| Cricket Format: | First-class cricket (3 days) |
| Tournament Format: | League system |
| Champions: | Yorkshire |
| Count: | 2 |
| Participants: | 14 |
| Matches: | 126 |
| Most Runs: | (1,698 for Sussex) |
| Most Wickets: | (191 for Surrey) |
| Previous Year: | 1895 |
| Previous Tournament: | 1895 County Championship |
| Next Year: | 1897 |
| Next Tournament: | 1897 County Championship |
The 1896 County Championship was the seventh officially organised running of the County Championship, and ran from 4 May to 31 August 1896. Yorkshire County Cricket Club claimed victory that year, winning 16 of their 26 matches and losing only three.[1] Five of Yorkshire's players made over 1,000 runs in the season, including John Brown who was placed third nationally,[2] while Yorkshireman Bobby Peel was sixth highest wicket taker and Schofield Haigh held one of the leading bowling averages.[3] Although Yorkshire had a crop of players accruing these statistics, Kumar Shri Ranjitsinhji of Sussex took the plaudits for the most runs that year, 1,698, at the highest average, 58.55,[4] while Surrey's Tom Richardson took the most wickets – 191, and William Attewell of Nottinghamshire returned the best average – 14.63 for his 87 wickets.[5]
The highest team total during 1896 was 887, made by Yorkshire against Warwickshire at Edgbaston,[6] composed of centuries from Stanley Jackson (117), Ted Wainwright (136), Bobby Peel (210) and Lord Hawke (166).[7] The latter two were both career bests. In contrast, the lowest team total was 45 when Surrey were routed by only two Middlesex bowlers.[8] WG Grace's 301 against Sussex was the highest score of the season,[9] while there were three hat-tricks for Richardson, Jack Hearne and Walter Mead.[10] Richardson also took the season's best match figures, 15/113 against Leicestershire,[11] while Mead took 9/75 – the best innings figures of the season.[12]
| width=175 | Team | width=20 abbr="Played" | Pld | width=20 abbr="Won" | W | width=20 abbr="Tied" | T | width=20 abbr="Lost" | L | width=20 abbr="Drawn" | D | width=20 abbr="Abandoned" | A | width=20 abbr="Points" | Pts | width=20 abbr="Finished matches" | Fin | width=45 abbr="Percentage of finished matches" | %Fin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yorkshire | 26 | 16 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 0 | 13 | 19 | 68.42 | ||||||||||
| Lancashire | 22 | 11 | 0 | 4 | 7 | 0 | 7 | 15 | 46.67 | ||||||||||
| Middlesex | 16 | 8 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 11 | 45.45 | ||||||||||
| Surrey | 26 | 17 | 0 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 24 | 41.67 | ||||||||||
| Essex | 12 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 11.11 | ||||||||||
| Nottinghamshire | 16 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0.00 | ||||||||||
| Derbyshire | 16 | 4 | 0 | 6 | 6 | 0 | −2 | 10 | –20.00 | ||||||||||
| Hampshire | 16 | 5 | 0 | 8 | 3 | 0 | −3 | 134 | –23.07 | ||||||||||
| Kent | 18 | 5 | 0 | 9 | 4 | 0 | −4 | 14 | –28.57 | ||||||||||
| Gloucestershire | 18 | 5 | 0 | 10 | 3 | 0 | −5 | 15 | –33.33 | ||||||||||
| Somerset | 16 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 6 | 0 | −4 | 10 | –40.00 | ||||||||||
| Warwickshire | 18 | 3 | 0 | 8 | 7 | 0 | −5 | 11 | –45.45 | ||||||||||
| Leicestershire | 14 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 4 | 0 | −6 | 10 | –60.00 | ||||||||||
| Sussex | 18 | 2 | 0 | 9 | 7 | 0 | −7 | 11 | –63.64 | ||||||||||
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