County Championship While this was going on, representatives of the eight leading county clubs held a private meeting to discuss the method by which the county championship should in future be decided. The new competition began in the 1890 season and at first involved just the eight leading clubs: Gloucestershire, Kent, Lancashire, Middlesex, Nottinghamshire, Surrey, Sussex and Yorkshire. Subsequently, the championship has been expanded to 18 clubs by the additions at various times of Derbyshire, Durham, Essex, Glamorgan, Hampshire, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Somerset, Warwickshire and Worcestershire. It is difficult to know when the concept of a county championship originated. While early matches were
2012 County Championship 2012 County Championship The 2012 County Championship season, known as the LV= County Championship for sponsorship reasons, was the 113th cricket County Championship season. Warwickshire won their seventh County Championship title. It was contested through two divisions: Division One and Division Two. Each team plays all the others in their division both home and away. The top two teams from Division Two (Derbyshire and Yorkshire) were promoted to the first division for the 2013 season, while the bottom two sides from Division One (Worcestershire and defending champions Lancashire) were relegated. Team promoted from Division Two Team relegated from Division One