County Championship: Long way from whims and Wisden's wisdom (4 December 1998)

4 December 1998

County Championship: Long way from whims and Wisden's wisdom

By Frank Wheeldon

RADICAL though yesterday's decision to introduce promotion and relegation to the county championship may seem, the competition has frequently been forced to re-invent itself to stay abreast of the times.

From 1827 for example, the champions were nominated by publications, the winners varying according to the whim of the journalist. In 1888 the editor of Wisden invented his own system and decreed that only eight counties were first-class - Gloucestershire, Kent, Lancashire, Middlesex, Nottinghamshire, Surrey, Sussex and Yorkshire. The counties, unhappy with the method used by Wisden to determine the champions, took matters in to their own hands and decided that from 1890 the championship would be calculated by deducting losses from wins, ignoring drawn matches. The eight counties were joined by Somerset a year later.

Three years later the MCC prepared a scheme for the future regulation of the County Championship and this came into operation in 1895.

In addition to the nine counties who competed in 1894, Derbyshire, Essex, Hampshire, Leicestershire and Warwickshire were added to the competition. Each county had to play a minimum of eight other counties, home and away.

In 1897 the minimum number of matches to qualify for the championship was reduced to 14. Worcestershire were admitted in 1899 and were followed by Northamptonshire in 1905 and Glamorgan in 1921. By 1929 all counties were required to play 28 matches.

In 1933 the method of deciding the championship was changed; a minimum of 24 matches could be played, but the positions were decided by the percentage of points obtained to the maximum possible points. In 1938 the points were altered to 12 for a win, six for a tie, four for a first-innings lead in drawn or lost matches and eight for a win in a 'one-day' match.

From 1946 to 1949 all counties played 26 matches and between 1950 to 1959 there were 28. In seasons 1960-62 inclusive the championship was decided on average points gained.

In 1974 bonus points were introduced for runs scored and wickets taken during the first 100 overs of the first innings for each side.

At the start of the 1980s, the number of points for a win was increased to 16. Four-day matches were introduced in 1988, with counties playing six four day and 16 three-day matches. Durham were admitted to the championship in 1992 and five years later the format was changed to purely four days and the number of matches per county was reduced to 17. Bonus points became available for the first 120 overs of the first innings.

Source :: Electronic Telegraph (https://www.telegraph.co.uk)