The Women's County Championship, known since 2014 as the Royal London Women's One-Day Cup,Royal London Women’s One-Day Cup

England and Wales Cricket Board The England and Wales Cricket Board, aka ECB, is the Sports governing body, national governing body of cricket in England and Wales. It was formed on 1 January 1997 as a single governing body to combine the roles formerly fulfilled by the Test ...

. Retrieved 2016-08-08. was a women's

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

competition organised by the

. It was the women's equivalent of the

County Championship The County Championship, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Rothesay County Championship, is the only domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales. Established in 1890, it is organised by the England and Wales Cri ...

, although it operated as a 50-over

limited overs cricket Limited overs cricket, also known as white ball cricket, is a version of the sport of cricket in which a match is generally completed within one day. There are a number of formats, including List A cricket (8-hour games), Twenty20 cricket (3-h ...

competition with teams organised into a number of divisions. It was introduced in 1997 to replace the

Women's Area Championship The Women's Area Championship was a women's cricket competition organised by the Women's Cricket Association that ran from 1980 until 1996. It operated as a 55-over limited overs cricket competition, with teams organised into a number of groups, ...

. The teams competing in the Championship were drawn mostly from the

historic counties of England The historic counties of England are areas that were established for administration by the Normans, in many cases based on earlier Heptarchy, kingdoms and shires created by the Angles (tribe), Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Celts and the Danes (tribe) ...

, with 32 teams representing these. The Scottish national side competed in the competition since 2007, the Wales women's national cricket team since 2008 and the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

joined in 2009.Dutch join women's championship

, 2009-01-29. Retrieved 2016-08-08. The Ireland national team played in the competition between 2009 and 2015 before withdrawing in early 2016.EXCLUSIVE: Ireland Cut Costly County Cricket
Crickether, 2016-01-12. Retrieved 2016-08-08.Ireland women to play South Africa in seven-match series
BBC Sport, 2016-01-13. Retrieved 2016-08-08. The competition was the longest established women's cricket competition in England and Wales. It operated alongside the Women's Twenty20 Cup, established in 2009,England to introduce women's Twenty20 Cup

CricInfo ESPNcricinfo (formerly known as Cricinfo or CricInfo) is a Sports journalism, sports news website exclusively for the game of cricket. The site features news, articles, live coverage of cricket matches (including Liveblogging, liveblogs and sco ...

, 2008-12-10. Retrieved 2016-08-08. and the

Women's Cricket Super League The Women's Cricket Super League (WCSL), known as the Kia Super League (KSL) for sponsorship reasons, was a semi-professional women's Twenty20 cricket competition in England and Wales operated by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). The comp ...

between 2016 and 2019, a franchise league with six teams playing Twenty20 cricket.Super League: Franchise cricket gets set for launch in England
BBC Sport, 2016-07-28. Retrieved 2016-08-08.

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

, won by

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

, was the final season of the Championship due to a restructuring of women's cricket in England. From 2020, the only 50-over tournament was competed by regional teams, initially in the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy. Kent were the most successful county in the history of the Championship with eight titles, whilst

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

and

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

both won six titles.

History

The inaugural Women's County Championship took place in 1997, with 16 teams competing in three

divisions Division may refer to: Mathematics *Division (mathematics), the inverse of multiplication * Division algorithm, a method for computing the result of mathematical division Military *Division (military), a formation typically consisting of 10,000 t ...

. This first tournament was organised and run by the Women's Cricket Association, which voted to merge with the

(ECB) on 29 March 1998. As such, the ECB has administered the competition since 1998.

were the winners of five of the first six Championships, with

East Midlands The East Midlands is one of nine official regions of England. It comprises the eastern half of the area traditionally known as the Midlands. It consists of Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire (except for North Lincolnshire and North East ...

breaking their run in

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

. After this began a period that was dominated by

and

. Sussex won six titles between 2003 and 2013, including three in a row between 2003 and 2005, whilst Kent won eight titles between 2006 and 2019. Yorkshire managed one more title, in 2015, whilst

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

and

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

have won one title apiece, in 2017 and 2018, respectively. Hampshire's title came after a remarkable rise through the divisions, winning Division 3 in 2015 and Division 2 in 2017 before being crowned County Champions one year later. 2019 marked the final year of the County Championship as women's cricket in England was restructured by the ECB, paving the way for a regionalised 50-over tournament, as well as the Women's Hundred. A similar tournament, but with no national winner, was introduced ahead of the 2024 season, in the form of the ECB Women's County One-Day.

Structure

The Championship operated on a league structure, with varying amounts of divisions and teams over its history. The first Championship involved 16 teams split across three divisions. Gradually more teams were added over the years (and county sides replaced the regional and Second XI sides that initially competed), and in

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

, which had 24 participants, a second tier was added, the County Challenge Cup. In

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

(which had 33 teams participating) the Challenge Cup was ended and teams were placed in Divisions 1 to 5. This became four divisions in

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

and finally three divisions in

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

, a structure that continued until the Championship ended in 2019. Varying amounts of teams have participated in the Championship over the years, reaching a peak of 38 teams in

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

. 35 teams competed in the final season of the Championship in 2019. The teams that have participated in the tournament are:

Roll of honour

References

{{Women's County Cricket in England English domestic cricket competitions Women's cricket competitions in England Recurring sporting events established in 1997 1997 establishments in England

History

Structure

Roll of honour

See also

References