The English County Championship is one of the most interesting cricket competitions in the entire world. Its fans can watch live cricket free at 1xBet, and follow the most interesting matches from this tournament.
Historians and scholars have been unable to conclusively establish when the first matches resembling a county championship took place. It should be noted that in the 17th century there were already matches being played between teams that took the names of English counties. Whenever the modern counties play, punters can watch their cricket matches live and for free through the 1xBet online bookmaker.
Yet, those teams aren’t really comparable to the modern county cricket clubs. For this reason, the first record that points to a match between teams that were proper county squads took place in 1709. Here the teams of Kent and Surrey played against each other.
The 18th century giants
As the 18th century progressed, cricket in England started to be more organized. As such, teams from other counties started to emerge and compete between each other. The casino online games for real money 1xBet are an interesting place to visit while waiting for the county teams to play against each other.
More accounts of this time allow to establish who were the dominant teams from this era. They were:
- Hampshire;
- Kent;
- Middlesex;
- Surrey;
- and Sussex.
However, it should be stated that back then these cricket teams were quite variable. This meant that the boundaries of the areas they represented were not totally defined, and as such, sometimes they overlapped each other. The online casino games for real money provided by 1xBet can be played before the matches played by these county clubs.
The unofficial titles
There were no solid criteria to establish a “county champion” during the 19th century. There were teams that claimed to be the “winners of English cricket” during a given period. However, sometimes this wasn’t recognized by all entities. Whenever a team will become a county champion, you can wager on it through the www.1xbet.in/mobile online bookmaker.
Finally, some criteria were agreed in 1864, and as such, the first “official” champions could be determined since then. Yet, the true County Championship wouldn’t emerge until 1890. In that period between 1864 and 1890 there were still some teams that were dominating English cricket. Some of them were Gloucestershire, Surrey and Nottinghamshire. Out of all of them, the latter was by far the most dominant side, and is also featured at the 1xBet bookmaker. Yet, it is quite interesting to see that many of those titles are shared between two or even three teams on some occasions.