National Counties Cricket Championship

Summary

The NCCA 3 Day Championship (previously the Minor Counties Cricket Championship) is a season-long competition in England and Wales that is contested by the members of the National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA), the so-called national counties (previously called the minor counties) that do not have first-class status.

NCCA 3 Day Championship
AdministratorEngland and Wales Cricket Board
First edition1895
Tournament formattwo ten-team divisions
home and away in 3-day matches.
Number of teams20
Current championBerkshire County Cricket Club/Staffordshire
Most successfulStaffordshire
(14 titles)

History

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The competition began in 1895, with the Worcestershire honorary secretary Paul Foley being influential in its creation.[1] It has been contested annually ever since apart from the two World War periods, and cancellation in 2020 due to COVID-19.[2] From 2014 to 2019 the tournament was known as the Unicorns Championship.

Four clubs which used to play in the Minor Counties Championship have been granted first-class status – Worcestershire in 1899; Northamptonshire in 1905; Glamorgan in 1921 and Durham in 1992.

Until 1959, when the Second XI Championship was founded, most second XIs of the first-class counties used to contest the Minor Counties. A few continued to do so and the last to withdraw was Somerset 2nd XI after the 1987 season.

Since 1983, the clubs have been split into an Eastern and a Western Division. The winners of the two divisions play each other in a match at the end of the season to determine which will be the Champions. Until 1983 all clubs competed in a single league. Teams played varying numbers of matches and did not play all other counties, so the table was ranked according to average points gained per match. The team with the highest average won the championship, except in a year when the top two counties had not played each other. In this case the second-placed team in the table had the right to challenge the leaders to a match to decide the championship. The second-placed team had to win this Challenge Match to take the title, with the league leaders being declared champions if they won or the game was drawn.

At present, there are twenty clubs involved. Nineteen represent English counties and the other is a Wales team that represents all the Welsh counties except Glamorgan. For details, see Minor counties of English cricket.

List of Minor Counties/National Counties Champions

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Finals summary

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In 1983, the then minor counties were divided into a Western Division and an Eastern Division, the winners of each division meeting in a final to decide the overall winner. From 1983 to 1993, the Championship was decided by a 55-over limited overs match. From 1994, the final was decided by a two-day, two-innings match with certain restrictions on the first innings, and from 1999 the final has been a three-day, two-innings match and only an outright result has decided the Championship.

Year Western Division Eastern Division Venue Result
1983 Buckinghamshire Hertfordshire New Road, Worcester Hertfordshire won by 2 wickets
1984 Cheshire Durham New Road, Worcester Durham won by 6 wickets
1985 Cheshire Suffolk New Road, Worcester Cheshire won by 58 runs
1986 Oxfordshire Cumberland New Road, Worcester Cumberland won by 2 wickets
1987 Buckinghamshire Cambridgeshire New Road, Worcester Buckinghamshire won by losing fewer wickets
1988 Cheshire Cambridgeshire New Road, Worcester Cheshire won by 13 runs
1989 Oxfordshire Hertfordshire New Road, Worcester Oxfordshire won by 7 wickets
1990 Berkshire Hertfordshire Wardown Park, Luton Hertfordshire won by 7 wickets
1991 Oxfordshire Staffordshire Wardown Park, Luton Staffordshire won by 10 wickets
1992 Devon Staffordshire New Road, Worcester Staffordshire won by 79 runs
1993 Cheshire Staffordshire New Road, Worcester Staffordshire won by 5 wickets
1994 Devon Cambridgeshire New Road, Worcester Drawn (Devon won on 1st innings points)
1995 Devon Lincolnshire New Road, Worcester Devon won by 57 runs (single-innings match)
1996 Devon Norfolk The Maer Ground, Exmouth Devon by 168 runs
1997 Devon Bedfordshire Wardown Park, Luton Drawn (Devon won on faster scoring rate)
1998 Dorset Staffordshire Dean Park, Bournemouth Drawn (Staffordshire won on qualifying record)
1999 Dorset Cumberland Parkside Road, Kendal Cumberland won by 6 wickets
2000 Dorset Cumberland Kinson Park Road, Bournemouth Dorset won by 5 wickets
2001 Cheshire Lincolnshire Gorse Lane, Grantham Drawn (title shared)
2002 Herefordshire Norfolk Mortimer Park, Kingsland Drawn (title shared)
2003 Devon Lincolnshire Sports Ground, Cleethorpes Lincolnshire won by 8 wickets
2004 Devon Bedfordshire The Maer Ground, Exmouth Drawn (title shared)
2005 Cheshire Suffolk Ransomes and Reavell Sports Club Ground, Ipswich Drawn (title shared)
2006 Devon Buckinghamshire The Maer Ground, Exmouth Devon won by 180 runs
2007 Cheshire Northumberland Osborne Avenue, Jesmond Cheshire won by an innings and 4 runs
2008 Berkshire Lincolnshire Enborne Lodge, Newbury Berkshire won by 8 wickets
2009 Cheshire Buckinghamshire Upton Court Road, Slough Buckinghamshire won by 117 runs
2010 Dorset Lincolnshire Dean Park, Bournemouth Dorset won by 135 runs
2011 Devon Cambridgeshire The Avenue Sports Club Ground, March Devon won by 169 runs
2012 Cornwall Buckinghamshire Boscawen Park, Truro Cornwall won by 150 runs
2013 Cheshire Cambridgeshire Harecroft Road, Wisbech Cheshire won by 129 runs
2014 Wiltshire Staffordshire Salisbury and South Wiltshire Sports Club, Salisbury Staffordshire won by 28 runs
2015 Oxfordshire Cumberland Edenside, Carlisle Cumberland won by 10 wickets
2016 Berkshire Lincolnshire Sir Paul Getty's Ground, Wormsley Berkshire won by 28 runs
2017 Berkshire Lincolnshire Banbury Cricket Club Ground, Bodicote Berkshire won by 6 wickets
2018 Berkshire Lincolnshire Banbury Cricket Club Ground, Bodicote Berkshire won by an innings and 32 runs
2019 Berkshire Staffordshire Banbury Cricket Club Ground, Bodicote Berkshire won by 1 wicket
2021 Oxfordshire Suffolk Tring Park Cricket Club Ground Oxfordshire won by 178 runs
2022 Berkshire Lincolnshire West Bromwich Dartmouth Cricket Club Ground, West Bromwich Berkshire won on first innings lead
2023 Buckinghamshire Devon West Bromwich Dartmouth Cricket Club Ground, West Bromwich Buckinghamshire won by 550 runs
2024 Berkshire Staffordshire West Bromwich Dartmouth Cricket Club Ground, West Bromwich Drawn (title shared)

Performance by county

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  • Bold denotes the current 20 National Counties.
Club Titles National Counties Championship-winning seasons
Staffordshire 12 + 2 shared 1906, 1908, 1911, 1912 (shared), 1914, 1920, 1921, 1927, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1998, 2014, 2024 (shared)
Buckinghamshire 10 + 1 shared 1899 (shared), 1922, 1923, 1925, 1932, 1938, 1952, 1969, 1987, 2009, 2023
Berkshire 9 + 1 shared 1924, 1928, 1953, 2008, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022, 2024 (shared)
Durham 7 + 2 shared 1895 (shared), 1900 (shared), 1901, 1926, 1930, 1976, 1980, 1981, 1984
Devon 7 + 1 shared 1978, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 2004 (shared), 2006, 2011
Lancashire II 7 1907, 1934, 1937, 1948, 1949, 1960, 1964
Cheshire 5 + 2 shared 1967, 1985, 1988, 2001 (shared), 2005 (shared), 2007, 2013
Yorkshire II 6 1933, 1947, 1957, 1958, 1968, 1971
Norfolk 3 + 3 shared 1895 (shared), 1905, 1910, 1912 (shared), 1913, 2002 (shared)
Oxfordshire 5 1929, 1974, 1982, 1989, 2021
Hertfordshire 4 1936, 1975, 1983, 1990
Surrey II 4 1939, 1950, 1954, 1955
Suffolk 3 + 1 shared 1946, 1977, 1979, 2005 (shared)
Worcestershire 3 + 1 shared 1895 (shared), 1896, 1897, 1898
Northamptonshire 2 + 2 shared 1899 (shared), 1900 (shared), 1903, 1904
Cumberland 3 1986, 1999, 2015
Bedfordshire 2 + 1 shared 1970, 1972 2004 (shared)
Lincolnshire 2 + 1 shared 1966, 2001 (shared), 2003
Dorset 2 2000, 2010
Kent II 2 1951, 1956
Somerset II 2 1961, 1965
Warwickshire II 2 1959, 1962
Wiltshire 2 1902, 1909
Cambridgeshire 1 1963
Cornwall 1 2012
Leicestershire II 1 1931
Middlesex II 1 1935
Shropshire 1 1973
Glamorgan 0 + 1 shared 1900 (shared)
Herefordshire 0 + 1 shared 2002 (shared)
Carmarthenshire 0
Denbighshire 0
Derbyshire II 0
Essex II 0
Glamorgan II 0
Gloucestershire II 0
Hampshire II 0
Monmouthshire 0
Northamptonshire II 0
Northumberland 0
Nottinghamshire II 0
Sussex II 0
Wales Minor Counties 0
Worcestershire II 0

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "A brief history of Worcestershire". ESPNcricinfo. Archived from the original on 9 July 2023. Retrieved 13 November 2020.
  2. ^ "Lincolnshire CCC reveal plans following the cancellation of National Counties campaign". Archived from the original on 18 June 2021. Retrieved 9 July 2023.
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  • National Counties Cricket Association Official Site
  • 'Minor Counties' to become the National Counties Cricket Association from 2020