| Previous Year: | 1878 |
| Previous Tournament: | 1878 English cricket season |
| Next Year: | 1880 |
| Next Tournament: | 1880 English cricket season |
1879 was the 93rd season of cricket in England since the foundation of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). Lancashire claimed a share of the Champion County title for the first time.
The summer was the coolest[1] and wettest[2] over the two-and-a-half centuries of climatic records in England, and during the early part of the twentieth century exceptionally wet seasons such as 1903, 1912, 1924 and 1927 were very frequently compared to 1879.
| County | Played | Won | Lost | Drawn | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | 2 | 4 | 0 | ||
| 10 | 1 | 3 | 6 | ||
| 10 | 2 | 7 | 1 | ||
| 10 | 5 | 1 | 4 | ||
| 8 | 2 | 2 | 4 | ||
| 12 | 5 | 1 | 6 | ||
| 10 | 3 | 4 | 3 | ||
| 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | ||
| 14 | 7 | 4 | 3 | ||
| 1879 English season leading batsmen[4] | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Team | Matches | Innings | Not outs | Runs | Highest score | Average | 100s | 50s | |
| Gloucestershire | 18 | 28 | 3 | 880 | 123 | 35.20 | 2 | 5 | ||
| Lancashire MCC | 17 | 22 | 2 | 606 | 64 not out | 30.30 | 0 | 3 | ||
| Cambridge University Middlesex | 16 | 27 | 3 | 688 | 102 | 28.66 | 1 | 4 | ||
| Cambridge University Lancashire | 15 | 23 | 3 | 553 | 93 | 27.65 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 19 | 31 | 2 | 763 | 140 | 26.31 | 1 | 3 | |||
| 1879 English season leading bowlers[5] | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Team | Balls bowled | Runs conceded | Wickets taken | Average | Best bowling | 5 wickets in innings | 10 wickets in match | |
| 1234 | 291 | 37 | 7.86 | 6/67 | 1 | 1 | |||
| 3052 | 738 | 88 | 8.38 | 8/32 | 7 | 3 | |||
| 6381 | 1277 | 133 | 9.60 | 8/21 | 13 | 3 | |||
| 1901 | 622 | 63 | 9.87 | 7/54 | 6 | 1 | |||
| 1098 | 229 | 23 | 9.95 | 8/43 | 1 | 1 | |||