The 1895 English cricket season saw Surrey win the County Championship title for the fifth time in six years, despite increased competition, as the tournament was expanded from nine to fourteen teams. The points system for the Championship was changed, as the teams played differing amount of games, and this new system involved dividing the number of points by the number of matches that ended in either a win or a loss. Draws were thus completely disregarded, as they gave zero points. Derbyshire was the best debutant team, with fifth place.
Another championship made its bow as this season was the first to stage the Minor Counties Championship. The inaugural title was shared by three teams: Durham, Norfolk and Worcestershire.
In the early part of the season improved batting conditions and long spells of dry weather caused much heavier scoring than in previous seasons. There were a number of very large scores up until mid-July, when Archie MacLaren played his famous innings of 424 for Lancashire against Somerset at Taunton. However, after this point, rain returned and most pitches from 20 July onwards were sticky, with the result that bowlers dominanted the latter part of the season. Charlie Townsend got an amazing amount of spin on the ball on these treacherous pitches - taking 122 wickets in the last 11 county games - whilst established bowlers like Peel, Richardson, Mold and Briggs were also very difficult.
At the age of 46 (when the season began), WG Grace enjoyed a remarkable renaissance, being the leading run-scorer in all first-class matches and averaging over 50. He became the first player ever to score one thousand runs during the month of May and also the first to reach the career landmark of one hundred first-class centuries.
Read more about 1895 English Cricket Season: Honours, Annual Reviews
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