County Championship 2023: All you need to know

Find out dates, overseas players, points structure, previous winners, TV and streaming information, odds and much more for the 2023 County Championship season

What is it?

The County Championship is the first-class cricket domestic competition for England and Wales.

Where is it?

The County Championship takes place at county grounds across England and Wales.

What is its history?

The County Championship became official in 1890. The competition features 18 teams, which represent counties across England and Wales. There are 17 counties from England and one from Wales. The competition started with eight teams and over time added counties. The Championship was split into two divisions in 2000, with the introduction of promotion and. As at the start of the 2023 campaign, there are 10 teams in Division One and eight in Division Two.

The first winner was Surrey in 1890 and the most recent was also Surrey in 2022. Yorkshire have 33 titles, as the most successful side in the tournament's history. 

Who is in each division in 2023?

Yorkshire and Gloucestershire were relegated to Division Two in 2022, Nottinghamshire and Middlesex were promoted to Division One.

Division One: Essex, Hampshire, Kent, Lancashire, Middlesex, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire, Somerset, Surrey, Warwickshire

Division Two: Derbyshire, Durham, Glamorgan, Gloucestershire, Leicestershire, Sussex, Worcestershire, Yorkshire

Who are the recent Winners?

2022- Surrey

2021- Warwickshire

2020- No winner

2019- Essex

2018- Surrey

2017- Essex

2016- Middlesex

What is the points structure?

A team is awarded 16 points for a win and five for a draw - this is a return to pre-2019 points, after eight points were briefly introduced for a draw in the interim. Once batting and bowling bonus points are included, there is a maximum of 24 points available each match.

In 2023, the threshold for batting points has been raised. Teams will only start accumulating batting bonus points from 250 runs, and in 50-run increments thereafter. Bonus points are only available in the first innings of matches.

Batting points

250 to 299 runs - 1 point

300 to 349 runs - 2 points

350 to 399 runs - 3 points

400 to 349 runs - 4 points

450 runs or over - 5 points

Bowling points

3 to 5 wickets taken - 1 point

6 to 8 wickets taken - 2 points

9 to 10 wickets taken - 3 points

When does the County Championship take place?

The competition runs across the summer, with the majority of the matches taking place in April, May and September, though there are also rounds in June and July. 

Every county will play 14 matches in the Championship each season, although not every team will be involved in every match week.

Round 1: April 6-9

Round 2: April 13-16

Round 3: April 20-23

Round 4: April 27-30

Round 5: May 4-7

Round 6: May 11-14

Round 7: May 18-21

Round 8: June 11-14

Round 9: June 25-28

Round 10: July 10-13

Round 11: July 19-22

Round 12: July 25-28

Round 13: September 3-6

Round 14: September 10-13

Round 15: September 19-22

Round 16: September 26-29

Who are the favourites to win?

Surrey are favourites to win this season with odds of 11/4 while Essex are just behind at 4/1.

To win Division One

Surrey 11/4

Essex 4/1

Lancashire 11/2

Hampshire 6/1

Somerset 7/1

Nottinghamshire 10/1

Warwickshire 10/1

Kent 14/1

Middlesex 16/1

Northants 25/1

To win Division Two

Yorkshire 7/4

Sussex 4/1

Glamorgan 6/1

Gloucestershire 6/1

Worcestershire 6/1

Derbyshire 12/1

Durham 12/1

Leicestershire 25/1

Essex overseas player Simon Harmer [Getty Images]

Who are the overseas players?

Each team in the league can have two overseas players playing in any given game.

Overseas player breakdown below...

Division One

Essex

Simon Harmer (South Africa)

Daniel Sams (Australia)

Hampshire

Mohammad Abbas (Pakistan)

Kyle Abbott (South Africa)

Kent

George Linde (South Africa)

Arshdeep Singh (India June and July)

Lancashire

Colin de Grandhome (New Zealand, April to July)

Daryl Mitchell (New Zealand, 11 May to end of July )

Middlesex

Pieter Malan (South Africa)

Northamptonshire

Sam Whiteman (Australia, until the end of August)

Nottinghamshire

Dane Paterson (South Africa)

Somerset

Cameron Bancroft (Australia, first four matches)

Matt Henry (New Zealand, May 11 to end of July)

Peter Siddle (Australia, until the end of July)

Surrey

Sean Abbott (Australia, until of July)

Kemar Roach (West Indies, first six matches)

Warwickshire

Hasan Ali (Pakistan, until the end of July)

Division Two

Derbyshire

Suranga Lakmal (Sri Lanka)

Haider Ali (Pakistan)

Durham

David Beddingham (South Africa)

Glamorgan

Marnus Labuschagne (Australia)

Michael Neser (Australia)

Gloucestershire

Zafar Gohar (Pakistan)

Marcus Harris (Australia)

Leicestershire

Peter Handscomb (Australia, until May 21)

Wiaan Mulder (South Africa)

Ajinkya Rahane (India from June)

Sussex

Nathan McAndrew (Australia, April to July)

Cheteshawar Pujara (India)

Steve Smith (Australia, May 4-18)

Worcestershire

Azhar Ali (Pakistan)

Yorkshire

Shan Masood (Pakistan)

Where can I watch it on TV, where can I stream the games?

The broadcast rights to the County Championship in the UK are owned by Sky Sports.

However, only a very limited number of matches are usually broadcast on Sky's channels.

Sky allow the counties to broadcast their games live via streams on YouTube - with the quality of each county's broadcast capabilities varying considerably.

All 18 counties now offer live-streaming options via YouTube.

Sky are set to broadcast three early-season matches: Lancashire v Surrey, Middlesex v Nottinghamshire and Surrey v Middlesex, on a combination of Sky Sports Main Event, Sky Sports Cricket and Sky Sports Mix.

BBC Local Radio offers ball-by-ball commentary on all matches, which is also availble via the BBC Sport website.

The Cricketer will carry match reports from every day of county cricket in 2023, with our staff in place to offer expert analysis at county grounds throughout the season.