County Championship Totally Explained

Everything about The County Championship totally explained

The County Championship is the domestic first class cricket competition in the United Kingdom, mainly in England. 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.

History

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're 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 (for example, 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

2008 County Championship

The County Championship is currently sponsored by financial services company Liverpool Victoria. The teams competing in each division in 2008 are as follows:
Durham County Cricket Club

Hampshire County Cricket Club

Kent County Cricket Club

Lancashire County Cricket Club

Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club

Somerset County Cricket Club

Surrey County Cricket Club

Sussex County Cricket Club

Yorkshire County Cricket Club

Second division

As of 2006, the bottom two teams in the first division at the end of the season are demoted to the second division for next season. Likewise, the two top finishers from the second division are promoted to the first division for next season, giving them a chance to win the county championship.

Doubts about the future of the competition

By 2008 many voices in English cricket 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 the doyen sports writer of The Guardian who said on 15th 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.

Standings

Liverpool Victoria County Championship - Final Standings for the 2007 Season Division One Table.

Pos	County	Played	Points
1	Sussex	16	202
2	Durham	16	197½
3	Lancashire	16	190
4	Surrey	16	178
5	Hampshire	16	177
6	Yorkshire	16	175
7	Kent	16	153
8	Warwickshire	16	139
9	Worcestershire	16	95

Division Two Table.

Pos	County	Played	Points
1	Somerset	16	266
2	Nottinghamshire	16	214½
3	Middlesex	16	192½
4	Essex	16	182
5	Northamptonshire	16	176
6	Derbyshire	16	147
7	Gloucestershire	16	139½
8	Leicestershire	16	115
9	Glamorgan	16	92½

For live scores from all domestic cricket see here

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.
Tie: 7 points.
Draw: 4 points.
Loss: No points awarded.
Teams may also collect bonus points, for batting and bowling. These points can only be obtained from the first 130 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, this deduction resulted in their relegation to the second division. Also, in 2007, Glamorgan were deducted 8 points for an unprepared wicket at Swansea.

Official county champions

The official championship began in the 1890 season and until 2000 there was a single division. World War I

1919 Yorkshire

1920 Middlesex

1921 Middlesex

1922 Yorkshire

1923 Yorkshire

1924 Yorkshire

1925 Yorkshire

1926 Lancashire

1927 Lancashire

1928 Lancashire

1929 Nottinghamshire

1930 Lancashire

1931 Yorkshire

1932 Yorkshire

1933 Yorkshire

1934 Lancashire

1935 Yorkshire

1936 Derbyshire

1937 Yorkshire

1938 Yorkshire

1939 Yorkshire

1940-45 No championship - World War II

1946 Yorkshire

1947 Middlesex

1948 Glamorgan

1949 Middlesex/Yorkshire

1950 Lancashire/Surrey

1951 Warwickshire

1952 Surrey

1953 Surrey

1954 Surrey

1955 Surrey

1956 Surrey

1957 Surrey

1958 Surrey

1959 Yorkshire

1960 Yorkshire

1961 Hampshire

1962 Yorkshire

1963 Yorkshire

1964 Worcestershire

1965 Worcestershire

1966 Yorkshire

1967 Yorkshire

1968 Yorkshire

1969 Glamorgan

1970 Kent

1971 Surrey

1972 Warwickshire

1973 Hampshire

1974 Worcestershire

1975 Leicestershire

1976 Middlesex

1977 Kent/Middlesex

1978 Kent

1979 Essex

1980 Middlesex

1981 Nottinghamshire

1982 Middlesex

1983 Essex

1984 Essex

1985 Middlesex

1986 Essex

1987 Nottinghamshire

1988 Worcestershire

1989 Worcestershire

1990 Middlesex

1991 Essex

1992 Essex

1993 Middlesex

1994 Warwickshire

1995 Warwickshire

1996 Leicestershire

1997 Glamorgan

1998 Leicestershire

1999 Surrey

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

Number of wins by county 1890-2007

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 The four current first class counties with no county championship titles are Durham, Gloucestershire, Northamptonshire and Somerset. (Gloucestershire won some unofficial titles prior to 1890.)

Wooden spoons

Since the expansion of the Championship from 9 counties to 14 in 1895, the wooden spoon for finishing bottom has been 'won' by:

Derbyshire 14

Somerset 12

Northamptonshire 11

Glamorgan 10

Nottinghamshire 8

Sussex 8

Gloucestershire 7

Leicestershire 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.

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

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 against another team in one season

547 WG Grace Gloucestershire v Sussex 1896

537 MR Ramprakash Surrey v Northamptonshire 2006

534 G Boycott Yorkshire v Nottinghamshire 1983

531 CB Fry Sussex v Nottinghamshire 1905

527 RM Poore Hampshire v Somerset 1899

526 JG Langridge Sussex v Derbyshire 1949

507 H Sutcliffe Yorkshire v Essex 1932

502 C Washbrook Lancashire v Sussex 1947

501 BC Lara Warwickshire v Durham 1994Further Information

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