1902 was the 13th season of

County Championship The County Championship (referred to as the LV= Insurance County Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales and is organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). It bec ...

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

in England. Australia had won a classic Test series against England 2–1. The first two Tests were rained off but the final three were full of drama.

Victor Trumper Victor Thomas Trumper (2 November 1877 – 28 June 1915) was an Australian cricketer known as the most stylish and versatile batsman of the Golden Age of cricket, capable of playing match-winning innings on wet wickets his contemporaries found ...

scored a century before lunch in the third Test, Australia won the fourth by just 3 runs and England won the fifth by one wicket following a century in 75 minutes by

Gilbert Jessop Gilbert Laird Jessop (19 May 1874 – 11 May 1955) was an English cricket player, often reckoned to have been the fastest run-scorer cricket has ever known. He was Wisden Cricketer of the Year for 1898. Career Jessop was born in Cheltenham, ...

. It was the 21st series between the two teams. Yorkshire won their third consecutive

title and, as in 1901, went through the season with only one defeat.

Honours

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

* Minor Counties Championship -

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

*Wisden -

Warwick Armstrong Warwick Windridge Armstrong (22 May 1879 – 13 July 1947) was an Australian cricketer who played 50 Test matches between 1902 and 1921. An all-rounder, he captained Australia in ten Test matches between 1920 and 1921, and was undefeated, winn ...

Cuthbert Burnup Cuthbert James "Pinky" Burnup (21 November 1875 – 5 April 1960) was an English amateur sportsman who played cricket and football around the turn of the 20th century. Burnup played once for the England football team but is more renowned for ...

, James Iremonger, James Kelly,

County Championship

Final table

The final

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. * 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

Most wickets in the County Championship

Ashes tour

In the 1967

Wisden Cricketer's Almanack ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "bible of cricket" was first used in the 1930s by Alec Waugh in a ...

A. A. Thomson Arthur Alexander Thomson, (7 April 1894 at Harrogate, Yorkshire – 2 June 1968 near Lord's in London) was an English writer best known for his books on cricket, for which he used the byline A. A. Thomson. He wrote nearly 60 books in all, inclu ...

described this series as "a rubber more exciting than any in history except the Australia v West Indies series in 1960–61". This description came despite the fact that Australia had secured the series after four of five matches, leading 2–0 before the final Test; the first two matches had been drawn due to rain, with the second match at Lord's yielding only 38 overs in three days. The third Test, the only one ever to be played at Bramall Lane, saw Australia win by 143 runs, following a brilliant century by Victor Trumper before lunch on the first day. In the fourth Test Australia won by three runs, despite 11 wickets from recalled bowler Bill Lockwood. It came down to

Fred Tate Frederick William Tate (24 July 1867 – 24 February 1943) was an English cricketer who played in one Test cricket, Test in 1902. This was the Australian cricket team in England in 1902#Fourth Test: 24.E2.80.9326 July: England v Australia, fam ...

and

Wilfred Rhodes Wilfred Rhodes (29 October 1877 – 8 July 1973) was an English professional cricketer who played 58 Test matches for England between 1899 and 1930. In Tests, Rhodes took 127 wickets and scored 2,325 runs, becoming the first Englishman ...

needing to hit eight runs. Tate hit a four, but was

bowled In cricket, the term bowled has several meanings. First, is the act of propelling the ball towards the wicket defended by a batsman. Second, it is a method of dismissing a batsman, by hitting the wicket with a ball delivered by the bowler. (Th ...

by Jack Saunders with the fourth ball of his over. England came back to win the final Test, conceding a first-innings deficit of 141, then going to 48 for five needing 263 to win, before

hit a hundred in 75 minutes and England won by one wicket. Trumper made a great impression on those who saw him bat.

Harry Altham Harry Surtees Altham (30 November 1888 – 11 March 1965) was an English cricketer who became an important figure in the game as an administrator, historian and coach. His ''Wisden'' obituary described him as "among the best known personalities ...

wrote: "From start to finish of the season, on every sort of wicket, against every sort of bowling, Trumper entranced the eye, inspired his side, demoralized his enemies, and made run-getting appear the easiest thing in the world."Quoted in ''The Cricket Captains of England'', Alan Gibson, 1989, The Pavilion Library, , p76.

Overall first-class statistics

Leading batsmen

Leading bowlers

References

Annual reviews

Wisden Cricketers' Almanack ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "bible of cricket" was first used in the 1930s by Alec Waugh in a ...

1903

External links

Cricket in England in 1902
{{Ashes Test series 1902 in English cricket

1902 Events January * January 1 ** The Nurses Registration Act 1901 comes into effect in New Zealand, making it the first country in the world to require state registration of nurses. On January 10, Ellen Dougherty becomes the world' ...