1968 was the 69th season of

County Championship The County Championship (referred to as the LV= Insurance County Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales and is organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). It bec ...

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

in England and it was something of a watershed for it was the last in which the County Championship predominated. From 1969, a new limited overs league began and the number of Championship matches was therefore reduced. A system of batting and bowling bonus points was introduced into the County Championship, replacing the long- established "first innings points". The season was a watershed for

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

too as, although they won their third successive championship title, the team broke up at the end of the season. The great fast bowler

Fred Trueman Frederick Sewards Trueman, (6 February 1931 – 1 July 2006) was an English cricketer who played for Yorkshire County Cricket Club and the England cricket team. He had professional status and later became an author and broadcaster. Acknowled ...

retired and, following a stalemate in his contractual talks,

Ray Illingworth Raymond Illingworth CBE (8 June 1932 – 25 December 2021) was an English cricketer, cricket commentator and administrator. , he was one of only nine players to have taken 2,000 wickets and made 20,000 runs in first-class cricket.Arnold, Peter ...

left the club. Yorkshire did not win the title again until 2001. England and Australia drew the Test series with one win apiece so Australia retained the Ashes. County clubs were able to sign one overseas player who would not be subject to the normal residential qualification rules and so could appear for them immediately. All counties, with the notable exception of Yorkshire, took advantage of this.

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The traditi ...

pulled off the coup of signing

Gary Sobers Sir Garfield St Aubrun Sobers, (born 28 July 1936), also known as Sir Gary or Sir Garry Sobers, is a former cricketer who played for the West Indies between 1954 and 1974. A highly skilled bowler, an aggressive batsman and an excellent fielder, ...

. Other players signed were

Lee Irvine Brian Lee Irvine (born 9 March 1944 in Durban, South Africa) is a former cricketer who played four Tests for South Africa in 1969–70 in the last Test series played by South Africa before official sporting links were broken over the apartheid ...

, Majid Khan,

Mike Procter Michael John Procter (born 15 September 1946) is a South African former cricketer. A fast bowler and hard hitting batsman, he proved himself a colossal competitor in English first class cricket. He was denied the international stage by South Af ...

Barry Richards Barry Anderson Richards (born 21 July 1945) is a former South African first-class cricketer. A right-handed "talent of such enormous stature", Richards is considered one of South Africa's most successful batsmen. He was able to play only four ...

, Asif Iqbal,

Farokh Engineer Farokh Maneksha Engineer (born 25 February 1938) is an Indian former cricketer. He played 46 Test matches for India, played first-class cricket for Bombay in India from 1959 to 1975 and for Lancashire County Cricket Club in England from 196 ...

Hylton Ackerman Hylton Michael Ackerman (28 April 1947 – 2 September 2009) was a South African first-class cricketer. He attended Dale College Boy's High School, where he was head boy. A hard-hitting left-hander who usually opened the batting, he made his ...

Greg Chappell Gregory Stephen Chappell (born 7 August 1948) is a former cricketer who represented Australia at international level in both Tests and One-Day Internationals (ODI). The second of three brothers to play Test cricket, Chappell was the pre-eminen ...

Rohan Kanhai Rohan Babulal Kanhai (born 26 December 1935) is a Guyanese former cricketer of Tamil Indo-Guyanese origin , who represented the West Indies in 79 Test matches. He is widely considered to be one of the best batsmen of the 1960s. Kanhai featur ...

and

Vanburn Holder Vanburn Alonzo Holder (born 10 October 1945) is a Barbadian former first-class cricketer who played in 40 Test matches and 12 One Day Internationals for the West Indies cricket team between 1969 and 1979. A fast-medium bowler, he bowled along ...

Honours

–

* Gillette Cup –

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...

Minor Counties Championship The NCCA 3 Day Championship (previously the Minor Counties Cricket Championship) is a season-long competition in England and Wales that is contested by the members of the National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA), the so-called national cou ...

– Yorkshire II *

Second XI Championship The Second XI Championship is a season-long cricket competition in England that is competed for by the reserve teams of those county cricket clubs that have first-class status. The competition started in 1959 and has been contested annually ever ...

– Surrey II *Wisden –

Jimmy Binks James Graham Binks (born 5 October 1935) is a former English cricketer who played as a wicket-keeper for Yorkshire County Cricket Club, Yorkshire. Although he was regarded by many as the best wicket-keeper of his generation, his limited batting ...

David Green David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

Derek Underwood Derek Leslie Underwood (born 8 June 1945) is an English former international cricketer, and a former President of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). Through much of his career, Underwood was regarded as one of the best bowlers in Test cricket ...

Ossie Wheatley Oswald Stephen Wheatley (born 28 May 1935) is a former cricketer who played for Cambridge University Cricket Club, Cambridge University, Warwickshire County Cricket Club, Warwickshire and Glamorgan County Cricket Club, Glamorgan, whom he captai ...

Test series

County Championship

Gillette Cup

Leading batsmen

Geoff Boycott Sir Geoffrey Boycott (born 21 October 1940) is a former Test cricketer, who played cricket for Yorkshire and England. In a prolific and sometimes controversial playing career from 1962 to 1986, Boycott established himself as one of England's m ...

topped the averages with 1487 runs @ 64.65.

Leading bowlers

topped the averages with 82 wickets @ 12.95.

References

Annual reviews

Playfair Cricket Annual ''Playfair Cricket Annual'' is a compact annual about cricket that is published in the United Kingdom each April, just before the English cricket season is due to begin. It has been published every year since 1948. Its main purposes are to review ...

1969 *

Wisden Cricketers' Almanack ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "bible of cricket" was first used in the 1930s by Alec Waugh in a ...

1969

External links

CricketArchive – season summary
1968 in English cricket English cricket seasons in the 20th century {{England-cricket-season-stub