Minor Counties of English and Welsh Cricket - History

History

The Minor Counties not accorded first-class status formed their own Championship from 1895. In the early years, the results of matches against teams playing insufficient games to qualify for the final table, were included in the records of those who did. For example Cambridgeshire, played only Norfolk. Five notionally Second Class county clubs – Essex, Warwickshire, Derbyshire, Hampshire and Leicestershire – joined the County Championship for the first time (some of them had had periods of being considered first-class before the Championship was constituted as such). Four further Minor Counties have since been granted first-class status – Worcestershire in 1899, Northamptonshire in 1905, Glamorgan in 1921 and Durham in 1992.

The second elevens of the first-class counties competed in the Minor Counties Championship from its early days and Lancashire Second Eleven won the Championship title in 1907. For 10 years before and 15 years after the Second World War, the first-class county second elevens frequently won the Minor Counties title, but after 1959, when the counties set up their own Second Eleven competition, fewer contested the Minor Counties games. Yorkshire Second Eleven was the last second eleven winner of the title in 1971, and Somerset Second Eleven was the last to compete, withdrawing after the 1987 season.

The "true" Minor Counties teams were often composed entirely of amateur players, though some had a few professionals as well, especially where there were strong professional leagues locally. An example of a professional who played regular Minor Counties cricket was the England bowler Sydney Barnes who, after falling out with Lancashire, played most of his cricket outside the first-class game with Staffordshire. In early days, Minor County teams supplied some amateur cricketers of note too: the most recent example of a Test cricket player whose main cricket was in the Minor Counties was David Townsend in 1934–35. His county cricket was for Durham, though he played first-class cricket for Oxford University.

Traditionally, the Minor Counties played a minimum of eight matches, until recent times of two-days duration, and few of them played more than 12 games. Usually, the matches were fairly local with neighbouring counties, rather than with distant teams, and matches were often played in batches so that amateur players could time their holidays from work to take part in several games over a period of a week or two. When they competed, the first-class county second elevens often played many more games.

The championship was decided by the average points gained per game. If the second placed side had not met the leading team, under Rule 16 a challenge match could be played. The result was sometimes computed into the final championship table but this practice was discontinued in 1954 when Devon complained that they would drop from second to fourth as a result of the Challenge match.

The Minor Counties Championship was substantially reorganised in 1983 when the present two-division regional structure was introduced, along with a one-day knock-out competition. More recently, championship matches have increased to three days. The departure of Somerset Second Eleven in 1987 led to the introduction of the Wales Minor Counties side; Durham's elevation to first-class status in 1992 saw the arrival of Herefordshire, the first time a side from that county had competed.