The highest tier of first-class cricket competition in England and Wales is the County championship. Held since 1890, this tournament is played between different counties of England and Wales. As the name suggests, the teams participating in the event are named after historic counties of England and Wales. 17 of these counties are from England whereas 1 is from Wales. Durham was the latest county to enter the championships when it made its debut in 1992.
The 18 participating county sides are Sussex, Kent, Surrey, Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, Warwickshire, Essex, Derbyshire, Gloucestershire, Glamorgan, Somerset, Durham, Hampshire, Northamptonshire, Middlesex, Lancashire, Leicestershire, and Worcestershire. A player can become a part of a county team based on their county of birth or the county in which they reside.
The 18 teams are divided into two divisions. Division One has 10 teams whereas Division Two has eight teams. Each team plays the other team in their division in a round-robin format. Each team plays 14 matches, seven of which are home matches whereas seven are away matches.
These teams are divided into two groups: Division One (10 teams) and Division Two (8 teams). In each division, teams play in a round-robin format. Each team plays 14 matches – seven home matches and seven away matches. The top of two teams of Division Two are promoted to Division One in the next edition. The team who tops Division One becomes the champion for that edition.
The point system of county championship sees a team get 16 points for a win, eight points for a draw or a tie, and zero for a loss. In addition to these points, teams get bonus points based on their batting and bowling performance within the first 110 overs of an innings. These points are awarded as follows:
Batting
250-299 runs: 1 point
300-349 runs: 2 points
350-399 runs: 3 points
400-449 runs: 4 points
450+ runs: 5 points
Bowling
3-5 wickets taken: 1 point
6-8 wickets taken: 2 points
9-10 wickets taken: 3 points
Given the number of bonus points, teams can also face a deduction in these points based on various scenarios. These are as follows:
Fielding an unregistered player: All points earned in the match are lost
Ball tampering: -8 points
Poor pitch: -8 to -24 points
Slow over rate: -1 point per over
Breach of salary cap: -2.5 points
Discipline: As high as -16 points
Financial issues: -48 points
If two teams are tied at the same number of points, then the better side is decided based on the number of wins, total losses, head to head between the two sides, most wickets taken in that edition, and total runs scored in that edition.
The most successful county is Yorkshire who have won 32 titles as of 2025. Southpaw Phil Mead who played for Hampshire for 31 years holds the record for the most runs scored in the County Championships (46,268 runs). Tich Freeman, a Kent player has taken a record 3151 wickets in the County Championships.
