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
Yorkshire County Cricket Club in 2005 the reply, using 83 balls to hit 49 as Sussex' batsmen rode home to an eight-wicket victory. Yorkshire County Cricket Club in 2005 Yorkshire County Cricket Club in 2005 were in the second division of both the County Championship and the totesport League. At 6–1 odds to win the Second Division of the County Championship, they were likely to struggle again – as they had done since they won the First Division championship in 2001. They started the County Championship poorly, being on the wrong end of a draw with Essex. One day after they went to the Oval for