1896 was the seventh season of
County Championshipcricket in England.
Yorkshire won the championship title having lost only losing three of their 26 matches, setting a points percentage record with 68.42. Yorkshire's team did not possess the greatest performers statistically, such as
Sussex with
Ranjitsinhji, or
Gloucestershire with
W. G. Grace, but a well-rounded squad with four bowlers taking more than 70 wickets in the Championship and five batsmen scoring over 1000 runs gave them the title. Playing against
Warwickshire at
Edgbaston in May, Yorkshire scored 887 in their first innings, which is still the highest total in the history of the
County Championship.[1]
The highlight of the season, however, was the
Australian tour, where Australia won their first
Test match in
England since
1888, and gave England a fight up until the third Test. On a rain-affected
pitch, however, England hauled in a 66-run third test victory thanks to
Bobby Peel, who took six for 23. The win sealed the Ashes in favour of England by 2 wins to 1.[2]
England won again, but this time faced a series-decider in the final match at
The Oval, without
George Lohmann of Surrey and
William Gunn of Nottinghamshire, who went on a strike over match fees allegedly received by the amateur
WG Grace. In the first Test at
Lord's, England won by six wickets, chasing 108 to win, but Australia recovered to win the second Test at
Old Trafford, despite 154 from
Ranjitsinhji on debut - as the first Indian to play Test cricket, and only the second to score a century on Test debut. The third Test was ravaged by rain, and in poor playing conditions England won by 66 runs. The highest individual score in that match was 47 from Australian
Joe Darling.