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
2018 County Championship 2018 County Championship The 2018 County Championship, known for sponsorship reason as the 2018 Specsavers County Championship, is the 119th cricket County Championship season. As in 2017, Division One has eight teams and Division Two has ten teams, with two teams relegated and two promoted at the end of the season. The first round of matches began on 13 April and the final round of matches is scheduled to end on 27 September. Most of the matches of the Championship will be played as day matches, although each team will play one day-night match at some point during the season.