The Second XI Championship is a season-long cricket competition in England that is competed for by the reserve teams of those county cricket clubs that have first-class status. The competition started in 1959 and has been contested annually ever since.
All the then 17 first-class counties contested the first two competitions in 1959 and 1960; the next season when all 17 entered was 1977, though the number of teams in any one year was never lower than 14 (in 1971). Gloucestershire and Somerset entered a combined team for two seasons, 1967 and 1968.
Before 1959, many second XIs of the first-class counties contested the Minor Counties Cricket Championship, winning the championship 23 times. A few continued to do so and the last to withdraw from the Minor Counties was Somerset 2nd XI after the 1987 season, though Somerset had participated in both competitions from 1959 to 1966 and since 1975.
At present, all 18 current first-class counties take part in the Second XI Championship along with the MCC Young Cricketers team. It was not possible for all teams to play each other and different numbers of matches were played by each team. As a result, table had to be based on a percentage of points obtained to points possible. Therefore, for 2009 the competition was split into North and South divisions, with ten teams in each division and each team in a division playing all the others once. The team added to make the number up to twenty was Marylebone Cricket Club Universities. The two divisional winners play each other to determine the overall champion.
In 2001, a Second XI Trophy was introduced. This is a limited overs competition with the teams forming zones in the initial stage. The zone winners progress to semi-finals and then to a final.
A Second XI T20 championship was launched in 2011.