The 1985 John Player Special League was the seventeenth competing of what was generally known as the Sunday League. The competition was won for the third time by Essex County Cricket Club.
Rain affected most rounds of the Sunday League that season with many abandoned, (27 no results, 20% of fixtures) and shortened matches. On 7 July at Knypersley, Derbyshire established a league record by hitting 18 sixes in their score of 292-9 from 40 overs. In the final round of matches on 15 September Essex beat Yorkshire at Chelmsford to retain the Sunday League. Sussex finished second and Hampshire finished third.Benson and Hedges Cricket Year Fourth Edition: September 1984 to September 1985 Editor David Lemmon Guild Publishing London
Essex had a great record in that season's three one-day competitions. Also winning the NatWest Trophy and finishing runners up in the third competition Benson and Hedges Cup.
Standings TeamPldWTLN/RAPtsR/R Essex (C) 16 9 1 3 2 1 44 5.026 Sussex 16 10 0 5 0 1 42 5.065 Hampshire 16 8 0 4 2 2 40 5.225 Derbyshire 16 8 0 5 2 1 38 4.980 Northamptonshire 16 7 1 4 2 2 38 5.118 Gloucestershire 16 8 0 8 0 0 32 5.263 Leicestershire 16 5 1 5 4 1 32 4.408 Warwickshire 16 7 0 7 0 2 32 5.460 Yorkshire 16 6 0 6 1 3 32 5.263 Kent 16 6 0 7 1 2 30 4.790 Somerset 16 5 0 6 2 3 30 4.875 Middlesex 16 5 0 7 3 1 28 4.657 Nottinghamshire 16 6 0 8 1 1 28 5.178 Glamorgan 16 4 1 7 2 2 26 4.544 Lancashire 16 3 2 6 2 3 26 4.873 Worcestershire 16 5 0 9 1 1 24 5.346 Surrey 16 4 0 9 3 0 22 5.349Team marked finished as champions.Source: CricketArchive
Batting averages
Bowling averages
See also
Sunday League
References