1897 was the eighth season of
County Championshipcricket in England.
Lancashire won the championship for the first time, thanks mainly to only three losses in twenty-six matches.
Surrey won more games, and beat Lancashire twice, but one more loss than Lancashire meant that they would have to be content with second place. They could have taken the championship if they had beaten
Sussex in the last game at
Hove but, after gaining a five-run lead on first innings, Surrey let
Billy Murdoch,
C. B. Fry and
George Bean make half-centuries, and rain spoiled their chances of winning on the final day. At the bottom of the table,
Derbyshire suffered a run of 16 matches without victory to finish last in the table and, with the end of the
1896 season having yielded three matches without a win, Derbyshire's streak ran to 19 matches without a win.