2013 County Championship game, were at the bottom of the table. After a short break, the County Championship returned to action in the second week of July. Hampshire's 41 run first innings lead against Glamorgan proved to be crucial, as they won the game by just 43 runs. Lancashire's victory against title rivals Northamptonshire at Northampton promoted the visitors to the top spot in the Division Two standings, ahead of their hosts for that game. Kent chased 411 in the fourth innings of their game against Gloucestershire to claim their first Championship victory of the season. However, a flat pitch in their match
2015 County Championship Plate pool meeting in the final held at Twickenham Stadium. New counties to the division included North Midlands and Northumberland who were demoted from the 2014 Bill Beaumont Cup while Surrey came up from the 2014 County Championship Shield having beaten Leicestershire the previous year in the Shield final having won the competition three years in a row. At the end of the group stage the northern division was won by Eastern Counties who edged out Northumberland while the southern division was won with ease by Surrey who steamrolled through their group. The counties went through to the final and as