During a meeting between county team secretaries in Edinburgh in December 1901, five counties agreed to formally recognise the matches between each other in a league format. Although inter-county matches had been tabulated for several years, not all teams had played each other home and away each year. The formation of a league with standardised fixtures was seen as the next natural progression of cricket in Scotland, which had become increasingly popular in previous years.
Western County Championship (1908-1910)
Although a regionalised 'district' county championship had been discussed as early as 1903, no concrete plan had been backed by county clubs in parts of the country not represented in the Scottish County Championship. [3]
With the success of the county championship, several county sides in the west of Scotland formed the Western County Championship in 1908. It was hoped that interest would spark rejuvenated attendances as had happened with the 'northern' teams. Starting in 1908 three teams, Ayrshire, Lanarkshire and Renfrewshire, competed against each other for the championship. They were followed by Dumbartonshire the following year. Both Ayrshire and Dumbartonshire eventually joined in the Scottish County Championship.
The winner of the Western County Championship would then play against the winner of the Scottish County Championship to determine the outright Scottish champion. In the first year of this setup, county winners Aberdeenshire refused to play their western counterparts Renfrewshire. [4] In the second season, Forfarshire played Renfrewshire but the match ended in a draw. [5]
The last recorded season of the Western County Championship was in 1910. By this point, the league had adopted a second name, the 'Scottish County Championship Western Division.' Unlike their northern equivalents, the first teams of the western counties still played club cricket on Saturdays, meaning all county fixtures were played midweek.
