County Championship 2021 – Where To Watch, Fixtures & All You Need To Know
The 2021 edition of the County Championship, England’s premier first-class cricket competition, will be starting with the first round fixtures across the country on April 8.
The full-fledged County Championship, previously only affected due to the World Wars, couldn’t be held last year due to the coronavirus pandemic. Instead, only five rounds of first-class games and a final was played in the summer.
Recognising that isn’t enough of a challenge to determine the County Championship winner, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) played the pandemic-affected curtailed tournament for the Bob Willis Trophy, which Essex won.
Through the Bob Willis Trophy, the conference system – where teams were divided equally into three groups of six teams as opposed to the two-division system used for 19 years straight – came to the fore and won admirers.
The conference system has been retained for the 2021 summer and will see each county club having the chance to come out triumphant. Unlike the two-division system, where teams from only the first division could clinch the County Championship title.
Also Read: IPL 2021 Player Availability: Updates On Players From CSK, RCB, Mumbai Indians & Others
County Championship, Bob Willis Trophy both up for grabs in 2021 England summer
The Championship title, however, won’t be the only crown up for grabs this summer as teams will have the chance to win the Bob Willis Trophy as well. The Championship will be won by the team which finishes top of Division One in the new conference system, having played 14 matches in all. The Bob Willis Trophy, on the other hand, will be awarded to the winner of the end of the season final between the top two teams from Division 1 at Lord’s in late September.
A tweaked form of the conference system tournament will be in play this summer. Divided into three groups, 18 counties will play five home and five away matches initially. Then in the second phase of the competition, top two teams in each of the three groups will move into Division One, the third and fourth into Division Two and the fifth and six teams into Division Three.
Teams will play four matches each in the second phase against different opponents of their division, excluding the team they have already played in phase one. The contests in Division 1 will decide the County Championship winner and also the two Bob Willis Trophy finalists.
In Group 1 of the competition, Essex, Warwickshire, Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Worcestershire and Durham feature together, while Somerset, Hampshire, Surrey, Gloucestershire, Middlesex and Leicestershire make up Group 2. Kent, Yorkshire, Lancashire, Northamptonshire, Glamorgan and Sussex are placed in Group 3.
The ECB has already confirmed a detailed fixture list for the first phase of the County Championship for the summer. Warwickshire will take on Derbyshire, Essex will face Worcestershire and Warwickshire will be against Derbyshire in the opening round fixtures for Group 1.
Gloucestershire versus Surrey, Leicestershire versus Hampshire and Middlesex against Somerset are the fixtures part of the opening round of games for Group 2.
In Group 3, Northamptonshire will be competing against Kent, Yorkshire will take on Glamorgan and Sussex are set to Lancashire in the opening round of the County Championship.
Live Streaming and Where to Watch
Sky Sports UK