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The County Championship is the domestic first class cricket competition in England and Wales. All but one of the teams are named after, and were originally representatives of, historic English counties, the exception being Glamorgan, which is a Welsh county
The official County Championship was constituted in a meeting at Lord's Cricket Ground of MCC with representatives of the principal county clubs in December 1889. The new competition began in the 1890 season and at first featured Gloucestershire CCC, Kent CCC, Lancashire CCC, Middlesex CCC, Nottinghamshire CCC, Surrey CCC, Sussex CCC and Yorkshire CCC.
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, a term which now has the specific meaning of an unofficial claimant for the County Championship title prior to 1890. The term County Champions applies 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. There is evidence of such claims being made as early as the 1728 season and the reference found in that season implies that the concept was already in existence then.
In the 1870s, it became widely accepted that the side with fewest losses should be the champions. Various lists of unofficial champions have been compiled by cricket historians using reverse analysis, but they are not usually in complete agreement. An important year was 1873, when new player qualification rules came into force. Before this, it was quite common for a player to play for both the county of his birth and his county of residence during the course of a single season.
For information about the unofficial titles, see : Champion County.
The first official championship in 1890 required the teams to play 14 scheduled matches (i.e., playing each other twice, one game at "home" and one "away"). 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.
In the 1891 season, Somerset CCC competed in the championship and in 1895 Derbyshire CCC, Essex CCC, Hampshire CCC, Leicestershire CCC and Warwickshire CCC 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, whilst 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 and up to 14 in 2004) and "bonus points", which are earned for scoring a certain number of runs or taking a certain number of wickets in the first 130 overs of each first innings. 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 CCC was declined, due to lack of proper playing facilities, and an application by Devon CCC in 1948 to join was rejected.
All matches prior to 1988 were scheduled for three days, with the exception of 1919, when there was an experiment with two day matches. 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.
Competition format
[edit] 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 awarded as follows:
Win: 14 points + bonus points.
Tie: 7 points + bonus points.
Draw: 4 points + bonus points.
Loss: Bonus points.
Bonus points are collected for batting and bowling. These points can only be obtained from the first 120 overs of each team's first innings. The bonus points are retained regardless of the outcome of the match.
- 200-249 runs: 1 point
- 250-299 runs: 2 points
- 300-349 runs: 3 points
- 350-399 runs: 4 points
- 400+ runs: 5 points
- 3-5 wickets taken: 1 point
- 6-8 wickets taken: 2 points
- 9-10 wickets taken: 3 points
- 2000 Surrey
- 2001 Yorkshire
- 2002 Surrey
- 2003 Sussex
- 2004 Warwickshire
- 2005 Nottinghamshire
- 2006 Sussex
- 2007 Sussex
- 2008 Durham
[edit] Championships won by county, 1890-2008
- Yorkshire 30 (plus 1 shared)
- Surrey 18 (plus 1 shared)
- Middlesex 10 (plus 2 shared)
- Lancashire 7 (plus 1 shared)
- Kent 6 (plus 1 shared)
- Essex 6
- Warwickshire 6
- Nottinghamshire 5
- Worcestershire 5
- Glamorgan 3
- Leicestershire 3
- Sussex 3
- Hampshire 2
- Derbyshire 1
- Durham 1
The three current first class counties with no county championship titles are 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 from 1st Division |
2nd Division Winners |
Promoted from 2nd Division |
| 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 |
Sussex |
Nottinghamshire, Middlesex |
Surrey |
Worcestershire |
| 2007 |
Sussex |
Warwickshire, Worcestershire |
Somerset |
Nottinghamshire |
| 2008 |
Durham |
Kent, Surrey |
Warwickshire |
Worcestershire |
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