48-878: The National Counties Cricket Association Knockout Cup was started in 1983 as a knockout one-day competition for the National Counties in English cricket . At first it was known as the English Industrial Estates Cup , before being called the Minor Counties Knock Out Competition from 1986 to 1987, the Holt Cup from 1988 to 1992, the MCC Trophy from 1993 to 1998, the ECB 38-County Cup from 1999 to 2002 and
96-487: A first-class umpire ) and six wickets for Edward Hazelton of Buckinghamshire. After that, a Minor Counties representative side was normally accorded a first-class fixture against the touring team, though sometimes the match was downgraded to a two-day non-first-class match. In some cases, the Minor Counties team included uncapped players from first-class counties' second elevens or former first-class players, though
144-468: A period of a week or two. When they competed, the first-class county second elevens often played many more games. The championship was decided by the average points gained per game. If the second-placed side had not met the leading team, under Rule 16 a challenge match could be played. The result was sometimes computed into the final championship table but this practice was discontinued in 1954 when Devon complained that they would drop from second to fourth as
192-565: A result of the Challenge match. The Minor Counties Championship was substantially reorganised in 1983 when the present two-division regional structure was introduced, along with a one-day knock-out competition. More recently, championship matches have increased to three days. The departure of Somerset Second XI in 1987 led to the introduction of the Wales Minor Counties side; Durham's elevation to first-class status in 1992 saw
240-536: A team composed largely of Test players. Minor Counties' next outing as a first-class side was again against the South Africans, this time in 1924, but it was the third match, the 1928 game at Exeter against the West Indies that cemented the fixture in the calendar. After following on, Minor Counties won the match by 42 runs, thanks largely to 154 by Aaron Lockett , a batsman from Staffordshire (and later
288-571: The 1919 County Championship . Cricket may have been played in Worcestershire during the 18th century, however the earliest reference to cricket in the county is 1829 and the county cricket club was not formed until 1865. A match on 28 August 1844 at Hartlebury Common between Worcestershire and Shropshire is the earliest known instance of a county team in Worcestershire. Two years later, XXII of Worcestershire played William Clarke's All-England Eleven at Powick Hams. Worcestershire CCC
336-557: The English domestic one-day competition between 1999 and 2003. The Isle of Wight , historically a part of Hampshire but now a county in its own right, also has its own Cricket Board. In 2020, the Minor Counties were rebranded as the National Counties Cricket Association. The Minor Counties, i.e. those not afforded first-class status, formed their own Championship from 1895. In the early years,
384-569: The MCCA Knockout Trophy from 2003 to 2005. It was called the MCCA Trophy from 2006 and 2019 until the Minor Counties were rebranded as National Counties in 2020. From 1998 to 2002, the competition was contested by 38 teams and included a group stage. The traditional National counties, plus Huntingdonshire and the "cricket boards" of the 18 first-class counties , as well as a Channel Islands team. The 2002 competition, which
432-808: The Minor Counties before 2020, are the cricketing counties of England and Wales that do not have first-class status. The game is administered by the National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA) , which comes under the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). There are currently twenty teams in National Counties cricket: nineteen representing historic counties of England , plus the Wales National County Cricket Club . Of
480-485: The Second World War , the first-class county second XIs frequently won the Minor Counties title, but after 1959, when the counties set up their own Second XI competition , fewer contested the Minor Counties games. Yorkshire Second XI was the last second XI winner of the title in 1971, and Somerset Second XI was the last to compete, withdrawing after the 1987 season. The "true" Minor Counties teams (i.e. not
528-762: The Worcestershire Rapids , but the county is known by most fans as 'the Pears'. The club is based at New Road, Worcester . Founded in 1865, Worcestershire held minor status at first and was a prominent member of the early Minor Counties Championship in the 1890s, winning the competition three times. In 1899, the club joined the County Championship and the team was elevated to first-class status. Since then, Worcestershire have played in every top-level domestic cricket competition in England except
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#1732772715660576-520: The 2005 season when the Cup changed to a league format for first-class counties (plus Ireland and Scotland) only. When the Benson & Hedges Cup started as the second List A cup competition in England and Wales in 1972, it was organised in a different format from the knock-out Gillette Cup. The then 17 first-class counties were put into four mini-leagues for the first phase of the competition, and to even up
624-425: The 2015 season, however their return only lasted one season as they were relegated after picking up only two wins. Worcestershire spent two years back in the second tier, before achieving promotion on 27 September 2017. Pluxee (CC), WODR (One-day), Langley Compass Group (T20) This section gives details of every venue at which Worcestershire have hosted at least one match at first-class or List A level. Figures show
672-629: The 39 historic counties of England, 17 have a first-class county cricket team (the 18th first-class county is Glamorgan in Wales) and 19 participate in the National Counties championship. Since 2021, Cumberland and Westmorland have been represented by Cumbria in the National Counties championship, while the remaining two historic counties, Huntingdonshire and Rutland , have associations with other counties (Huntingdonshire with Cambridgeshire and Rutland with Leicestershire ). Despite this, Huntingdonshire has its own Cricket Board , and took part in
720-699: The Championship gave little cheer as Worcestershire were relegated. However, in the Pro40 First Division things were very different, and victory over Gloucestershire in mid-September brought the title to New Road, the county's first trophy since 1994. The feat was all the more remarkable for the fact that every one of Worcestershire's games was played away from their New Road home, due to the floods, with 'home' games played at Edgbaston, Taunton and Kidderminster. 2008 saw Worcestershire promoted back to Division One, despite losing their final game of
768-504: The Championship was constituted as such). Four further Minor Counties have since been granted first-class status – Worcestershire in 1899, Northamptonshire in 1905, Glamorgan in 1921 and Durham in 1992. The second XIs of the first-class counties competed in the Minor Counties Championship from its early days and Lancashire Second XI won the Championship title in 1907. For 10 years before and 15 years after
816-543: The Minor Counties competition: Teams representing the Minor Counties have featured in first-class and List A matches for many years. The first Minor Counties side played a three-day match at Stoke-on-Trent against the South African cricket team that toured Britain and Ireland in 1912 and that took part in the Triangular Tournament . The first and third days of the match were washed out by rain;
864-513: The Minor Counties' first two victories, in 1980 and 1981, were by the margin of three runs, against Gloucestershire and Hampshire respectively. At no stage did the representative team reach the next phase of the competition, the knock-out stage. In 1999, the Benson & Hedges was recast as a "Super Cup" for only the top eight first-class teams; another change in format in 2000 saw three leagues of six first-class counties set up. This lasted until
912-474: The Minor Counties' total of 127 relied heavily on 51 from Norman Riches , later Glamorgan's first first-class captain, and the three South African wickets that fell for 22 runs by close of play on the second day were all taken by Durham medium-pace bowler Alfred Morris, whose only other first-class match was for "An England XI" against the Australians later that summer, when he took seven further wickets for
960-605: The Natwest Trophy, beating arch-rivals Warwickshire in the final. Not only did they avenge their defeat at the hands of Warwickshire in the B&;H Cup Final earlier that summer but it was also their first success in the competition after three previous final defeats. Worcestershire's best showing in the County Championship came in 1993 when they finished second to Middlesex. Worcestershire finished 15th in 1999,
1008-512: The Nawab of Pataudi the team acquired its first class batsmen since the Fosters, but both had to give up the game after playing brilliantly in 1933 – when the bowling was briefly very weak. The emergence of Dick Howorth and Reg Perks in the 1930s, however, was built up so well that by 1947 Worcestershire were sufficiently strong in bowling to be competitive at county level even if their batting
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#17327727156601056-487: The Sunday League in 1987 and 1988. Worcestershire's success continued into the 1990s, with a first ever success in the Benson and Hedges Cup in 1991, following final defeats in 1973, 1976 and 1990. Captained by Phil Neale, the Pears beat Lancashire by 65 runs in the final at Lord's, gaining revenge for defeat against Lancashire in the previous year's competition. Worcestershire's next title came in 1994 when they won
1104-399: The achievements of such players as Norman Gifford , Tom Graveney , Jack Flavell , Len Coldwell and Basil D'Oliveira . They were also losing finalist in the first ever Gillette Cup Final in 1963 – the inaugural limited overs knockout competition in England. In 1971 Worcestershire won their first, and only, Sunday League title thanks largely to the bowling of Vanburn Holder . Along with
1152-516: The addition of Ireland, Scotland and 13 Minor County sides. The first round was seeded, with all of the non-first-class teams drawn against a first-class county. At no stage in Minor County participation in this competition were first-class teams' second elevens considered eligible for qualification for the competition, but more recently minor counties had to compete against "county board" sides composed of non-first-class cricketers to qualify for
1200-687: The arrival of Herefordshire , the first time a side from that county had competed. In 2020, the Minor Counties were renamed as "National Counties", in part because of the negative connotations of the term "Minor". The competition was restructured at the same time. Aside from the Minor Counties elevated to first-class status, the following sides have appeared in Minor Counties cricket, but no longer do so: These three counties are now represented in National Counties cricket as part of Wales National County Cricket Club . The four Minor Counties later elevated to first-class status are, in order of departure: The following first-class county second elevens played in
1248-429: The club applied for first-class status and entered the County Championship in 1899. Worcestershire CCC played its initial first-class match versus Yorkshire CCC on 4, 5 & 6 May 1899. The inclusion of Worcestershire increased the County Championship to 15 teams. At first they performed moderately despite the superb batting of Tip Foster , who could rarely play after 1901. Weak bowling on perfect New Road pitches
1296-471: The club could not compete in the Championship in 1919, and their form in 1920 – when they lost three successive games by an innings and over 200 runs – was probably the worst of any county side. Their form, with one remarkable exception, was woeful up to the early thirties. Fred Root , one of the first exponents of leg theory bowling, took over 1,500 wickets for the county and was a Test standard player in an otherwise fourth-rate team. In Cyril Walters and
1344-481: The competition was abandoned in favour of the new Twenty20 Cup after the 2002 season, and the Minor Counties did not figure in this set-up. Worcestershire County Cricket Club First-class One-day & T20 Worcestershire County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales . It represents the historic county of Worcestershire . Its Vitality Blast T20 team has been rebranded
1392-474: The exception was a no-result game involving Minor Counties South. After 1980, as part of the same move that brought Ireland into the Gillette Cup, Scotland joined the Benson & Hedges Cup, cutting the Minor Counties to a single team. Over the next 19 seasons until the format was changed again after the 1998 competition, the Minor Counties won six out of 75 matches, with a further four "no-results". Both
1440-586: The final of the Cheltenham & Gloucester trophy, beating Lancashire in a memorable semi-final at New Road on 9 August 2003. There was disappointment in the Lord's final, though, as Worcestershire lost by seven wickets and the Pears were also relegated from Division One of the National League. 2004 was a yo-yo year with Worcestershire relegated in the County Championship, promoted back to Division One in
1488-490: The final year of single division County Championship cricket, meaning they would start the new millennium in Division Two. Worcestershire failed to gain promotion in 2000, despite overseas signing Glenn McGrath taking 76 Championship wickets at an average of 13.77. In 2003, Worcestershire were promoted to County Championship Division One for the first time after winning the Division Two title. Worcestershire also reached
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1536-504: The first Minor County side in the cup's second round (in which they lost heavily to the eventual winners, Sussex ). The Minor County representation in this competition remained at this level until 1983, by which time it had been renamed the NatWest Trophy . In that season, a new structure for the competition was adopted, with all the first-class counties taking part in the first round, and the numbers of teams being made up to 32 by
1584-413: The first round, with up to 60 teams involved. The first Minor County to beat a first-class county in the Gillette Cup was Durham: in 1973, the county beat Yorkshire at Harrogate by five wickets. In all, 10 Minor Counties sides beat first-class opposition up to 2005 (and three other sides, Ireland, Scotland and Holland, also beat first-class counties). Minor County involvement in the competition ended after
1632-514: The first time ever, giving them consecutive seasons in Division One. However, at the end of the 2012 season they were relegated back to Division Two. Worcestershire had a mixed campaign in 2013, finished fifth out of nine in Division Two but a bright start to the 2014 saw them second in the table after seven games, following a draw with Surrey in June. Worcestershire returned to Division One for
1680-416: The ground, so it is not included in the table. Most first-class runs for Worcestershire Qualification – 20,000 runs Most first-class wickets for Worcestershire Qualification – 1,000 wickets ' Fostershire' was a name jocularly applied to Worcestershire County Cricket Club in the early part of the 20th century, shortly after the county had achieved first-class status and admission into
1728-447: The match venues were always in the "true" minor counties. The five top Minor Counties sides from the previous season were put into the draw for the first round of the second-ever Gillette Cup competition in 1964, alongside seven first-class counties. The five, Cambridgeshire, Cheshire, Durham, Hertfordshire and Wiltshire, were not seeded in any way, and Durham were drawn at home to Hertfordshire, beating them easily, and thereby becoming
1776-623: The most recent example of a Test cricket player whose main cricket was in the Minor Counties was David Townsend in 1934–35. His county cricket was for Durham, though he played first-class cricket for Oxford University . Traditionally, the Minor Counties played a minimum of eight matches, until recent times of two days duration, and few of them played more than 12 matches. Usually the matches were fairly local, against neighbouring counties, rather than against distant teams, and matches were often played in batches so that amateur players could time their holidays from work to take part in several games over
1824-520: The number of Worcestershire matches only played at the grounds listed, and do not include abandoned games. Note that the locations given are current; in some cases grounds now in other counties lie within the traditional boundaries of Worcestershire. Haden Hill Park in Old Hill , West Midlands, was due to host a Benson & Hedges Cup match in 1988. However, this was abandoned without a ball being bowled and no other senior cricket has been played at
1872-440: The numbers, three additional teams were recruited: a combined Oxford and Cambridge Universities side, and two representative sides from the Minor Counties. For the first four years, the teams were called Minor Counties North and Minor Counties South; from 1976 to 1979, the counties were split longitudinally into Minor Counties East and West. None of these divided representative teams was at all successful: 63 of 64 games were lost and
1920-757: The rebranded totesport League and losing finalists again in the C&;G Trophy. Vikram Solanki scored centuries in both the semi-final win against Warwickshire and the final against Gloucestershire, but the 'Gladiators' won by eight wickets at Lord's. In 2006, Worcestershire won promotion to the first division of the Championship on the last day of the season by beating Northamptonshire while their rivals for second promotion spot, Essex , lost to Leicestershire . However, their 2007 season began badly, including an innings-and-260-run loss to Yorkshire , Worcestershire's worst innings defeat since 1934. A flood-hit season inflicted serious financial damage, and on-field results in
1968-437: The results of matches against teams that did not play enough games to qualify for the final table were included in the records of those who did. For example, Cambridgeshire played only Norfolk . Five notionally Second Class county clubs – Essex , Warwickshire , Derbyshire , Hampshire and Leicestershire – joined the County Championship for the first time (some of them had had periods of being considered first-class before
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2016-455: The runs of New Zealander Glenn Turner , the Barbadian’s 87 wickets was also instrumental in winning Worcestershire's third championship win in 1974. In the 1980s, the prodigious batting feats of Graeme Hick and the arrival of Ian Botham paved the way for two more county titles in 1988 and 1989 – the same year in which they beat the touring Australians inside two days. Worcestershire also won
2064-585: The season. 2008 was also Graeme Hick's last season at Worcestershire, having scored 136 first-class centuries in 25 seasons at New Road. 2009 proved disastrous in first-class cricket, with Worcestershire finishing bottom of the First Division without a single victory, the first time the county had failed to win a Championship match since 1928. Following a win on the last day of the season against Sussex, Worcestershire were promoted back to Division One in 2010. The following season they avoided relegation for
2112-508: The second XI of a first-class county) were often composed entirely of amateur players, though some had a few professionals as well, especially where there were strong professional leagues locally. An example of a professional who played regular Minor Counties cricket was the England bowler Sydney Barnes . After falling out with Lancashire, he played most of his cricket outside the first-class game with Staffordshire . In early days, Minor Counties teams supplied some amateur cricketers of note too:
2160-896: Was formed on 4 March 1865 at the Star Hotel (now the Whitehouse) in Worcester . The club owes much to Paul Foley who was from a family of iron masters in Stourbridge . He also owned an agricultural estate at Stoke Edith in Herefordshire. He became involved with the club in the 1880s and helped to establish the Minor Counties Championship which began in 1895. Worcestershire shared the inaugural title with Durham and Norfolk before winning outright in 1896, 1897 and 1898. With this success behind it,
2208-461: Was not adequate for high honours. Roly Jenkins , with 183 wickets in 1949, gave them briefly the best attack in county cricket, but they soon declined again and their form in the 1950s was indifferent at best. Their first period of great success came in the 1960s under the Presidency of Sir George Dowty and the captaincy of Don Kenyon , when the county won two County Championships thanks to
2256-448: Was responsible for this, but in 1907 when Tip Foster played regularly for three months their batting, considering the difficulty of the pitches, was among the finest of any county team. Their best performance that year was an innings of 567 on a somewhat difficult pitch against Fielder and Blythe of Kent CCC . After that year, however, the batting was never strong enough to make up for woefully weak bowling. Worcestershire were so weak
2304-620: Was won by the Warwickshire Cricket Board , remains the only time a non-National county has won the competition. This format was discontinued after 2002 and the competition is again a purely National Counties affair. The most successful county is Berkshire who have won the title eight times. The current champions, Norfolk , defeated Cheshire in August 2024, winning their sixth trophy. National Counties of English and Welsh cricket The National Counties , known as
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