Women's County Championship

Women's County Championship

Administrator	England and Wales Cricket Board
Format	Limited overs cricket
First tournament	1997
Tournament format	League system in five divisions
Number of teams	37
Current champion	Kent
Most successful	Kent (7 titles)

The Women's County Championship, known since 2014 as the Royal London Women’s One-Day Cup,^[1] is a women's cricket competition organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board. It is the women's equivalent of the County Championship, although it operates as a 50-over limited overs cricket competition with teams organised into a number of divisions. It was introduced in 1997 to replace the Women's Area Championship.

The teams competing in the Championship are drawn mostly from the historic counties of England, with 34 teams representing these. The Scottish national side has competed in the competition since 2007, the Wales women's national cricket team since 2008 and the Netherlands joined in 2009.^[2] The Ireland national team played in the competition between 2009 and 2015 before withdrawing in early 2016, causing fixtures for the 2016 season to be rescheduled and one fewer team to compete in Division 2 during the 2016 season.^[3][4]

The competition is the longest established women's cricket competition in England and Wales. It operates alongside the Women's Twenty20 Cup, established in 2009,^[5] and the Women's Cricket Super League, a franchise league with six teams initially playing Twenty20 cricket.^[6]

The current champions are Kent. Kent are also the most successful team in the history of the Championship with seven titles as of September 2016. Sussex and Yorkshire have both won six titles.

History

The inaugural Women's County Championship took place in 1997, with 16 teams competing in three divisions.^[7] This first tournament was organised and run by the Women's Cricket Association, which voted to merge with the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) on 29 March 1998.^[8] As such, the ECB has administered the competition since 1998.^[8]

Structure

The 37 teams that make up the Championship are split into four divisions, with the bottom division split into two groups based on geographical location. This structure was used for the first time in 2009, with each team's division determined by their final position in the 2008 competition.^[9] Previously each division had four teams, and a "festival finale" was held at the County Ground, Taunton, but this was scrapped to avoid the risk of rain affecting many games over a short period.^[9] These divisions for the 2016 season are:

Division One	Berkshire	Kent	Middlesex	Somerset	Staffordshire	Surrey	Sussex	Warwickshire	Yorkshire
Division Two	Devon	Essex	Hampshire	Lancashire	Leicestershire and Rutland	Nottinghamshire	Wales	Worcestershire
Division Three	Cheshire	Derbyshire	Durham	Gloucestershire	Netherlands	Norfolk	Northamptonshire	Oxfordshire	Scotland
Division Four North & East	Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire	Cumbria	Hertfordshire	Lincolnshire	Northumberland	Suffolk
Division Four South & West	Buckinghamshire	Cornwall	Dorset	Shropshire	Wiltshire

Roll of honour

Year	Champions	Runners-up	Leading run-scorer	Leading wicket-taker	Refs
2016	Kent	Sussex	Kirstie White (Surrey) 337	Megan Belt (Kent) 16
2015	Yorkshire	Kent	Heather Knight (Berkshire) 305	Sarah Clarke (Surrey) 23
2014	Kent	Surrey	Charlotte Edwards (Kent) 642	Erin Bermingham (Kent) 16	[10]
2013	Sussex	Yorkshire	Heather Knight (Berkshire 604)	Thea Brookes (Worcs), Jenny Withers (Somerset), Anje Lague (Herts) 18
2012	Kent	Essex	Sarah Taylor (Sussex, 345)	Isobelle Watson (Warwickshire, 18)	[11][12][13]
2011	Kent	Sussex	Charlotte Edwards (Kent, 541)	Jane Riddell (Durham, 28)	[14][15][16]
2010	Sussex	Kent	Lydia Greenway (Kent, 628)	Danielle Wyatt (Staffordshire, 24)	[17][18][19]
2009	Kent	Sussex	Heather Knight (Devon, 622)	Charlotte Anneveld (Kent, 24)	[20][21][22]
2008	Sussex	Kent	Heather Knight (Devon, 390)	Sonia Odedra (Nottinghamshire, 10)	[23][24][25]
2007	Kent	Sussex	Emily Drumm (Kent, 222)	Lynsey Askew (Kent, 13)	[26][27][28]
2006	Kent	Sussex	Jenny Gunn (Nottinghamshire, 356)	Charlotte Edwards (Kent, 12)	[29][30][31]
2005	Sussex	Kent	Charlotte Edwards (Kent, 302)	Judith Turner (Berkshire, 10)	[32][33][34]
2004	Sussex	Kent	Charlotte Edwards (Kent, 308)	Heather Booth (Berkshire, 12)	[35][36][37]
2003	Sussex	Nottinghamshire	Taryn Keir (Warwickshire, 303)	Lynne Spooner (Derbyshire, 12)	[38][39][40]
2002	Yorkshire	Berkshire	Charlotte Edwards (Kent, 233)	Vicky Borman (Hertfordshire, 14)	[41][42][43]
2001	Yorkshire	Berkshire	Arran Brindle (Lancashire, 274)	Yvonne Craven (Berkshire, 13)	[44][45][46]
2000	Yorkshire	Nottinghamshire	Charlotte Edwards (Kent, 374)	Nicky Myers (Nottinghamshire, 13)	[47][48][49]
1999	East Midlands	Yorkshire	Jane Smit (East Midlands, 335)	Janet Tedstone (Yorkshire Seconds, 13)	[50][51][52]
1998	Yorkshire	Surrey	Charlotte Edwards (East Anglia, 394)	Sarah Clarke (Surrey Seconds, 12)	[53][54][55]
1997	Yorkshire	West Midlands	Jane Smit (East Midlands, 429)	Helen Pack (West Midlands, 11)	[7][56][57]

See also

• Super Fours

References

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2. Dutch join women's championship, England and Wales Cricket Board, 2009-01-29. Retrieved 2016-08-08.
3. EXCLUSIVE: Ireland Cut Costly County Cricket, Crickether, 2016-01-12. Retrieved 2016-08-08.
4. Ireland women to play South Africa in seven-match series, BBC Sport, 2016-01-13. Retrieved 2016-08-08.
5. England to introduce women's Twenty20 Cup, CricInfo, 2008-12-10. Retrieved 2016-08-08.
6. Super League: Franchise cricket gets set for launch in England, BBC Sport, 2016-07-28. Retrieved 2016-08-08.
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