1912 English cricket season

1912 was the 23rd season of County Championship cricket in England. The much-criticised Triangular Tournament of Test Matches was held between England, Australia and South Africa. The contest was affected by one of the wettest summers on record and was never repeated. England retained the Ashes, having defeated Australia in one Test.

Honours

County Championship – Yorkshire
Minor Counties Championship – in abeyance
Wisden (special commemoration) – John Wisden

Test series

England won one of its matches against weakened Australia 1–0 with two drawn. Against South Africa, England won all three matches. Despite the loss of seven key players due to a major dispute with management and professional commitments, Australia beat South Africa 2–0 with one match drawn.

County Championship

Five points were awarded for a win.
Three points were awarded for "winning" the first innings of a drawn match.
One point was awarded for "losing" the first innings of a drawn match.
Matches in which no result was achieved on the first innings were not included in calculating maximum possible points.
Final placings were decided by calculating the percentage of possible points.

Minor Counties Championship

Carmarthenshire dropped out of the competition for this season. Following a recommendation by Earl Norman in November of 1911, the system used between 1907 and 1911 of grouping the Minor Counties by division was abandoned for 1912, and each county had to play minimum of four other counties.

In an unfortunate sequel to the season that would be repeated in 1933, the championship was listed as "in abeyance". According to the rules, Norfolk and Staffordshire, who finished first and second but had not met during the season, should have played a challenge match. However, Norfolk first said they could not play due to flooding at the end of August. Then Norfolk found that when the match was to be played, many of its best players had got away and the club could not raise a team. Originally it was thought Staffordshire would win the Championship by default, but after a lengthy inquiry the Minor Counties Cricket Association ruled on 26 September that the Championship would not be awarded, viewing the circumstances Norfolk were placed in as "exceptional".

Five points were awarded for a win.
Three points were awarded for "winning" the first innings of a drawn match.
One point was awarded for "losing" the first innings of a drawn match.
Matches in which no result was achieved on the first innings were not included in calculating maximum possible points.
Final placings were decided by calculating the percentage of possible points.