2017 County Championship Plate Stadium. Due to changes to the County Championship format (more detail of this below) four new teams were added to the competition, with Hampshire (winners) and Staffordshire (runners up) coming up due to reaching the final of the 2016 County Championship Shield, while Warwickshire and Cumbria were also promoted by virtue of their performances in the competition during the past two seasons. The changes also meant that there were no teams relegated into the division. Leicestershire and Hampshire won their respective groups to qualify for the Twickenham final, with Leicestershire being the more impressive with three easy victories. The first
Kent County Cricket Club in 2016 at both the Nevill Ground in Tunbridge Wells and the County Cricket Ground, Beckenham. The county won five games, drew eight and lost only twice in the Championship, finishing second to Essex County Cricket Club. In previous years a second-place finish would have led to promotion to Division One of the Championship, but 2016 saw a rebalancing of the number of teams in each division and, as a result, only one team was promoted. Kent's match against Worcestershire at New Road in April was abandoned without a ball bowled due to a water-logged outfield. This match was classed as a