Can anyone explain how county cricket works ?

Question

I wanted something new to do, so I decided to try and follow county cricket. Can anyone tell me how it works!!! There are so many competitions going on at the same time! (same as footy I guess, with fa cup, premier league etc.)

I have always followed international cricket.

Please tell me the different competitions and how they work. Also, could you tell me the best and worst countys plus some of the best players in it.

Cheers !!

Answer 1

There are 4 different competitions in county cricket

County Championship- Like the Premiership and the championship. There are 2 divisions of 9 teams !!, each team plays each other home & away. The winner of the first division wins the county championship, 3 teams get relegated, and 3 teams get promoted

FP Trophy- like the Champions League, Group stage then a quarter finals, semi finals and final

T20- 3 conference zones of 6 teams, 20 over per side, there is a quarter finals and finals day

Pro 40- Like the 1 day version of the county championship, except teams play eachother once.

Answer 2

The best counties are Sussex, Lancashire, Durham and Yorkshire. The best player is Mustaq Ahmed

Answer 3

County cricket is administered by the England and Wales Cricket Board. There are 38 counties. 18 of these have first-class status and the other 20 are known as Minor Counties.

There are 4 major tournaments -

1) The County Championship: This is only for the 18 first-class counties. The 18 teams are divided into 2 divisions of 9 teams each. The teams in each division play each other home and away in 4-day matches. The teams earn points as per the following rules:

Win: 14 points.

Tie: 7 points.

Draw: 4 points.

Loss: No points awarded.

Teams may also collect bonus points, for batting and bowling. These points can only be obtained from the first 130 overs of each team's first innings. The bonus points are retained regardless of the outcome of the match.

Batting

200-249 runs: 1 point

250-299 runs: 2 points

300-349 runs: 3 points

350-399 runs: 4 points

400+ runs: 5 points

Bowling

3-5 wickets taken: 1 point

6-8 wickets taken: 2 points

9-10 wickets taken: 3 points

At the end of the season, each team in each division will have played 16 games. The final standings are determined by ranking the teams by points earned. The bottom two teams in the First Division are relegated to the Second Division and the winners and runners-up in the Second Division are promoted to the First Division for the next season. (Only 2 teams have been promoted and 2 relegated since 2004, not 3 as KooKee says).

2) The Friends Provident Trophy: The 18 FC counties plus Ireland and Scotland are grouped into 4 groups of 5 (as of 2008). Each team plays the other in 50 overs-a-side games, home and away once, with the top 2 from each group going into the quarter-finals. Semi-finals and finals follow. The competition is played throughout the whole of the county season, with the Final at Lord's in September. The Friends Provident Trophy was known as the Gillette Cup (1963-1980), the Natwest Trophy (1981-2000), the Cheltenham and Gloucester or C&G Trophy (2000-2006) and the ECB Trophy (2007).

3) The NatWest Pro40: This is a ODI competition for the 18 FC counties. The 18 teams are divided into 2 divisions, like the County Championship, and each team plays the others in its division once. The games are 40 overs a side. At the end of the season, the bottom two teams in Division 1 is relegated to Division 2 and the top two teams in Division 2 are promoted to Division 1. The tournament used to be known as the Sunday League, but was renamed as matches are now scheduled on all days of the week.

4) The Twenty20 Cup: The 18 counties are divided into 3 divisions, based on geographical location. Each team plays the other 5 in its division once home and once away for a total of 10 games. Teams receive two points for a win, none for a defeat and one for a tie or a no result if the game can't be completed. The Top 2 teams from each division and the two best third placed teams progress to the quarter-finals, where, the 3 group winners and the second placed team with the best record are given home ground advantage. The winners of the quarter-finals move to the semi-finals. The semi-finals and finals are played on the same day at the same venue. In 2008, the Finals Day will take place at the Rose Bowl in Hampshire on July 26th.

5) The Benson & Hedges Cup is a now defunct ODI tournament that involved 20 teams. 17 first-class counties (before Durham became a first-class county), 2 Minor Counties and Oxford and Cambridge Universities (in alternating years), played in 4 zonal groups. The top 2 from each group progressed to the QF and from there to the SF and Finals. The competition was ended after 2002 due to a ban on tobacco advertisement, falling interest in the contest and the introduction of the T20 cup.

Answer 4

Follow this link to a breakdown of county cricket with last years places in the table.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/County_Cham...

Go to BBC sport or cricinfo to see the dates and formats of the one day competitions.