posted by John Winn
The county championship was officially recognised as such at a meeting of county secretaries in 1889 and the following year it was contested by eight counties, Gloucestershire, Kent, Lancashire, Middlesex, Notts, Surrey, Sussex and Yorkshire. It was won by Surrey with six points, a total which can be achieved in little more than a morning at The Riverside in April in these days. Surry played 14 matches, winning nine, one point for each victory, lost three, one point deducted for each defeat and draws were ignored. Bottom county Sussex finished on minus ten (one victory and eleven defeats). The eagle eyed amongst you will have spotted that Surrey played two matches more than Sussex and with the exception of Middlesex, who also played twelve games, all other counties played 14.
Purists might demand that for a competition to be a championship proper then each side should play each other twice on a home and away basis and for three seasons, (1892 to 1894) this was the case with each county playing 16 matches. Somerset had been added to the list to make 9 counties. This uniformity did not last long however for when Derbyshire, Essex, Hampshire, Leicestershire and Warwickshire joined in 1895, Surrey and Yorkshire played 26 matches and at the other end of the scale the first four of the newcomers played only 16.
The variation in the number of games counties played, which persisted until 1929, and then only for four seasons, brought about a change in the method of determining the placings with percentage points gained being the decider. Total points took over for just four seasons before percentages were brought back in 1933 only to be replaced by averages in 1939. After a six year break during WW II 1946 saw a degree of uniformity restored with each county playing 26 matches including at least one against each other county. Twenty six became twenty eight in 1950 but ten years later the slide rules were out again with some counties playing 32 matches, others 28 but in 1963 Yorkshire won the championship with 144 points from 28 games the same number as played by all other sides. 1969 saw a reduction to 24 games, 1972 to 20, back up to 22 in 1977 and to 24 in 1986. The roller coast goes on for from 1988 to 1992 counties played 22 games but by 1993 four day cricket has taken over and each county played each other once to make 17 matches.* What you might call half a championship.
2000 brought further changes when two divisions were introduced and only nine teams competed for the title of county champions, but at least they played each other twice. Nothing lasts for ever, at least not in the county championship, for since 2017 the number of games has been reduced to 14 and in 2020, for reasons we are all too well aware of there was no championship. It is intended that it should be restored next year with counties initially divided into three conferences but eventually somebody will be crowned county champions. And the good news for me is that Somerset will play both Gloucestershire and Leicestershire thus setting up the two matches I require to have seen every county play every other at least once. Should spectators not be allowed to watch matches, look out for the heading of day's blog in the Leicester Mercury. I will plead insanity.
* Durham were admitted in 1992 to make 18 counties.
This photograph has no relevance to today's posting and I have used it before but I
like it as it serves as a reminder of the time when even the smallest villages could put out a cricket team. Tholthorpe lies in the Hambleton district of North Yorkshire about twelve miles north west of York. The map shows the location of the cricket field.
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