Scottish County Championship

Scottish County Championship
CountriesScotland
AdministratorScottish Cricket Union
First edition1902
Latest edition1995
Tournament formatOne division
Number of teams10 (final season)
Most successfulPerthshire (29 titles)

The Scottish County Championship was a cricket competition which ran between 1902 and 1995, administered by the Scottish Cricket Union from 1908 onwards. The championship was founded after proposals from Perthshire and was seen as a formalised version of the county game in Scotland, which had been taking place unofficially for several years.[1]

History

In Scotland, the idea of replicating the English County Championship had been discussed for many years, without any true support materialising.[2]

During a meeting between county team secretaries in Edinburgh in December 1901, five counties agreed to formally recognise the matches between each other in a league format. Although inter-county matches had been tabulated for several years, not all teams had played each other home and away each year. The formation of a league with standardised fixtures was seen as the next natural progression of cricket in Scotland, which had become increasingly popular in previous years.

The founding members were:

Western County Championship (1908-1910)

Although a regionalised 'district' county championship had been discussed as early as 1903, no concrete plan had been backed by county clubs in parts of the country not represented in the Scottish County Championship.[3]

With the success of the county championship, several county sides in the west of Scotland formed the Western County Championship in 1908. It was hoped that interest would spark rejuvenated attendances as had happened with the 'northern' teams. Starting in 1908 three teams, Ayrshire, Lanarkshire and Renfrewshire, competed against each other for the championship. They were followed by Dumbartonshire the following year. Both Ayrshire and Dumbartonshire eventually joined in the Scottish County Championship.

The winner of the Western County Championship would then play against the winner of the Scottish County Championship to determine the outright Scottish champion. In the first year of this setup, county winners Aberdeenshire refused to play their western counterparts Renfrewshire.[4] In the second season, Forfarshire played Renfrewshire but the match ended in a draw.[5]

The last recorded season of the Western County Championship was in 1910. By this point, the league had adopted a second name, the 'Scottish County Championship Western Division.' Unlike their northern equivalents, the first teams of the western counties still played club cricket on Saturdays, meaning all county fixtures were played midweek.

Teams

[6]

Scottish County Championship is located in Scotland
Forfarshire
Fifeshire
Fifeshire
Arbroath
Arbroath
Strathmore
Strathmore
Ayrshire
Ayrshire
Aberdeenshire
Dumbartonshire
Dumbartonshire
Clackmannan
Clackmannan
Perthshire
Perthshire
Stirling
Stirling
West Lothian
West Lothian
All county clubs represented in the SCC

Team information

County Club Ground Location First season in
Championship 		First title Last title Titles
Aberdeenshire Mannofield Aberdeen 1902 1903 1988 19 (2 shared)
Arbroath County Lochlands Arbroath 1989 1989 1993 2
Ayrshire Cambusdoon Ayr 1984 1990 1991 2
Clackmannan County The Arns Alloa 1905 1924 1960 2
Dunbartonshire Auchenhowie Milngavie 1971 - - 0
Fifeshire McKane Park Dunfermline 1902 1926 1939 9 (1 shared)
Forfarshire Forthill Dundee 1902 1902 1992 15 (1 shared)
Stirling County Williamfield Stirling 1902 1952 1985 2
Strathmore County Lochside Forfar 1984 1994 1994 1
Perthshire North Inch Perth 1902 1904 1978 29
West Lothian County Boghall Linlithgow 1930 1965 1995 3

Timeline

Forfarshire Cricket ClubAberdeenshire Cricket Club

See also

References

  1. ^ "Counties' Cricket". Scottish Referee. 23 December 1901. p. 1. Retrieved 22 July 2025 – via the British Newspaper Archive.
  2. ^ "Scottish County Cricket League Instituted". Perthshire Advertiser. 27 December 1901. p. 3. Retrieved 22 July 2025 – via the British Newspaper Archive.
  3. ^ Cricket: A Weekly Record of the Game. London: Merritt and Hatcher. 1903. p. 474. Retrieved 16 July 2025.
  4. ^ "Cricket Prospects for 1909". Dundee Courier. 13 April 1909. p. 6. Retrieved 16 July 2025 – via the British Newspaper Archive.
  5. ^ "Forfarshire Would Have Won Over Renfrew in County Championship". Dundee Evening Telegraph. 30 August 1909. p. 5. Retrieved 16 July 2025 – via the British Newspaper Archive.
  6. ^ Leitch, Neil. "Scottish County Championship (1902 - 1995)". The Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians. Retrieved 22 July 2025.
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