- Source: 2024 County Championship
The 2024 County Championship (referred to as the Vitality County Championship for sponsorship reasons) was the 124th County Championship cricket season in England and Wales. As in 2023, Division One had ten teams and Division Two had eight teams. The season began on 5 April and ended on 29 September 2024. Surrey won the title with one match remaining, repeating their success in 2022 and 2023. They were the first team to become champions in three successive years since Yorkshire in 1966–68, having last achieved this feat themselves in 1958.
Overview
For the 2024 season, the number of points for a draw was increased from five to eight, as was the case from 2019 to 2022. The use of hybrid pitches was permitted for the first time, despite previous concerns that they do not deteriorate enough during a four-day match and are therefore suitable only for limited overs cricket. On 29 August, however, the game between Gloucestershire and Northamptonshire at Bristol had to be abandoned on the first day after the surface produced uneven bounce, resulting in two Northamptonshire batters being injured.
In research carried out by the Professional Cricketers' Association prior to the start of the season, concerns were expressed about players' welfare due to the congested schedule (including the T20 Blast, One-Day Cup, and The Hundred).
= The Kookaburra debate
=Following a trial during the 2023 County Championship, when the traditional English Dukes ball was replaced for two rounds by the less bowler-friendly Australian Kookaburra, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) decided that four rounds of the 2024 season would be played with the latter. The motivation behind this was to develop bowlers with the skills to compete at an international level, give spinners more of a role at the beginning of the season, and encourage batters to score quickly.
After the Kookaburra had been used during the first two rounds of the 2024 season, England men's team director Rob Key hailed the experiment a success. Spin bowlers contributed 37% (1035.4 overs) of deliveries in the opening two rounds, compared with 17% (767.3 overs) in 2023, and took 135 (72 more) wickets. Batters hit as many double centuries as in whole of the previous season, and in the second round accumulated 10 scores of 150 or more, which was a record for a set of matches starting on the same day. However, all but one of the 19 games played in the opening two rounds ended in a draw. In the second round, all matches were drawn for just the third time when all counties have played simultaneously, and matches were criticised for being dull. Key's comments themselves "caused something of a furore".
Writing in Wisden Cricket Monthly, Laurence Booth noted that using the Kookaburra on spongy pitches during one of the UK's wettest springs was "like mixing oil with water – and expecting nectar", but pointed to the first-round performance of seam bowler Sam Cook in explaining Key's perspective. Mike Selvey commented in The Cricketer that rather than resorting to the use of a "substandard ball", Key's objectives might better be achieved by requiring groundsmen to cut the grass shorter and use a hard roller on pitches, whilst also making some changes to the Dukes ball so that the seam would flatten more quickly.
Across the four rounds played with the Kookaburra, statistics showed that seam bowlers achieved the best bowling average and strike rate at an average speed of 82–84 mph, compared to 76–79 mph with the Dukes ball, whilst spinners bowled around 50 per cent more deliveries.
Teams
The teams were split based on the finishing positions in the 2023 season, with 10 teams in Division One and 8 in Division Two.
Division One sides played five teams both home and away, and four teams either home or away. All Division Two sides played each other home and away. Teams were allowed to field a maximum of two overseas players in a match.
= Division One
=Team promoted from Division Two in 2023
= Division Two
=Team relegated from Division One in 2023
Division One results
= April
== May
== June
== August
== September
=Division Two results
= April
== May
== June
== August
== September
=Standings
Teams in both divisions played a total of 14 games, with seven home matches and seven away matches. There was a two-up, two-down promotion and relegation system.
Teams received 16 points for a win, and 8 for a draw or tie. Bonus points could be earned during the first 110 overs of each team's first innings, with up to 5 for batting and 3 for bowling available.
If a match was abandoned without a ball being bowled, then each team was awarded 8 points. If abandoned once a game has started because the pitch was deemed to be unsafe, then the home side received no points. The away side were awarded 8 points plus whatever bonus points had accrued.
= Division One
== Division Two
=Leading players
= Division One
== Division Two
=Ethan Bamber (Middlesex) and James Harris (Glamorgan) also took 30 wickets, but had a higher average than Ryan Higgins.
Notes
References
External links
Division 1 at ESPNcricinfo
Division 2 at ESPNcricinfo
Kata Kunci Pencarian:
- Kejuaraan EFL
- Piala FA 2023–2024
- Piala EFL 2024–2025
- Derby County F.C.
- Andy King
- Inter Miami CF
- Harry Souttar
- Daftar dukungan kampanye presiden Donald Trump 2024
- Fulham F.C.
- Mason Mount
- 2024 County Championship
- County Championship
- 2024–25 All-Ireland Senior Club Football Championship
- 2024–25 EFL Championship
- 2024–25 All-Ireland Senior Club Hurling Championship
- 2024 USL Championship season
- 2024 Rugby Championship
- 2024 USL Championship playoffs
- 2024–25 All-Ireland Intermediate Club Hurling Championship
- 2024 Canadian Championship
