First tournament 1895 Current champion Cumberland | Number of teams 20 | |
Administrator England and Wales Cricket Board Tournament format two ten-team divisions
home and away in 3-day matches. Most successful Staffordshire
(11 titles) | ||
The Minor Counties Cricket Championship is a season-long competition in England that is contested by those county cricket clubs that do not have first-class status.
Contents
History
The competition began in 1895 and, apart from the two World War periods, has been contested annually ever since. Since 2014, the tournament has been 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.
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.