County Championship
Encyclopedia
The County Championship (currently known as the LV= County Championship due to sponsorship) is the domestic first-class
cricket
competition in England
and Wales
. The competition consists of eighteen clubs named for, and originally representing, historic counties, seventeen from England and one from Wales.
with representatives of the first-class county clubs on 10 December 1889. "While the secretaries were engaged in making the fixtures the representatives of the eight leading counties held a private meeting to discuss the method by which the county championship should in future be decided. The meeting was, we understand, not quite unanimous, but a majority were in favour of ignoring drawn games altogether and settling the championship by wins and losses." Under this system defeats were subtracted from victories and the county with the highest total were champions. The new competition began in the 1890 season
and at first featured Gloucestershire County Cricket Club
, Kent County Cricket Club
, Lancashire County Cricket Club
, Middlesex County Cricket Club
, Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club
, Surrey County Cricket Club
, Sussex County Cricket Club
and Yorkshire County Cricket Club
.
The most usual means of claiming the unofficial title was by popular or press acclaim. In the majority of cases, the claim or proclamation was retrospective, often by cricket writers using reverse analysis via a study of known results. The unofficial title was not proclaimed in every season up to 1889 because in many cases there were not enough matches or there was simply no clear candidate. Having already been badly hit by the Seven Years War, county cricket ceased altogether during the Napoleonic Wars
and there was a period from 1797 to 1824 during which no inter-county matches took place. The concept of the unofficial title has been utilised ad hoc and relied on sufficient interest being shown.
states in his history that earliest usage of the term "County Championship" occurred in 1837 re a match between Kent
and Nottinghamshire. That may be so re the actual terminology but closer examination of the sources does indicate a much earlier expression of the idea.
The earliest known inter-county match was in 1709 between Kent and Surrey
but match results are unknown until the 1720s. The first time a source refers to the superiority of one county is in respect of a match between Edward Stead
's XI and Sir William Gage's XI at Penshurst Park in August 1728. Stead's XI won by an unknown margin although Gage's XI "needed just 7 (more?) in their second innings". The source says that the game could be called Kent v Sussex as the players were reported as 11 of each county. Sir William Gage was a Sussex landowner and Edward Stead was a resident of Maidstone in Kent. Evidently Mr Stead's Kent team also won two games earlier that season against the Duke of Richmond
's XI (also representative of Sussex). The source states that (Stead's victory over Sir William Gage's XI) was the third time this summer that the Kent men have been too expert for those of Sussex. This clearly implies that Kent was considered to be the champion county at that time.
In 1729, Sir William Gage’s Sussex team defeated Kent on 5 September: "The latter got (within three) in one hand, as the former did in two hands, so the Kentish men threw it up". This may have been the earliest known innings victory. The report goes on to say that Thomas Waymark
"turned the scale of victory, which for some years past has been generally on the Kentish side".
That statement indicates that inter-county matches had been played for many years previously and that there was keen rivalry with each team seeking ascendancy: i.e., in effect as champions or at least in terms of "bragging rights
".
in the days of the famous Hambledon Club
, was usually acknowledged as such by being matched against All-England
. There were a number of contemporary allusions to the best county including some in verse, such as one by a Kent supporter who celebrated a victory by Kent over Hampshire in terms of (we shall) "bring down the pride of the Hambledon Club".
Analysis of 18th century matches has identified a number of strong teams who actually or effectively proclaimed their temporal superiority. The most successful county teams were Hampshire, Kent, Middlesex
, Surrey and Sussex. But there was often a crossover between town and county with some strong local clubs tending at times to represent a whole county. Examples are London
, which often played against county teams and was in some respects almost a county club in itself; Slindon
, which was for a few years in the 1740s effectively representative of Sussex as a county; Dartford
, sometimes representative of Kent; and the Hambledon Club
, certainly representative of Hampshire and also perhaps of Sussex. One of the best county teams in the late 18th century was Berkshire
, which no longer has first-class status.
Using the same sort of reverse analysis, it is possible to compile a list of the most competitive teams from the recommencement of county cricket in 1825. Rowland Bowen published his ideas about this in the 1960s when he was the editor of the Cricket Quarterly periodical. He began by stating that Sussex was publicly acknowledged as the "best county" in the 1827 season
when they played against All-England in the roundarm trial matches
, although the team's involvement in these matches had more to do with the fact that Sussex was the prime mover in the "roundarm
revolution". Kent, which had a celebrated team at the time, has long been acknowledged as a champion county in most seasons of the 1840s but in other years there is no clear-cut contender.
that had a successful season in 1792. But claims on behalf of Sussex from 1845 were by Sussex CCC. A similar situation has existed re Kent CCC and Surrey CCC. Nottinghamshire is the only other 19th century claimant before the 1860s, starting in 1852, but all of its claims have been made by Nottinghamshire CCC, the club having been founded in 1841.
As cricket expanded throughout England, more county clubs came into contention and, by the mid-1860s, they included Cambridgeshire County Cricket Club
, Hampshire County Cricket Club
, Lancashire County Cricket Club
, Middlesex County Cricket Club
and Yorkshire County Cricket Club
. At this time and into the 1870s, the press began to advocate some form of league system and various journals and individuals, including W G Grace, began publishing their views about who was the champion in a given season. Grace became interested after Gloucestershire County Cricket Club
was founded in 1870, with himself as captain, and made several claims to the championship during the 1870s.
In the 1870s, it became widely accepted that the side with fewest losses should be the champions. Various lists of unofficial champions began to be compiled by the contemporary press and others, but they are not usually in complete agreement.
on 9 June 1873, the following rules were decided on:
's Scores and Biographies, reference is often made to "least matches lost" as a means of deciding the champion. This was a method that, in a modified form, permeated through to the official championship when one point was awarded for a win but one was deducted for a defeat. It was discontinued after 1909 as it was deemed to be inherently unsatisfactory and a points per win method replaced it in 1910.
As Derek Birley
describes, the papers did not use standard criteria and so there were several seasons in which any title must be considered "shared", as there was no universally recognised winner. With no consistency of approach, the issue inevitably led to argument, counter-arguments and confusion until the matter was taken in hand at the meeting of club secretaries in December 1889 where the official championship was constituted.
competed in the championship and in 1895 Derbyshire County Cricket Club
, Essex County Cricket Club
, Hampshire County Cricket Club
, Leicestershire County Cricket Club
and Warwickshire County Cricket Club
all joined; the rules were changed so each side had to play at least 16 matches per season. Until World War II
, counties played differing numbers of matches and the points system had to be modified so that the ratio of points to finished games (games minus draws) decided the final positions.
In 1910 the system was modified again so that the order was based on ratio of matches won to matches played, while from 1911 to 1967 a variety of systems were used that generally relied on points for wins and for first innings leads in games left unfinished. Since 1968, the basis has been wins (increased from 10 points in 1968, to 12 in 1976, to 16 in 1981, then back down to 12 in 1999, up to 14 in 2004 and currently 16) and "bonus points", which are earned for scoring a certain number of runs or taking a certain number of wickets in the first 110 overs of each first innings (the number of overs has changed at various times, but has been 110 since 2010). In an effort to prevent early finishes, points have been awarded for draws since 1996.
Of the current 18 sides in County Cricket the remaining joined at the following dates:
An invitation in 1921 to Buckinghamshire County Cricket Club
was declined, due to lack of proper playing facilities, and an application by Devon County Cricket Club
in 1948 to join was rejected.
More information about the history of the County Championship can be found here.
who said on 15 April 2008:
"sheepishly stirs another summer of what has tragically become a drawn-out primeval charade, the English County Championship. For decade upon decade it was a cherished adornment of the summer sub-culture, certainly for my generation when heroes were giants and giants were locals. About a quarter of a century ago the championship began fraying and then in no time unravelling. It is now a pointless exercise, unwatched, unwanted, serviced by mostly blinkered, greedy chairman-bullied committees and played by mostly unknown foreign and second-rate mercenaries."
However doubts have been raised over many decades concerning the competition's viability, yet it still survives. The Changing Face of Cricket (1963) by Clarke and Batchelor, made similar predictions about County Cricket.
Despite suggestions that the format could change to 10 games per side in 3 six team regional groups with a knockout phase at the end of the season from 2010 in July 2008 the ECB
decided to keep the current format till at least 2013.
Win: 16 points + bonus points.
Tie: 8 points + bonus points.
Draw: 3 points + bonus points.
Loss: Bonus points.
Bonus points are collected for batting and bowling. These points can only be obtained from the first 110 overs of each team's first innings. The bonus points are retained regardless of the outcome of the match.
for finishing bottom has been 'won' by:
Lancashire, Middlesex and Surrey have never finished bottom. Leicestershire have shared last place twice, with Hampshire and Somerset.
First-class cricket
First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...
cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
competition in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
. The competition consists of eighteen clubs named for, and originally representing, historic counties, seventeen from England and one from Wales.
Constitution
The official County Championship was constituted in a meeting at Lord's Cricket GroundLord's Cricket Ground
Lord's Cricket Ground is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and Wales Cricket Board , the European Cricket Council and, until August 2005, the...
with representatives of the first-class county clubs on 10 December 1889. "While the secretaries were engaged in making the fixtures the representatives of the eight leading counties held a private meeting to discuss the method by which the county championship should in future be decided. The meeting was, we understand, not quite unanimous, but a majority were in favour of ignoring drawn games altogether and settling the championship by wins and losses." Under this system defeats were subtracted from victories and the county with the highest total were champions. The new competition began in the 1890 season
1890 English cricket season
The 1890 English cricket season was the first year the County Championship was officially held, which Surrey won after winning nine out of fourteen games...
and at first featured Gloucestershire County Cricket Club
Gloucestershire County Cricket Club
Gloucestershire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Gloucestershire. Its limited overs team is called the Gloucestershire Gladiators....
, Kent County Cricket Club
Kent County Cricket Club
Kent County Cricket Club is one of the 18 first class county county cricket clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the county of Kent...
, Lancashire County Cricket Club
Lancashire County Cricket Club
Lancashire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Lancashire in cricket's County Championship. The club was founded in 1864 as a successor to Manchester Cricket Club and has played at Old Trafford since then...
, Middlesex County Cricket Club
Middlesex County Cricket Club
Middlesex County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Middlesex. It was announced in February 2009 that Middlesex changed their limited overs name from the Middlesex Crusaders, to the...
, Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club
Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club
Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Nottinghamshire, and the current county champions. Its limited overs team is called the Nottinghamshire Outlaws...
, Surrey County Cricket Club
Surrey County Cricket Club
Surrey County Cricket Club is one of the 18 professional county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Surrey. Its limited overs team is called the Surrey Lions...
, Sussex County Cricket Club
Sussex County Cricket Club
Sussex County Cricket Club is the oldest of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Sussex. The club was founded as a successor to Brighton Cricket Club which was a representative of the county of Sussex as a...
and Yorkshire County Cricket Club
Yorkshire County Cricket Club
Yorkshire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Yorkshire as one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure....
.
"Champion County"
Until 1890, the concept of an unofficial championship existed whereby various claims would be made by or on behalf of a particular club as the "Champion County", an archaic term which now has the specific meaning of an unofficial claimant for the County Championship title prior to 1890. In contrast, the term "County Champions" applies in common parlance to a team that has won the official title since 1890.The most usual means of claiming the unofficial title was by popular or press acclaim. In the majority of cases, the claim or proclamation was retrospective, often by cricket writers using reverse analysis via a study of known results. The unofficial title was not proclaimed in every season up to 1889 because in many cases there were not enough matches or there was simply no clear candidate. Having already been badly hit by the Seven Years War, county cricket ceased altogether during the Napoleonic Wars
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
and there was a period from 1797 to 1824 during which no inter-county matches took place. The concept of the unofficial title has been utilised ad hoc and relied on sufficient interest being shown.
Origin of concept
It is difficult to know when the concept originated. While early matches were often between XIs named after counties, they were not the club teams the usage would imply today. Rowland BowenRowland Bowen
Major Rowland Francis Bowen was a cricket researcher, historian and writer....
states in his history that earliest usage of the term "County Championship" occurred in 1837 re a match between Kent
Kent county cricket teams
Kent county cricket teams have been traced back to the 17th century but the county's involvement in cricket goes back much further than that. Kent, jointly with Sussex, is the birthplace of the sport...
and Nottinghamshire. That may be so re the actual terminology but closer examination of the sources does indicate a much earlier expression of the idea.
The earliest known inter-county match was in 1709 between Kent and Surrey
Surrey county cricket teams
Surrey county cricket teams have been traced back to the 17th century but the county's involvement in cricket goes back much further than that. The first definite mention of cricket anywhere in the world is dated c.1550 in Guildford.-17th century:...
but match results are unknown until the 1720s. The first time a source refers to the superiority of one county is in respect of a match between Edward Stead
Edward Stead
Edward Stead was a famous patron of English cricket, particularly of Kent county cricket teams, in the early 18th century.-Cricket career:...
's XI and Sir William Gage's XI at Penshurst Park in August 1728. Stead's XI won by an unknown margin although Gage's XI "needed just 7 (more?) in their second innings". The source says that the game could be called Kent v Sussex as the players were reported as 11 of each county. Sir William Gage was a Sussex landowner and Edward Stead was a resident of Maidstone in Kent. Evidently Mr Stead's Kent team also won two games earlier that season against the Duke of Richmond
Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond
The 2nd Duke of Richmond has been described as early cricket's greatest patron. Although he had played cricket as a boy, his real involvement began after he succeeded to the dukedom...
's XI (also representative of Sussex). The source states that (Stead's victory over Sir William Gage's XI) was the third time this summer that the Kent men have been too expert for those of Sussex. This clearly implies that Kent was considered to be the champion county at that time.
In 1729, Sir William Gage’s Sussex team defeated Kent on 5 September: "The latter got (within three) in one hand, as the former did in two hands, so the Kentish men threw it up". This may have been the earliest known innings victory. The report goes on to say that Thomas Waymark
Thomas Waymark
Thomas Waymark was an English professional cricketer in the first half of the 18th century...
"turned the scale of victory, which for some years past has been generally on the Kentish side".
That statement indicates that inter-county matches had been played for many years previously and that there was keen rivalry with each team seeking ascendancy: i.e., in effect as champions or at least in terms of "bragging rights
Bragging rights
Bragging rights refers to an informal claim one can make to holding a certain achievement, such as a record or being the first at something. This claim is not an official title or status, but rather the ability to win an argument to holding the position....
".
Development of county cricket
Inter-county cricket was popular throughout the 18th century although the best team, such as Kent in the 1740s or HampshireHampshire county cricket teams
Hampshire county cricket teams have been traced back to the 18th century but the county's involvement in cricket goes back much further than that...
in the days of the famous Hambledon Club
Hambledon Club
The Hambledon Club was a social club that is famous for its organisation of 18th century cricket matches. By the late 1770s it was the foremost cricket club in England.-Foundation:...
, was usually acknowledged as such by being matched against All-England
All-England Eleven
In cricket, the term All-England has been used for various non-international teams that have been formed for short-term purposes since the 1739 English cricket season and it indicates that the "Rest of England" is playing against, say, MCC or an individual county team...
. There were a number of contemporary allusions to the best county including some in verse, such as one by a Kent supporter who celebrated a victory by Kent over Hampshire in terms of (we shall) "bring down the pride of the Hambledon Club".
Analysis of 18th century matches has identified a number of strong teams who actually or effectively proclaimed their temporal superiority. The most successful county teams were Hampshire, Kent, Middlesex
Middlesex county cricket teams
Middlesex county cricket teams have been traced back to the 18th century but the county's involvement in cricket goes back much further than that. Given that the first definite mention of cricket anywhere in the world is dated c.1550 in Guildford, it is almost certain that the game had reached...
, Surrey and Sussex. But there was often a crossover between town and county with some strong local clubs tending at times to represent a whole county. Examples are London
London Cricket Club
The original London Cricket Club was formed by 1722 and was one of the foremost clubs in English cricket over the next four decades. It is closely associated with the Artillery Ground, where it played most of its home matches.-Early history of London cricket:...
, which often played against county teams and was in some respects almost a county club in itself; Slindon
Slindon Cricket Club
Slindon Cricket Club was famous in the middle part of the 18th century when it claimed to have the best team in England. It was located at Slindon, a village in the Arun district of Sussex....
, which was for a few years in the 1740s effectively representative of Sussex as a county; Dartford
Dartford Cricket Club
Dartford Cricket Club is one of the oldest in England and its origins go back to the early 18th century, perhaps earlier.See also: Dartford Brent...
, sometimes representative of Kent; and the Hambledon Club
Hambledon Club
The Hambledon Club was a social club that is famous for its organisation of 18th century cricket matches. By the late 1770s it was the foremost cricket club in England.-Foundation:...
, certainly representative of Hampshire and also perhaps of Sussex. One of the best county teams in the late 18th century was Berkshire
Berkshire county cricket teams
Berkshire county cricket teams have been traced back to the 18th century but the county's involvement in cricket goes back much further than that...
, which no longer has first-class status.
Using the same sort of reverse analysis, it is possible to compile a list of the most competitive teams from the recommencement of county cricket in 1825. Rowland Bowen published his ideas about this in the 1960s when he was the editor of the Cricket Quarterly periodical. He began by stating that Sussex was publicly acknowledged as the "best county" in the 1827 season
1827 English cricket season
The roundarm controversy came to a head before the 1827 English cricket season and MCC agreed to the staging of three trial matches between Sussex and All-England. Roundarm's supporters made the grandiose claim that their campaign was a march of intellect...
when they played against All-England in the roundarm trial matches
Roundarm trial matches
The roundarm trial matches were a series of cricket matches between Sussex and All-England during the 1827 English cricket season. Their purpose was to help the MCC, as the game's lawgivers, to decide if roundarm bowling should be legalised or if the only legitimate style of bowling should be...
, although the team's involvement in these matches had more to do with the fact that Sussex was the prime mover in the "roundarm
Roundarm bowling
In cricket, roundarm bowling is a style that was introduced in the first quarter of the 19th century and had largely superseded underarm bowling by the 1830s. Using a roundarm action, the bowler has his arm extended at about 90 degrees from his body at the point where he releases the ball...
revolution". Kent, which had a celebrated team at the time, has long been acknowledged as a champion county in most seasons of the 1840s but in other years there is no clear-cut contender.
County clubs
The middle years of the 19th century are the period of county club formation. So, when Sussex "claimed" titles in 1826 and 1827, it was the same loose association based on Brighton Cricket ClubBrighton Cricket Club
Brighton Cricket Club was based at Brighton, Sussex and was briefly a major cricket team, playing four known first-class matches in the 1792 season, at which time it was representative of Sussex as a county....
that had a successful season in 1792. But claims on behalf of Sussex from 1845 were by Sussex CCC. A similar situation has existed re Kent CCC and Surrey CCC. Nottinghamshire is the only other 19th century claimant before the 1860s, starting in 1852, but all of its claims have been made by Nottinghamshire CCC, the club having been founded in 1841.
As cricket expanded throughout England, more county clubs came into contention and, by the mid-1860s, they included Cambridgeshire County Cricket Club
Cambridgeshire County Cricket Club
Cambridgeshire County Cricket Club is one of the county clubs which make up the Minor Counties in the English domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Cambridgeshire and playing in the Minor Counties Championship and the MCCA Knockout Trophy.The club is based at The Avenue...
, Hampshire County Cricket Club
Hampshire County Cricket Club
Hampshire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Hampshire in cricket's County Championship. The club was founded in 1863 as a successor to the Hampshire county cricket teams and has played at the Antelope Ground from then until 1885, before moving to the County Ground where it...
, Lancashire County Cricket Club
Lancashire County Cricket Club
Lancashire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Lancashire in cricket's County Championship. The club was founded in 1864 as a successor to Manchester Cricket Club and has played at Old Trafford since then...
, Middlesex County Cricket Club
Middlesex County Cricket Club
Middlesex County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Middlesex. It was announced in February 2009 that Middlesex changed their limited overs name from the Middlesex Crusaders, to the...
and Yorkshire County Cricket Club
Yorkshire County Cricket Club
Yorkshire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Yorkshire as one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure....
. At this time and into the 1870s, the press began to advocate some form of league system and various journals and individuals, including W G Grace, began publishing their views about who was the champion in a given season. Grace became interested after Gloucestershire County Cricket Club
Gloucestershire County Cricket Club
Gloucestershire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Gloucestershire. Its limited overs team is called the Gloucestershire Gladiators....
was founded in 1870, with himself as captain, and made several claims to the championship during the 1870s.
In the 1870s, it became widely accepted that the side with fewest losses should be the champions. Various lists of unofficial champions began to be compiled by the contemporary press and others, but they are not usually in complete agreement.
Qualification rules
An important year was 1873, when player qualification rules came into force, requiring players to choose at the start of each season whether they would play for the county of their birth or their county of residence. Before this, it was quite common for a player to play for both counties during the course of a single season. Three meetings were held, and at the last of these, held at The OvalThe Oval
The Kia Oval, still commonly referred to by its original name of The Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, in the London Borough of Lambeth. In the past it was also sometimes called the Kennington Oval...
on 9 June 1873, the following rules were decided on:
- That no cricketer, whether amateur or professional, shall play for more than one county during the same season.
- Every cricketer born in one county and residing in another shall be free to choose at the commencement of each season for which of those counties he will play, and shall, during that season, play for the one county only.
- A cricketer shall be qualified to play for the county in which he is residing and has resided for the previous two years: or a cricketer may elect to play for the county in which his family home is, so long as it remains open to him as an occasional residence.
- That should any question arise as to the residential qualification, the same shall be left to the decision of the Marylebone Cricket Club.
Newspaper "leagues"
It was in the 1870s that newspapers began to print tables of inter-county results and then proclaim a champion on the basis of their chosen criteria. In Arthur HaygarthArthur Haygarth
Arthur Haygarth was a noted amateur cricketer who became one of cricket's most significant historians....
's Scores and Biographies, reference is often made to "least matches lost" as a means of deciding the champion. This was a method that, in a modified form, permeated through to the official championship when one point was awarded for a win but one was deducted for a defeat. It was discontinued after 1909 as it was deemed to be inherently unsatisfactory and a points per win method replaced it in 1910.
As Derek Birley
Derek Birley
Sir Derek Birley was an English educator and writer who had a strong interest in sport, especially cricket.He was educated at grammar school in Hemsworth, West Yorkshire, and at Queens' College, Cambridge University....
describes, the papers did not use standard criteria and so there were several seasons in which any title must be considered "shared", as there was no universally recognised winner. With no consistency of approach, the issue inevitably led to argument, counter-arguments and confusion until the matter was taken in hand at the meeting of club secretaries in December 1889 where the official championship was constituted.
The unofficial titles
All "titles" claimed before 1890 are strictly unofficial and are based on (a) contemporary claims made by or on behalf of a particular team and recorded at the time; (b) reverse analysis performed by a writer who was trying to establish the best team in a given season by reference to the known fixtures and results. It must be stressed that the purpose of such lists when published has never been to ascribe any kind of ruling but rather to provoke discussion. The main value of the lists is to indicate which were the most competitive teams during a given period.First official competition
The final positions in 1890 were based on number of wins minus the number of losses. Later, a points system was introduced but it has been subject to several variations.Expansion and points systems
In the 1891 season, Somerset County Cricket ClubSomerset County Cricket Club
Somerset County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Somerset...
competed in the championship and in 1895 Derbyshire County Cricket Club
Derbyshire County Cricket Club
Derbyshire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the England and Wales domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Derbyshire...
, Essex County Cricket Club
Essex County Cricket Club
Essex County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Essex. Its limited overs team is called the Essex Eagles, their team colours this season are blue.The club plays most of its home games...
, Hampshire County Cricket Club
Hampshire County Cricket Club
Hampshire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Hampshire in cricket's County Championship. The club was founded in 1863 as a successor to the Hampshire county cricket teams and has played at the Antelope Ground from then until 1885, before moving to the County Ground where it...
, Leicestershire County Cricket Club
Leicestershire County Cricket Club
Leicestershire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Leicestershire. It has also been representative of the county of Rutland....
and Warwickshire County Cricket Club
Warwickshire County Cricket Club
Warwickshire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Warwickshire. Its limited overs team is called the Warwickshire Bears. Their kit colours are black and gold and the shirt sponsor...
all joined; the rules were changed so each side had to play at least 16 matches per season. Until World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, counties played differing numbers of matches and the points system had to be modified so that the ratio of points to finished games (games minus draws) decided the final positions.
In 1910 the system was modified again so that the order was based on ratio of matches won to matches played, while from 1911 to 1967 a variety of systems were used that generally relied on points for wins and for first innings leads in games left unfinished. Since 1968, the basis has been wins (increased from 10 points in 1968, to 12 in 1976, to 16 in 1981, then back down to 12 in 1999, up to 14 in 2004 and currently 16) and "bonus points", which are earned for scoring a certain number of runs or taking a certain number of wickets in the first 110 overs of each first innings (the number of overs has changed at various times, but has been 110 since 2010). In an effort to prevent early finishes, points have been awarded for draws since 1996.
Of the current 18 sides in County Cricket the remaining joined at the following dates:
- Worcestershire County Cricket ClubWorcestershire County Cricket ClubWorcestershire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Worcestershire...
in 1899 (did not play in 1919) - Northamptonshire County Cricket ClubNorthamptonshire County Cricket ClubNorthamptonshire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Northamptonshire. Its limited overs team is called the Northants Steelbacks. The traditional club colour is Maroon. During the...
in 1905 - Glamorgan County Cricket ClubGlamorgan County Cricket ClubGlamorgan County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Glamorgan aka Glamorganshire . Glamorgan CCC is the only Welsh first-class cricket club. Glamorgan CCC have won the English County...
in 1921 - Durham County Cricket ClubDurham County Cricket ClubDurham County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Durham. Its limited overs team is called the Durham Dynamos. Their kit colours are blue with yellow trim and the shirt sponsor was...
in 1992
An invitation in 1921 to Buckinghamshire County Cricket Club
Buckinghamshire County Cricket Club
Buckinghamshire County Cricket Club is one of the county clubs which make up the Minor Counties in the English domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Buckinghamshire and playing in the Minor Counties Championship and the MCCA Knockout Trophy. The Minor Counties play...
was declined, due to lack of proper playing facilities, and an application by Devon County Cricket Club
Devon County Cricket Club
Devon County Cricket Club is one of the county clubs which make up the Minor Counties in the English domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Devon and playing in the Minor Counties Championship and the MCCA Knockout Trophy....
in 1948 to join was rejected.
Recent developments
All matches prior to 1988 were scheduled for three days, normally of a nominal six hours each plus intervals, but often with the first two days lengthened by up to an hour and the final day shortened, so that teams with fixtures elsewhere on the following day could travel at sensible hours. The exception to this was the 1919 season, when there was an experiment with two-day matches played over longer hours, up to nine o'clock in the evening in mid-summer. This experiment was not repeated. From 1988 to 1992 some matches were played over four days. From 1993 onwards, all matches have been scheduled for four days.More information about the history of the County Championship can be found here.
Doubts about the future of the competition
By 2008 many voices were heard questioning the future of the County Championship in the light of the shaky financial structure of many counties, poor attendances and the irresistible rise of Twenty20 cricket. Amongst those questioning the whole basis of the competition was Frank Keating of The GuardianThe Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
who said on 15 April 2008:
"sheepishly stirs another summer of what has tragically become a drawn-out primeval charade, the English County Championship. For decade upon decade it was a cherished adornment of the summer sub-culture, certainly for my generation when heroes were giants and giants were locals. About a quarter of a century ago the championship began fraying and then in no time unravelling. It is now a pointless exercise, unwatched, unwanted, serviced by mostly blinkered, greedy chairman-bullied committees and played by mostly unknown foreign and second-rate mercenaries."
However doubts have been raised over many decades concerning the competition's viability, yet it still survives. The Changing Face of Cricket (1963) by Clarke and Batchelor, made similar predictions about County Cricket.
Despite suggestions that the format could change to 10 games per side in 3 six team regional groups with a knockout phase at the end of the season from 2010 in July 2008 the ECB
England and Wales Cricket Board
The England and Wales Cricket Board is the governing body of cricket in England and Wales. It was created on 1 January 1997 combining the roles of the Test and County Cricket Board, the National Cricket Association and the Cricket Council...
decided to keep the current format till at least 2013.
Points system
The county championship works on a points system, the winner being the team with most points in the first division. The points are currently awarded as follows:Win: 16 points + bonus points.
Tie: 8 points + bonus points.
Draw: 3 points + bonus points.
Loss: Bonus points.
Bonus points are collected for batting and bowling. These points can only be obtained from the first 110 overs of each team's first innings. The bonus points are retained regardless of the outcome of the match.
- Batting
- 200-249 runs: 1 point
- 250-299 runs: 2 points
- 300-349 runs: 3 points
- 350-399 runs: 4 points
- 400+ runs: 5 points
- Bowling
- 3-5 wickets taken: 1 point
- 6-8 wickets taken: 2 points
- 9-10 wickets taken: 3 points
Deductions
Occasionally, a team may have points deducted. These are normally small deductions, between 0.5 and 1 point. Deductions are most commonly handed out for slow over rates or poor pitches. However, in 2005, Surrey were awarded an 8 point penalty for ball tampering. At the end of the 2005 season, Surrey were relegated to the second division, finishing one point behind Middlesex, who remained in the first division. In 2007, Glamorgan were deducted 8 points for an unprepared wicket at Swansea. Also, in 2011, Warwickshire, Hampshire and Kent were deducted 8 points for poor pitches at Edgbaston, the Rose Bowl and Canterbury, respectively.Official county champions
Yorkshire have won the Championship the most, doing so on 30 occasions (plus 1 shared). Three current first class counties hold no County Championship titles: Gloucestershire, Northamptonshire and Somerset. (However, Gloucestershire won some unofficial titles prior to 1890.)Promoted and relegated
There have been two divisions since 2000.| Year | County Champions | Relegated | Division 2 Champions | Promoted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Surrey | Hampshire, Durham, Derbyshire | Northamptonshire | Essex, Glamorgan |
| 2001 | Yorkshire | Northamptonshire, Glamorgan, Essex | Sussex | Hampshire, Warwickshire |
| 2002 | Surrey | Hampshire, Somerset, Yorkshire | Essex | Middlesex, Nottinghamshire |
| 2003 | Sussex | Essex, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire | Worcestershire | Northamptonshire, Gloucestershire |
| 2004 | Warwickshire | Worcestershire, Lancashire, Northamptonshire | Nottinghamshire | Hampshire, Glamorgan |
| 2005 | Nottinghamshire | Surrey, Gloucestershire, Glamorgan | Lancashire | Durham, Yorkshire |
| 2006 2006 County Championship The 2006 County Championship season, known as the Liverpool Victoria County Championship for sponsorship reasons, was contested through two divisions: Division One and Division Two. Each team plays all the others in their division both home and away... |
Sussex | Nottinghamshire, Middlesex | Surrey | Worcestershire |
| 2007 2007 County Championship The 2007 County Championship season, known as the LV County Championship for sponsorship reasons, was contested through two divisions: Division One and Division Two. Each team plays all the others in their division both home and away... |
Sussex | Warwickshire, Worcestershire | Somerset | Nottinghamshire |
| 2008 2008 County Championship The 2008 County Championship season, known as the LV County Championship for sponsorship reasons, was contested through two divisions: Division One and Division Two. Each team plays all the others in their division both home and away... |
Durham | Kent, Surrey | Warwickshire | Worcestershire |
| 2009 2009 County Championship The 2009 County Championship season, known as the LV County Championship for sponsorship reasons, was the 110th County Championship season. It was contested through two divisions: Division One and Division Two. Each team played all the others in their division both home and away... |
Durham | Sussex, Worcestershire | Kent | Essex |
| 2010 2010 County Championship The 2010 County Championship season, known as the LV County Championship for sponsorship reasons, was the 111th County Championship season. It was contested through two divisions: Division One and Division Two. Each team played all the others in their division both home and away... |
Nottinghamshire | Essex, Kent | Sussex | Worcestershire |
| 2011 2011 County Championship The 2011 County Championship season, known as the LV County Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the 112th cricket County Championship season. It is contested through two divisions: Division One and Division Two. Each team plays all the others in their division both home and away... |
Lancashire | Hampshire, Yorkshire | Middlesex | Surrey |
Wooden spoons
Since the expansion of the Championship from 9 counties to 14 in 1895, the wooden spoonWooden spoon (award)
A wooden spoon is a mock or real award, usually given to an individual or team which has come last in a competition, but sometimes also to runners-up. Examples range from the academic to sporting and more frivolous events...
for finishing bottom has been 'won' by:
- Derbyshire 15
- Somerset 12
- Northamptonshire 11
- Glamorgan 10
- Nottinghamshire 8
- Sussex 8
- Leicestershire 8
- Gloucestershire 7
- Worcestershire 6
- Durham 5
- Hampshire 5
- Warwickshire 3
- Essex 2
- Kent 2
- Yorkshire 1
Lancashire, Middlesex and Surrey have never finished bottom. Leicestershire have shared last place twice, with Hampshire and Somerset.
Records
All records can be found at Cricinfo – Records.Highest team scores
- 887 Yorkshire v Warwickshire: Edgbaston, Birmingham 1896
- 863 Lancashire v Surrey: The Foster's Oval, Kennington 1990
- 850-7d Somerset v Middlesex: Taunton 2007
- 811 Surrey v Somerset: Kennington Oval 1899
- 810-4d Warwickshire v Durham: Edgbaston, Birmingham 1994
- 803-4d Kent v Essex: Old County Ground, Brentwood 1934
- 801-8d Derbyshire v Somerset: County Ground, Taunton 2007
Lowest team scores
- 12 Northamptonshire v Gloucestershire: Spa Ground, Gloucester 1907
- 13 Nottinghamshire v Yorkshire: Trent Bridge, Nottingham 1901
- 14 Surrey v Essex: County Ground, Chelmsford 1983
- 15 Hampshire v Warwickshire: Edgbaston, Birmingham 1922 (Hampshire won game)
- 16 Warwickshire v Kent: Angel Ground, Tonbridge 1913
- 20 Sussex v Yorkshire: The Circle, Hull 1922
- 20 Derbyshire v Yorkshire: Bramall Lane, Sheffield 1939
Most runs in an innings
- 501* BC Lara: Warwicks v Durham, Edgbaston 1994
- 424 AC MacLaren: Lancashire v Somerset, Taunton 1895
- 405* GA Hick: Worcestershire v Somerset, Taunton 1988
- 366 NH Fairbrother: Lancashire v Surrey, The Oval 1990
- 357* R Abel: Surrey v Somerset, The Oval 1899
Best figures in an innings
- 10–10 H Verity: Yorkshire v Nottinghamshire, Leeds 1932
- 10–18 G Geary: Leicestershire v Glamorgan, Pontypridd 1929
- 10–30 C Blythe: Kent v Northamptonshire, Northampton 1907
- 10–32 H Pickett: Essex v Leicestershire, Leyton 1895
- 10–35 A Drake: Yorkshire v Somerset, Weston-s-M 1914
- 10–36 H Verity: Yorkshire v Warwickshire, Leeds 1931
- 10–40 EG Dennett: Gloucestershire v Essex, Bristol 1906
- 10–40 W Bestwick: Derbyshire v Glamorgan, Cardiff 1921
- 10–40 GOB Allen: Middlesex v Lancashire, Lord's 1929
Sponsors
- 1977–1983 Schweppes
- 1984–1998 Britannic AssuranceResolution plcResolution plc was a UK insurance company headquartered in the City of London. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index but was acquired by the Pearl Group in May 2008.-Early history:...
- 1999–2000 AXA ppp HealthcareAXAAXA S.A. is a French global insurance group headquartered in the 8th arrondissement of Paris. AXA is a conglomerate of independently run businesses, operated according to the laws and regulations of many different countries. The AXA group of companies engage in life, health and other forms of...
- 2001 CricinfoCricinfoESPNcricinfo is believed to be the largest cricket-related website on the World Wide Web. Content includes news,articles, live scorecards,live text commentary and a comprehensive and searchable database called 'StatsGuru', of historical matches and players from the 18th century to the present...
- 2002–2005 Frizzell
- 2006–present Liverpool Victoria (now branded as "LV=")