| Previous Year: | 1969 |
| Previous Tournament: | 1969 English cricket season |
| Next Year: | 1971 |
| Next Tournament: | 1971 English cricket season |
The 1970 English cricket season was the 71st in which the County Championship had been an official competition. There was controversy when a tour by South Africa was forced to be abandoned because of mounting opposition to the apartheid policy perpetuated by the South African government. Five Tests were scheduled but the tour was officially cancelled at the request of Home Secretary James Callaghan. Instead, England played a highly successful series of unofficial Tests against a Rest of the World XI which was captained by Gary Sobers and included some of the best South African players such as Graeme Pollock, Eddie Barlow, Mike Procter and Barry Richards. These matches were promoted as Tests at the time, but were not recognised as such by the International Cricket Conference. Alan Jones played for England only in this series, and had the unfortunate experience of thinking that he had played in Tests only subsequently to discover that he had not. Kent won the County Championship title.
See main article: article and Rest of the World cricket team in England in 1970.
See main article: article and 1970 County Championship.
See main article: article and 1970 Gillette Cup.
See main article: article and 1970 John Player League.
| 1970 English cricket season - leading batsmen by average | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Innings | Runs | Highest | Average | 100s | |
| 32 | 1742 | 183 | 75.73 | 7 | ||
| 34 | 1316 | 114 | 62.66 | 2 | ||
| 46 | 2379 | 154* | 61.00 | 10 | ||
| 37 | 1894 | 187* | 57.39 | 7 | ||
| 42 | 2051 | 260* | 55.43 | 4 | ||
| 1970 English cricket season - leading batsmen by aggregate | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Innings | Runs | Highest | Average | 100s | |
| 46 | 2379 | 154* | 61.00 | 10 | ||
| 47 | 2223 | 178 | 47.29 | 7 | ||
| 53 | 2143 | 147* | 48.70 | 2 | ||
| 42 | 2051 | 260* | 55.43 | 4 | ||
| 49 | 1914 | 120 | 42.53 | 3 | ||
| 1970 English cricket season - leading bowlers by average | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Balls | Maidens | Runs | Wickets | Average | |
| 641 | 31 | 253 | 15 | 16.86 | ||
| 558 | 28 | 207 | 11 | 18.81 | ||
| 6741 | 420 | 2031 | 106 | 19.16 | ||
| 1722 | 80 | 601 | 31 | 19.38 | ||
| 5795 | 331 | 2092 | 105 | 19.92 | ||
| 1970 English cricket season - leading bowlers by aggregate | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Balls | Maidens | Runs | Wickets | Average | |
| 6741 | 420 | 2031 | 106 | 19.16 | ||
| 5795 | 331 | 2092 | 105 | 19.92 | ||
| 6640 | 320 | 2804 | 105 | 26.70 | ||
| 4416 | 178 | 2183 | 102 | 21.40 | ||
| 4420 | 187 | 1860 | 91 | 20.43 | ||