1903 English cricket season

1903 was the 14th season of County Championship cricket in England. Middlesex won their first title, winning eight and losing one of their 18 games. Yorkshire, the defending champions, finished third after losing five games. Yorkshire was the only team to defeat Middlesex – at Headingley in August, Yorkshire bowled Middlesex out for 79 in the first innings, and recorded a 230-run win.[1]

1903 English cricket season
1902
1904

Honours

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County Championship

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Final table

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The final County Championship table is shown below. One point was awarded for a win, none for a draw, and minus one for a loss. Positions were decided on percentage of points over completed games.

County Championship 1903 – Final Standings
Team P W L D A Pts GC1 Pts/GC (as %)
1 Middlesex 18 8 1 7 1 7 9 77.78
2 Sussex 24 7 3 14 0 4 10 40.00
3 Yorkshire 26 13 5 8 0 8 18 44.44
4 Lancashire 26 10 5 11 0 5 15 33.33
5 Nottinghamshire 20 6 4 10 0 2 10 20.00
6 Worcestershire 20 8 6 6 0 2 14 14.29
7 Warwickshire 18 5 4 9 0 1 11 9.09
=8 Kent 22 7 6 7 2 1 13 7.69
=8 Essex 22 7 6 7 2 1 13 7.69
10 Somerset 18 6 6 5 1 0 12 0.00
11 Surrey 28 7 11 9 1 −4 18 −22.22
12 Derbyshire 16 4 7 5 0 −3 11 −27.27
13 Gloucestershire 20 3 10 7 0 −7 13 −53.85
=14 Hampshire 18 1 10 4 3 −9 11 −81.82
=14 Leicestershire 20 1 10 9 0 −9 11 −81.82
  • 1 Games completed

Points system:

  • 1 for a win
  • 0 for a draw, a tie or an abandoned match
  • -1 for a loss

Most runs in the County Championship

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1903 County Championship – leading batsmen
Name Team Matches Runs Average 100s 50s
C. B. Fry Sussex 23 2413 80.43 8 8
Johnny Tyldesley Lancashire 23 1618 44.94 2 10
Archie MacLaren Lancashire 26 1565 40.12 3 9
Ernie Hayes Surrey 26 1449 34.50 3 8
Percy Perrin Essex 20 1428 44.62 4 6

Most wickets in the County Championship

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1903 County Championship – leading bowlers
Name Team Matches Balls bowled Wickets taken Average
Wilfred Rhodes Yorkshire 26 6370 143 14.72
Colin Blythe Kent 20 5210 137 13.05
Sydney Barnes Lancashire 23 6138 131 17.85
Sam Hargreave Warwickshire 17 4481 123 12.17
George Herbert Hirst Yorkshire 23 3875 118 12.79

Philadelphians tour

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Percy Clark and Bart King headed the wickets for the Philadelphians, who played 14 first-class matches in England, in addition to an abandoned fixture with Sussex. The American tourists won as many matches as they lost, with six of each, and drew two. Clark upstaged King, passing him on the wicket-taking tally with a pair of five wicket hauls in the final 110-run win over Surrey where King got six wickets. King averaged four runs less per wicket, however, and also contributed with 614 runs, the third-most in the team. In the batting, they were headed by captain John Lester, who made 786 runs in 13 matches.

Overall first-class statistics

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Leading batsmen

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1903 English cricket season – leading batsmen
Name Team(s) Matches Runs Average 100s 50s
C. B. Fry Gentlemen, Sussex 25 2683 81.30 9 8
Tom Hayward Players, Surrey 38 2177 35.68 3 12
Johnny Tyldesley Lancashire, Players 28 1955 44.43 2 13
Ranjitsinhji Gentlemen, London County, MCC, Sussex 28 1924 56.58 5 12
Archie MacLaren Gentlemen, Lancashire 30 1886 42.86 4 11

Leading bowlers

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1903 English cricket season – leading bowlers
Name Team(s) Matches Balls bowled Wickets taken Average
Wilfred Rhodes Players, Yorkshire 36 8268 193 14.57
Ted Arnold Players, Worcestershire 26 6314 143 17.44
Colin Blythe Kent 22 5554 142 13.75
Sam Hargreave Players, Warwickshire 21 5537 134 14.02
Len Braund London County, MCC, Players, Somerset, South of England 30 5736 134 21.01

References

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  1. ^ Yorkshire v Middlesex, from CricketArchive, retrieved 3 August 2006

Annual reviews

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