1914 English cricket season

1914 was the twenty-fifth season of County Championship cricket in England. It was terminated at the end of August following the outbreak of the First World War. The last four matches to be played all finished on 2 September and the remaining five scheduled fixtures were cancelled.

Honours County Championship – Surrey Minor Counties Championship – Staffordshire Wisden – Johnny Douglas, Percy Fender, Wally Hardinge, Donald Knight, Sydney Smith

County Championship

CountyPlayedWonLostFirst InningsPoints %WonLostNoresultPossObtd1Surrey261525311259374.402Middlesex201124301007070.003Kent281671401408762.144Yorkshire281443701408661.425Hampshire281343801408258.576Sussex271064611306852.307Warwickshire24974401206150.838Essex24994201205949.169Northamptonshire21764401055148.5710Nottinghamshire2055631954648.4211Lancashire26695601305139.2312Derbyshire205123001003434.0013Leicestershire234115301153833.0414Worcestershire222133311052220.9515Somerset19316000951515.7815Gloucestershire221173101101513.63Details as recorded in John Wisden’s Cricketers’ Almanack

Minor Counties Championship Essex Second Eleven entered the competition for the first time. The county had, however, had a highly successful second eleven so early as 1902.

The Minor Counties Championship was, much more than the first-class competition, ruined by the outbreak of war in August when most of the matches were scheduled to be played. Some teams played as few as two games.

Staffordshire – who were leading the table when the last games were played – were declared as champions. +1914 Minor Counties Championship tableCountyPlayedWonFirst inningsPoints%WonLostNoresultPossObtd1Staffordshire108100504386.002Hertfordshire84211352777.143Devon43000201575.004Wiltshire42100201365.005Kent Second Eleven104211452760.006Glamorgan82221351851.42Norfolk72220351851.428Buckinghamshire2100010550.00Lincolnshire63000301550.00Surrey Second Eleven83120402050.0011Cornwall72200351645.7112Cheshire73000351542.8513Durham93110451942.2214Monmouthshire7111225936.0015Northumberland62000301033.3316Cambridgeshire72010351131.4217Berkshire4101020630.00Bedfordshire5101120630.0019Essex Second Eleven7102035720.0020Suffolk6100030516.6621Dorset200001000.00

Five points were awarded for a win. Three points were awarded for "winning" the first innings of a drawn match. One point was awarded for "losing" the first innings of a drawn match. Matches in which no result was achieved on the first innings were not included in calculating maximum possible points. Final placings were decided by calculating the percentage of possible points.

Leading batsmen (qualification 20 innings) 1914 English season leading batsmenNameTeamMatchesInningsNot outsRunsHighest scoreAverage100sJ. W. HearneMiddlesex26438211620460.458Jack HobbsSurrey29482269722658.6311Phil MeadHampshire31535247621351.587John GunnNottinghamshire203451358154 not out46.823Frank TarrantMiddlesex MCC264441879250 not out45.823Frank WoolleyKent315222272160 not out45.446Robert RelfSussex1524198913043.003Sidney SmithNorthamptonshire21342137317742.901Andy DucatSurrey25386137011842.814Johnny TyldesleyLancashire26475175425341.764

Leading bowlers (qualification 1,000 balls) 1914 English season leading bowlersNameTeamMatchesBalls bowledRuns concededWickets takenAverageBest bowling5 wickets in innings10 wickets in matchColin BlytheKent296052258317015.199/97135Alonzo DrakeYorkshire316104241815815.3010/35111Cec ParkinLancashire612165353415.737/3431Sidney SmithNorthamptonshire214123170710516.256/5281James HorsleyDerbyshire1319219155616.336/7751Jack WhiteSomerset13369214098516.579/46104Harold McDonnellHampshire810036093517.407/4721Major BoothYorkshire315903280315717.858/64133Wilfred RhodesYorkshire315044215711818.277/1941Archibald SlaterDerbyshire20286412646918.316/1951

Notable events To celebrate the centenary of the Marylebone Cricket Club, a match was played at Lord's on 22, 23 and 24 June between the previous winter's MCC South African team and a representative team from the Rest of England. The game was not a success: champion bowler Barnes did not play for the MCC team, who also had the worst of the pitch and lost by an innings. On 31 July against Warwickshire at Edgbaston, Northamptonshire's George Thompson becomes the first fielder to hold three catches off successive balls. – the first three of four wickets in four balls by Sidney Smith. In August at Weston-super-Mare in the first cricket week at the ground, Yorkshire's Alonzo Drake – in what would become his second-last first-class game – takes all ten Somerset wickets while bowling just 53 balls. This remains the fewest balls bowled to take all ten wickets, and Drake actually took the ten in just 42 consecutive deliveries – also a record.

Annual reviews John Wisden's Cricketer's Almanack, 1915

1914 English cricket season

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