# 1997 English cricket season

The 1997 cricket season was the 98th in which the County Championship has been an official competition. The season centred on the six-Test Ashes series against Australia. England won the first, at Edgbaston, by the decisive margin of nine wickets, and the rain-affected second Test at Lord's was drawn, but any English optimism was short-lived. Australia won the next three games by huge margins to secure the series and retain The Ashes, and England's three-day victory in the final game at The Oval was little more than a consolation prize. It was the 68th test series between the two sides with Australia finally winning 3-2 The three-match ODI series which preceded the Tests produced a statistical curiosity, with England winning each match by an identical margin, six wickets.
The Britannic Assurance County Championship went to Glamorgan for the first time since 1969, by a margin of just four points from Kent. The combination of captain Matthew Maynard and Steve James' batting along with Waqar Younis' and Steve Watkin's bowling propelled them to the title, although the matter was not settled until the final match of the season, when Glamorgan's maximum-points thrashing of Somerset at Taunton ensured that Kent's own victory over Surrey was irrelevant.
In one-day cricket, Warwickshire won the AXA Life League by two points from Kent, but were themselves thrashed by nine wickets by Essex in the final of the NatWest Trophy. The honours in the Benson & Hedges Cup went to Surrey, who beat Kent by eight wickets in the final.
Ali Brown's 203 for Surrey in the AXA Life League against Hampshire in July remains the only double century ever scored in a 40-over List A match.

## Honours

* County Championship - Glamorgan
* NatWest Trophy - Essex
* Sunday League - Warwickshire
* Benson & Hedges Cup - Surrey
* Minor Counties Championship - Devon
* MCCA Knockout Trophy - Norfolk
* Second XI Championship - Lancashire II
* Wisden - Matthew Elliott, Stuart Law, Glenn McGrath, Matthew Maynard, Graham Thorpe

## Statistical highlights
### First-class

* Highest team total: 631/7 dec by Warwickshire v Hampshire at Southampton, 29–30 May
* Lowest team total: 31 by Glamorgan v Middlesex at Cardiff, 14 June
* Highest individual innings: 303* by Graeme Hick (Worcestershire) v Hampshire at Southampton, 18–19 September
* Most runs in season: 1,775 by Steve James (Glamorgan)
* Best innings bowling: 9-64 by Melvyn Betts (Durham) v Northamptonshire at Northampton, 28 August
* Most wickets in season: 83 by Mike Smith (Gloucestershire and England)

### List A

* Highest team total: 371/6 (50 overs) by Leicestershire v Scotland at Leicester, 28 April
* Lowest team total: 53 by Ireland v Yorkshire at Leeds, 24 June
* Highest individual innings: 203 by Ali Brown (Surrey) v Hampshire at Guildford, 20 July
* Most runs in season: 1,088 by Stuart Law (Essex)
* Best innings bowling: 7-24 by Mushtaq Ahmed (Somerset) v Ireland at Taunton, 2 May
* Most wickets in season: 53 by Allan Donald (Warwickshire)

## Ashes tour

| Cumulative record - Test wins | 1876-1997 |
| England | 92 |
| Australia | 114 |
| Drawn | 85 |

## Averages
### First-class
#### Batting

Qualification: eight innings
English first-class batting averages, 1997 :
| Player | Team(s) | M | I | NO | Runs | HS | Ave | 100 | 50 |
| Graeme Hick | Worcestershire | 18 | 28 | 6 | 1,524 | 303* | 69.27 | 6 | 4 |
| Steve James | Glamorgan | 18 | 30 | 4 | 1,775 | 162 | 68.26 | 7 | 8 |
| Matthew Maynard | Glamorgan | 18 | 25 | 7 | 1,170 | 161* | 65.00 | 3 | 7 |
| Ricky Ponting | Australia | 8 | 12 | 3 | 571 | 127 | 63.44 | 2 | 2 |
| Darren Lehmann | Yorkshire | 17 | 27 | 2 | 1,575 | 182 | 63.00 | 4 | 10 |
| Neil Johnson | Leicestershire | 12 | 18 | 5 | 819 | 150 | 63.00 | 2 | 5 |

#### Bowling

Qualification: ten wickets
English first-class bowling averages, 1997 :
| Player | Team(s) | Balls | Mdns | Runs | Wkts | BB | Ave | 5wI | 10wM |
| Hamish Anthony | MCC | 252 | 11 | 113 | 10 | 6-34 | 11.30 | 1 | 1 |
| Allan Donald | Warwickshire | 2,327 | 123 | 928 | 60 | 6-55 | 15.63 | 3 | 1 |
| Mike Smith | England, Gloucestershire | 3,074 | 125 | 1,464 | 83 | 6-45 | 17.63 | 5 | 3 |
| Paul Reiffel | Australia | 1,132 | 49 | 520 | 28 | 5-49 | 18.27 | 2 | 0 |
| Kevan James | Hampshire | 967 | 37 | 504 | 27 | 8-49 | 18.66 | 2 | 1 |
| Saqlain Mushtaq | Surrey | 1,529 | 75 | 617 | 32 | 5-17 | 19.28 | 4 | 2 |

### List A
#### Batting

Qualification: eight innings
English List A batting averages, 1997 :
| Player | Team(s) | M | I | NO | Runs | HS | Ave | 100 | 50 |
| Mike Roseberry | Durham | 10 | 9 | 5 | 252 | 91* | 63.00 | 0 | 2 |
| Chris Adams | Derbyshire | 19 | 19 | 3 | 988 | 138 | 61.75 | 5 | 3 |
| Neil Fairbrother | Lancashire | 20 | 20 | 7 | 792 | 88 | 60.92 | 0 | 9 |
| Kim Barnett | Derbyshire | 16 | 14 | 1 | 751 | 112* | 57.76 | 2 | 3 |
| Rob Bailey | Northamptonshire | 23 | 22 | 5 | 859 | 153* | 50.52 | 1 | 8 |
| Matthew Hayden | Hampshire | 23 | 22 | 1 | 920 | 120* | 46.66 | 3 | 4 |

#### Bowling

Qualification: ten wickets
English List A bowling averages, 1997 :
| Player | Team(s) | Balls | Mdns | Runs | Wkts | BB | Ave | 5wI |
| Allan Donald | Warwickshire | 1,116 | 21 | 718 | 53 | 5-10 | 13.54 | 3 |
| Peter Martin | Lancashire | 998 | 20 | 649 | 43 | 5-21 | 15.09 | 2 |
| David Leatherdale | Worcestershire | 663 | 5 | 512 | 32 | 5-10 | 16.00 | 1 |
| Devon Malcolm | Derbyshire | 378 | 6 | 262 | 16 | 7-35 | 16.37 | 1 |
| Phil Newport | Worcestershire | 606 | 13 | 370 | 22 | 4-37 | 16.81 | 0 |
| Darren Gough | England, Yorkshire | 1,061 | 12 | 752 | 41 | 7-27 | 18.34 | 2 |