Warwickshire County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Warwickshire.
Worcestershire County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Worcestershire. Its Vitality Blast T20 team has been rebranded the Worcestershire Rapids, but the county is known by most fans as 'the Pears'. The club is based at New Road, Worcester. Founded in 1865, Worcestershire held minor status at first and was a prominent member of the early Minor Counties Championship in the 1890s, winning the competition three times. In 1899, the club joined the County Championship and the team was elevated to first-class status. Since then, Worcestershire have played in every top-level domestic cricket competition in England.
Leicestershire County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Leicestershire. It has also been representative of the county of Rutland. The club's limited overs team is called the Leicestershire Foxes. Founded in 1879, the club had minor county status until 1894, when it was promoted to first-class status pending its entry into the County Championship in 1895. Since then, Leicestershire have played in every top-level domestic cricket competition in England.
The 2005 English cricket season was the 106th in which the County Championship had been an official competition. Before it began, a resurgent England cricket team had won four Test series in a row, going unbeaten through the 2004 calendar year. The start of the international season saw England defeat Bangladesh 2–0 in their two-match series, winning both Tests by an innings. This was followed by a tri-nations one-day tournament that also featured Australia. Australia still started the Test series as favourites but most fans expected England to put up a challenge.
New Road is a cricket ground in the English city of Worcester. It has been the home ground of Worcestershire County Cricket Club since 1896.
The 2006 English cricket season was the 107th in which the County Championship had been an official competition. It included home international series for England against Sri Lanka and Pakistan. England came off a winter with more Test losses than wins, for the first time since 2002-03, but still attained their best series result in India since 1985. The One Day International series against Pakistan and India both ended in losses.
The 1997 cricket season was the 98th in which the County Championship has been an official competition. The season centred on the six-Test Ashes series against Australia. England won the first, at Edgbaston, by the decisive margin of nine wickets, and the rain-affected second Test at Lord's was drawn, but any English optimism was short-lived. Australia won the next three games by huge margins to secure the series and retain The Ashes, and England's three-day victory in the final game at The Oval was little more than a consolation prize. It was the 68th test series between the two sides with Australia finally winning 3-2 The three-match ODI series which preceded the Tests produced a statistical curiosity, with England winning each match by an identical margin, six wickets.
The Chester Road North Ground, often referred to simply as Chester Road or Kidderminster, is a cricket ground in Kidderminster, Worcestershire, England. It is the home of Kidderminster Cricket Club, and is currently used for Worcestershire County Cricket Club's Second XI matches. It was opened in 1870.
The Racecourse Ground is a cricket ground in Hereford. The ground is located inside Hereford Racecourse and is the only remaining former first-class cricket venue in England which lies inside a racecourse. It played host to first-class and List A cricket matches for Worcestershire County Cricket Club between 1919 and 1988, and minor counties matches for Herefordshire County Cricket Club from 1992 to 1996.
The Tipton Road cricket ground in Dudley, England was used for first-class cricket by Worcestershire CCC on 88 occasions between 1911 and 1971. The county also staged 14 List A games there between 1969 and 1977, all in the Sunday League, as well as a number of Second XI matches.
The War Memorial Athletic Ground, often referred to as simply the War Memorial Ground, is a sports ground in the Amblecote region of Stourbridge, West Midlands, England. It plays host to both cricket and football, being the home of Stourbridge Cricket Club and Stourbridge Football Club.
Michael Burns is an English first-class list cricket umpire and former first-class cricketer who played county cricket for Warwickshire and Somerset in a first-class career which spanned from 1992 until 2005. He also played Minor Counties cricket for Cumberland and Cornwall. An adaptable cricketer, he appeared for Cumberland and Warwickshire as a wicket-keeper, but when he moved to Somerset he developed into an aggressive batsman who bowled at medium-pace when needed.
Oakham School is a cricket ground in Oakham, Rutland. Forming part of sports facilities of Oakham School, the ground dates from around 1821. First-class cricket was first played at Oakham School in the 1935 County Championship, with Leicestershire playing against Kent. Leicestershire used the ground as an outground on three more occasions prior to the Second World War. Following a gap of 62 years, first-class cricket returned to Oakham School in 2000, when Leicestershire played the 1999 County Champions Surrey. The ground has since been used intermittently as an outground for first-class matches by Leicestershire, with five matches played there since 2000. During the first decade of the 2000s, Leicestershire played nine List A one-day matches at the ground between 2001–08, before returning after a ten year gap when they played Lancashire in the 2018 Royal London One-Day Cup. In 2020, Leicestershire announced plans to revive the Oakham Cricket Festival and make it a permanent part of Leicestershire's county schedule.
Highfield is a cricket ground in Leek, Staffordshire. The ground is located just outside of the town along the Macclesfield Road, which itself forms part of the A523 Road. It has played host to List A and Twenty20 matches for Derbyshire County Cricket Club, in addition to playing host to Staffordshire County Cricket Club in minor counties cricket.
May's Bounty is a cricket ground situated along Bounty Road in Basingstoke, Hampshire, England. The ground is compact and is lined on all sides by trees, with its northern side overlooked by residential housing. The Bounty was used intermittently by Hampshire County Cricket Club in the early 20th-century, before Hampshire began to play there annually from 1966 to 2000. The ground is owned by the Basingstoke Sports and Social Club and is used in club cricket by Basingstoke and North Hants Cricket Club. The ground has a capacity for major matches of 2,500, while its end names are called the Town End to the north and the Castlefield End to the south.
Batsford Road, sometimes known as Moreton-in-Marsh Cricket Club Ground, is a cricket ground in Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire. The ground is located off the Batsford Road as it leaves Moreton-in-Marsh. It played host to first-class and List A cricket matches for Gloucestershire County Cricket Club between 1884 and 1996.
Kirkby Road is a cricket ground in Barwell, Leicestershire. Cricket in Barwell dates to 1807, with cricket being played at Kirkby Road since at least 1913. First-class cricket has been played there three times in 1946 and 1947, with Leicestershire playing Lancashire and Warwickshire in the 1946 County Championship and Worcestershire in the 1947 County Championship. Over half a century later in 2001, major cricket returned to the ground when it played host to a List A one-day match between the Leicestershire Cricket Board (LCB) and the Northamptonshire Cricket Board in the Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy, which was won by the LCB, with their captain Neil Pullen scoring 88. The ground is still used by the village club and adjoins the football ground used by Barwell F.C.
The 2018 Royal London One-Day Cup tournament was a limited overs cricket competition that formed part of the 2018 domestic cricket season in England and Wales. Matches were contested over 50 overs per side and have List A cricket status. All 18 first-class counties competed in the tournament, which ran from the middle of May until the end of June, when the final took place at Lord's Cricket Ground. Nottinghamshire were the defending champions of the tournament, having beaten Surrey in 2017 final.
The 2019 County Championship, known for sponsorship reasons as the 2019 Specsavers County Championship, was the 120th cricket County Championship season. As in 2018, Division One had eight teams and Division Two had ten teams. The first round of matches began on 5 April and the final round of matches ended on 26 September. Surrey were the defending champions. At the end of the 2019 season only one team was relegated with three promoted. Therefore, from 2020 onwards, Division One would feature ten teams and Division Two would feature eight.
