The County Championship, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Vitality County Championship is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales and is organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). It became an official title in 1890. The competition consists of eighteen clubs named after and representing historic counties, seventeen from England and one from Wales.
Cambridge University Cricket Club, established in 1820, is the representative cricket club for students of the University of Cambridge. Depending on the circumstances of each individual match, the club has always been recognised as holding first-class status. The university played List A cricket in 1972 and 1974 only. It has not played top-level Twenty20 cricket.
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.
Inter-county cricket matches have been played since the early 18th century, involving teams that are representative of the historic counties of England and Wales. Since the late 19th century, there have been two county championship competitions played at different levels: the County Championship, a first-class competition which involves eighteen first-class county clubs among which seventeen are English and one is from Wales; and the National Counties Championship, which involves nineteen English county clubs and one club that represents several Welsh counties.
Durham University Centre of Cricketing Excellence, known as Durham MCC University from 2010 to 2020, is a cricket coaching centre based at Durham University in Durham, County Durham, England, and the name under which the Durham University Cricket Club (DUCC) first team plays.
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 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.
Cricket is one of the most popular sports in England, and has been played since the 16th century. Marylebone Cricket Club, based at Lord's, developed the modern rules of play and conduct. The sport is administered by the England and Wales Cricket Board and represented at an international level by the England men's team and England women's team. At a domestic level, teams are organised by county, competing in tournaments such as the County Championship, Royal London One-Day Cup, T20 Blast and the Women's Twenty20 Cup. Recent developments include the introduction of a regional structure for women's cricket and the establishment of The Hundred for both men's and women's cricket. Recreational matches are organised on a regional basis, with the top level being the ECB Premier Leagues.
Anthony John Anstruther Wilkinson was an English barrister and amateur first-class cricketer.
Duncan Phillip Bradshaw is an English cricketer. Bradshaw is a right-handed batsman who bowls right-arm fast-medium. He was born in the Zimbabwean capital of Harare into a White Zimbabwean family of British descent and educated at Hilton College in South Africa, before moving with his family to England.
Ruel Marlon Ricardo Brathwaite is a Barbadian cricketer. Brathwaite is a right-handed batsman who bowls right-arm fast-medium. He was born in Bridgetown.
Alfred Smith was an English cricketer notable for his fourteen first-class cricket appearances for Sussex as a gentleman cricketer between 1841 and 1852.
The 2017 Marylebone Cricket Club University Matches were a series of first-class cricket matches played between the eighteen County Championship teams and the six Marylebone Cricket Club University teams (MCCU) of England and Wales. Each county side played one fixture against a MCCU side ahead of the start of the 2017 County Championship. Following Leicestershire's match against Loughborough MCCU, bowler Charlie Shreck was found guilty of using obscene language or gestures. This was Leicestershire's fifth fixed penalty in 12 months, resulting in them being deducted 16 points for the 2017 County Championship season.
The 2018 Marylebone Cricket Club University Matches were a series of cricket matches played between the eighteen County Championship teams and the six Marylebone Cricket Club University teams (MCCU) of England and Wales. The first two rounds of fixtures were classed as first-class matches. Each county side were scheduled to play one fixture against a MCCU side ahead of the start of the 2018 County Championship. All the fixtures in the competition were affected by bad weather, with matches either ending in a draw, due to play not being possible because of rain, or in some cases, abandoned with no play possible across all three days.
The 2019 Marylebone Cricket Club University Matches were a series of cricket matches that were played between the eighteen County Championship teams and the six Marylebone Cricket Club University teams (MCCU) of England and Wales. The first two rounds of fixtures were classed as first-class matches. Each county side played one fixture against an MCCU side ahead of the start of the 2019 County Championship.
Craig Mitchell Park is a South African former first-class cricketer.
The 2020 Bob Willis Trophy was a first-class cricket tournament held in the 2020 English cricket season, and the inaugural edition of the Bob Willis Trophy. It was separate from the County Championship, which was not held in 2020 due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom. The eighteen county cricket teams were split into three regional groups of six, with the two group winners with the most points advancing to a final held at Lord's. The maximum number of overs bowled in a day was reduced from 96 to 90, and the team's first innings could be no longer than 120 overs.