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 In September 2018, the match between Somerset and Lancashire at Taunton finished as a tie. It was the first tie in a County Championship game since 2003, Somerset's first tied match since 1939 and Lancashire's first since 1952. By winning their games against Worcestershire from 10–13 September 2018, Surrey took an unassailable lead at the top of Division One, making them champions. The 2018 Championship is divided into two divisions, Division One with eight teams, and Division Two with 10 teams. Teams in both divisions will play a total of 14 games, with all Division One teams playing each other