1939 English cricket season
The 1939 cricket season was the 342nd in England since the earliest known definite reference to cricket in January 1597 (i.e., Old Style – 1598 New Style), and the 46th in which the County Championship has been an official competition. 1939 was the one and only season in which English cricket adopted the eight-ball over. It was the last season before the Second World War and it was not until 1946 that first-class cricket could resume in England on a normal basis.
The West Indies toured England to compete in a test series which England won 1-0.
In the 1940 edition of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, author R. C. Robertson-Glasgow reviewed the 1939 season and remarked that it was "like peeping through the wrong end of a telescope at a very small but happy world".
England played three Tests against West Indies, whose team included George Headley and Learie Constantine. England won the First Test by 8 wickets and the other two were drawn.
Constantine was recognised by Wisden as one of its "Five Cricketers of the Year".
Having completed the Third Test on Tuesday, 22 August, the West Indian tourists cancelled their next match against Sussex which was scheduled to start at the County Ground, Hove on Saturday, 26 August. Three later matches versus Kent, an England XI and H D G Leveson-Gower's XI were also cancelled.
The 1939 County Championship was determined on an average points basis because the county teams did not all play the same number of matches, the range varying from 24 to 32. Yorkshire won the title for the third successive season, playing 30 matches with 20 wins and 2 defeats to produce a points average of 9.286. Middlesex was the runner-up with 8.182 from 26 matches with 13 wins and 3 defeats.
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