getting within eleven runs of the leading scorer with no centuries has been approached since only by David Green in 1965.First Class Batting in England in 1883 (by Runs)First Class Batting in England in 1965 (by Runs)
Labels 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.
Notes
References
Bibliography
Annual reviews John Lillywhite's Cricketer's Companion (Green Lilly), Lillywhite, 1884 James Lillywhite's Cricketers' Annual (Red Lilly), Lillywhite, 1884 Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, 1884
Further reading